Sloppy steering

[jon.hand]

Hi All

After driving/owning my car for over 2 and a half years, with razor sharp precision steering

I've noticed the steering feeling sloppy and getting worse over the last couple of weekends.

It feels like your constantly need to straighten the car even on a straight road.

I've had the new Lotus suspension fitted a few months back, and thought this may not have settled down yet, but I don't think this is the problem, as I would have noticed a change as soon as I picked the car up from having the suspension fitted.

I've also noticed that the steering feels a little heavier, but this may be because the steering feels a little sloppy?

Any ideas what might be causing this?

(The tyre pressures are ok)

GT3-jonny

Edited June 29, 2008 by GT3 jonny

[Tentenths]

Worn steering rack?

[DanR]

Before I bought my car it had work done on the pedal box. A few of the fasteners for the box to the body were loose as was the coupling between the shaft and the steering box. Once I tightened them the steering was how it should be.

If you can't find anything loose elsewhere check that area.

[andydclements]

Feeling heavy, not self centring, I'd say toe adjustment.

It could be any of the geometry settings, especially if the suspension has been worked on recently.Did they put it through a full four wheel alignment check after the work or did they simply put things back as they were (in which case camber and caster at the front could be out, but if bushes were left alone they should be OK).

OwenGT3 had similar issues recently, possibly ask him to describe his car's symptoms, which are now sorted.

Andy

[Jonathan]

Check tyre pressures and geometry, wheel bolts and the rear driveshaft nut.

Your geometry check should only be breif to see if there is anything major out - I wonder if the suspension was reset when the shocks were fitted.

[jon.hand]

Cheers Guys

Jonathan, what do you mean when you say reseting your suspension?

GT3-jonny

[OwenGT3]

Hi,

I think Jon means is when the car is at rest on the floor that all the suspension bolts and nuts are tightened fully then, not when the suspension is hanging. If you tighten them while hanging this causes the bushes to be nip up in the wrong place, so when the car is finally at rest it can lift the car ride height up. Plus doing all the other geometry checks?

Owen

Edited June 30, 2008 by OwenGT3

[matk]

Yep, suspension torquing comes up a lot. Should only be done with car on it's own wheels and carrying weight of 2 adults and 1/2 full tanks (from Brian Angus on the Oxford meet 2007)

[Paula&Marcus]

Yes, it comes up a lot and IMHO gets a bit overrated ....

Yep, suspension torquing comes up a lot ...

[matk]

Marcus, I am not going to argue with you, but if Brian Angus states publicly in front of me that it's essential, then that's good enough for me. You may of course know better than Brian.......................

[fjmuurling]

Hello,

Another possibility is that there is some play between the U/J and the intermediate shaft and/or the steering rack because of a slightly loose pinch bolt which clamps the parts together.

Freek

Edited July 1, 2008 by fjmuurling

[jon.hand]

Many thanks for your support

GT3-jonny

[Jonathan]

Yeah that's what I meant

I've noticed it before when I 1st fitted shocks to an Esprit (done it about 5 times now LOL) if you tighten the bolts up to torque before the car has the correct weight on the wheels it can lead to one or more bushes binding and restricted movement in the suspension and possibly damage to the bush.

The polybushes are a lot more resiliant to this I have found but the rubber ones are much worse, the quickest way to spot it is if the car is riding slightly high.

Most engineers are lazy and skip this process as they have their 4 point lift, oik the thing in the air, do the job tighten it all up when the suspension is at it's maximum travel and then plop the wheels back on and expect it to be OK. It's a tricky job to do as the car is so low which is why it's nearly always skipped.

[OwenGT3]

Four poster wheel free ramp is what you want to do this job.

Owen

[Jonathan]

Or a set of those axle stand wheels that just bolt onto the hub, that way you can get the weight on the car and work on the bolts easily.....which reminds me , I must make a set of those one day.

[sanj]

With the entire car securely supported by jackstands high enough to allow you to reach underneath, simply jack up the suspension corner you wish to tighten until the weight of the car is just off the stand, then torque. Repeat for the other three corners.

[jon.hand]

Thanks guys

Can anyone confirm the correct torque these bolts need to be tightned to?

GT3-jonny

[sanj]

50 lbf-ft. / 70 N-m

[gt3_ian]

I too have fitted the new suspension on my GT3, but still had this slightly vague feeling to the steering with a tendancy to wander on a straight road. I was waiting for the front suspension polybush kit to be issued by Lotus and then planned to rebuild the whole front end. But no. The answer is in the rear. I replaced the rear bushes with the new Lotus polybush kit and the front end is massively improved and it now tracks straight as an arrow. I am still going to rebuild the front end when the new bushes are available, but it is less urgent now.