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Car feels nervous!
Davidthomas - 19/1/14 at 04:58 PM

Recently finished my panther, and as the weather wasn't too bad today I thought I'd take it out to get some miles under my belt. Car feels good all the way to around 50/60mph but after that the car feels nervous and the steering isn't as sharp.

Any ideas?
Tracking?


jossey - 19/1/14 at 05:13 PM

welcome.

can you explain a little better than nervous.

Does the car feel lighter like the air is lifting the front or something like that.


Davidthomas - 19/1/14 at 05:21 PM

It feel a little lighter, but most of all the car seem to wonder side to side ever so often.


perksy - 19/1/14 at 05:23 PM

What tyre pressures are you running ?
Also what suspension settings does the car have ? Camber, Ride height etc etc


Davidthomas - 19/1/14 at 05:27 PM

I'm running about 20psi up front and 30psi on the rear.

Suspension I can't tell you off the top of my head. It was done professionally before the iva.


steve m - 19/1/14 at 06:19 PM

I would say the pressures are to high, I run 16psi on all four wheels

Also the roads are very greasy , so would not want to take my car out on them

Steve


mookaloid - 19/1/14 at 07:00 PM

/ / This


bi22le - 19/1/14 at 07:03 PM

If you let go off the steering wheel do you think it will steer straight?

Does it track tram lines in the road?

Have you driven these kind of cars before?


MikeCapon - 19/1/14 at 07:13 PM

Front to rear ride heights? You want the rear around 25mm higher than the front or at speed the lift will make the car wander or worse..


StevieB - 19/1/14 at 07:13 PM

A big thing I noticed when I got my first Elise, after all the tin tops up until that point, was that it felt nervous on the road. What it turned out to be was that the steering was much more direct than a normal car, with loads of feedback. This meant I could feel the car following the road cambers and imperfection in the surface.

My Indy and Westfield do the same, but I've grown used to it.

Steering feeling light is a bit different though - would be handy to know a few things like what toe in/out you're running, steering rack ratio and maybe steering wheel size. A small steering wheel on a quick ratio rack with a bit of toe in would make it feel maybe a little twitchy for very small steering inputs.

As said, maybe try dropping the tyre pressures and see how it feels on the same roads - I run about 18psi all round on my Westfield.


britishtrident - 19/1/14 at 07:18 PM

tyre pressures, toe-in front and rear , corner weights.


Davidthomas - 19/1/14 at 07:34 PM

Thanks for all the replies guys. Il try and find the print out the garage gave me after they set the car up. As a few have mentioned tyres pressures, il have a little play with that.


unijacko67 - 19/1/14 at 07:58 PM

I had trouble keeping my car in a straight line on the motorway and that was the tracking as I'd altered camber and forgot to re-track it up. I've set it parallel now and completely different car.


StevieB - 19/1/14 at 07:58 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Davidthomas
Thanks for all the replies guys. Il try and find the print out the garage gave me after they set the car up. As a few have mentioned tyres pressures, il have a little play with that.


Well, it is the easiest and free-est way of making changes to see how it feels


steve m - 19/1/14 at 08:42 PM

I will add, that when I got my car on the road, years ago, the first drive, was ORRIBLE !!

It felt as though I was driving on ball bearings, and at any speed over about 30mph was not comfortable
some mates recommended a lower tyre pressure, and WOW a different car !!

Ive gone a slow as nothing, and the tyres spin on the wheels, 12-14psi is ok on a track, but 16 psi on the road seems to be ok!

Steve


Bent Wrench - 20/1/14 at 01:12 AM

Castor settings?
Castor makes the steering self centering.
Castor jacks crossweight to help against pushing on corner entry. Also it jacks crossweight the other way to assist when counter steering.

Castor downside is increased steering effort

[Edited on 1/20/14 by Bent Wrench]


RickRick - 20/1/14 at 06:51 AM

make sure you have droop in your front suspension jack it up at the front, if the front wheels lift up right away thats your problem should eb able to lif tthe car 2 inches ish before the wheels leave the floor


Davidthomas - 20/1/14 at 06:43 PM

I think this is the print out for tracking.



Just checked my tyres pressures too. Rears were 26psi and the fronts were 18. Set them all to 16psi and hopefully the weather will allow me to have another run out this weekend.

Thanks again for the replies!!

[Edited on 20/1/14 by Davidthomas]

[Edited on 20/1/14 by Davidthomas]