Fast, but strange corner feel + torque steer

[Tuneboy]

Hey guys,
i might have a wrong setting with my teg, hopefully some of you guys can help me.

Im running a 2002 itr with freshly bought MeisterR CRD+ Coilovers and the EP3 track rod ends. Rear is set to 16 of 32 stiffness and front is set to 12 of 32 stiffness.
Rims are 17x8,5J ET35 with 235/idk/17 Federal 595 RSR Semislick tires. I also got Energy Suspension Enginemounts installed.

Thing is, the car is rediculous fast in corners, i can almost throw it as hard as i want in corners and it just sticks
BUT - the feeling while doing this isnt convidencing. It feels like the Steering wheel isnt turning itself back when at midcorner and it just feels strange - hard to explain. Plus im getting really alot of torque steer and on bumps, the car is doing what it wants.

I did an alignment after the install of the coilovers and i was trying to setup 2 degrees of camber but i got more toe in because the steering arms (im not sure its called liek this ;D ) are out of thread.. So i had to go back to like 1 degrees and 30 minutes of caster. Toe was zero, front and back.

Maybe i have to setup a littlebit toe-out at the front? And how about a Steeringrack raiser? Maybe that could help? Here is a picture of the actual hight:

and here while heavy cornering (maybe that will help? Guess not):

I think the steeringfeeling was better with the original suspension :/

Any help appreciated Thanks!

Regards, Mark

 

[spooke]

I too am running MeisterR CRD+ coilovers, when I first had them installed I felt the same - that the steering felt worse after, a common thing when lowering this chassis.

Your car doesn't look excessively low but I'd you've gone lower than -30mm you should install some RCA's, I've heard not to run a rack raiser as it has the opposite effect of what it is meant to resolve.

After the coilovers I had the SHG steering slider fitted and that really made the steering feel more firm and responsive.

What is your rear toe and camber? If you don't have camber arms on the rear I highly suggest you get them.

My current suspension geometry is -1.30' camber, 0 toe at the front and -1.05' camber, 0.24' toe in at the rear. No castor increase at the moment.

I'll find out my damper settings later on today as I can't remember what I'm on.

 

[tricker_luke]

When I had adjustable damping I read that the rear damping should be set to about 60% stifness of the front, to retain some level of understeer.
If the rear is set firmer than the front it will start to induce oversteer. I can't remember the link but maybe that type of setting might help a bit?
I.e. fronts at 12/32, rears at 8/32, assuming of course 32 is stiffest?

 

[adam.]

Rack raiser, inner tie rods, rack slider, control arm bushes, lower ball joints - all worth checking/replacing.

You might be experiencing bad bump steer.

 

[JDM-DC5]

Seems like more people are popping up with this problem. My last d2 coilovers had bad top mounts but I didn't experience torque steer or anything at all other than a very slightly shakey steering wheel vibration at around 65mph. And it was lower than my car is now and that's quite low. It all seemed to happen as soon as I installed my MeisterR CRD+ and EP3 track rod ends. Slowly getting to the stage where I'll pull them out and sell them and move on to a different set up as they've covered very little miles. I'm not wanting to throw money away 'fixing things that don't need fixed'. I'm getting all bushings and suspension components checked over this week sometime and if nothing is worn etc then I'll have to think about what to do next. Sounds like we have the same setup anyway Tuneboy

 

[spooke]

Mine are currently set to 17 at the front and 18 at the rear. Ignoring the first half click.

I don't think these are specifically only problems with the Meister CRD+ though, well I hope not I'd like to hear some input from Jerrick.

 

[Tuneboy]

AFAIK Im running stock camber at the rear and zero toe front and back. I dont want understeer so i set it stiffer at the rear. Care is now very neutral when approaching the limit.

I also thought about bump steer, as you can see, my car isnt so low at the front, but the steering arms are already V-Shaped. I could imagine, that the "V" is even more "shaped" when the car transferred alot of weight while heavy cornering...

 

[spooke]

In that case I think your problem is that your rear camber is probably around -2.20' causing it to feel unstable, if you haven't had it aligned then the rear toe will be out too.

I ran it without rear camber arms and it was awful to drive fast.

 

[Tuneboy]

Yeah, i would need like 650GBP to get the whole pack, like rear adjustable camber arms, rack riser, RCA, rack slider and adjustable front steering arms...

Quite alot of money for a daily driver with "here and there" fast road / touge driving :xaiweb2:

 

[spooke]

I've just gone for the Rubber Hardrace Camber Arms and SHG Slider. I'm only -30mm so I don't necessarily need the rack raiser, RCA's or shortened tie rods.

 

[Fez]

Mines lowered on spoon springs, ~30mm? And with stock camber arms it is just over 2 degrees on the rear. And it handles fine, doesnt feel anything like you describe.

 

[Kellsled]

How are use guys setting the bolts at bottom of front coilover? Loads of play in them side to side when I went to get mine aligned guy noticed how the coilovers where sitting and one side was like +4 out compared to 0.something on other side.
I've now bought rigid collars,eibach camber bolts and I'll also be doing a custom rack adjustment with different track rods to do away with any v shape in arms although mines not very low.

 

[spooke]

Mines lowered on spoon springs, ~30mm? And with stock camber arms it is just over 2 degrees on the rear. And it handles fine, doesnt feel anything like you describe.

I'm only speaking from experience, the difference is like a completely different car. For me the rear camber was double the front - it just seemed to feel unstable at the back.

How are use guys setting the bolts at bottom of front coilover? Loads of play in them side to side when I went to get mine aligned guy noticed how the coilovers where sitting and one side was like +4 out compared to 0.something on other side.
I've now bought rigid collars,eibach camber bolts and I'll also be doing a custom rack adjustment with different track rods to do away with any v shape in arms although mines not very low.

If you mean the strut bolts I'd either set them to the minimum or max (the elongated hole) and then set the camber via top mounts. I believe the elongated strut bolts will affect your KPI, although I don't know how much it will change. You may need to loctite them too, mine came loose and you probably don't need the camber bolts.

 

[Tuneboy]

I just came back from a really fast road test-run.
It feels numb at heavy cornering, really not satisfiyng. Kinda scary / dangerous, it just goes all over the place. Since the road was rather bumpy, i might think that i have bump steer, because i remember, that it wasnt that bad the last time i was going all-out which was a much more smoother road.

 

[spooke]

I just came back from a really fast road test-run.
It feels numb at heavy cornering, really not satisfiyng. Kinda scary / dangerous, it just goes all over the place. Since the road was rather bumpy, i might think that i have bump steer, because i remember, that it wasnt that bad the last time i was going all-out which was a much more smoother road.

Can definitely recommend the SHG rack slider, also set some toe in at the rear as the zero toe is probably causing your instability. If your rear camber is higher at the rear than the front this won't help either.

 

[Crazylegs]

Has the rack slider made a big difference mate? Can't wait to get mine on.

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

 

[Fez]

If i were you i'd take it to somewhere thats sets up(alignment) cars, get them to drive it and see if they can determine what it is, and then they could change what evers needed to make it feel better?

 

[_BILLY_EK9_]

When I bought my DC5 it was dam right scary to drive fast.
It was slammed and the steering arms had a massive v angle on them. Rack rasier,new slider,new custom steering arms with longer thread,new track rod's, front camber bolts, rear camber arms, x4 new tyres and full alignment. Drives perfect now lol

 

[JDM-DC5]

When I bought my DC5 it was dam right scary to drive fast.
It was slammed and the steering arms had a massive v angle on them. Rack rasier,new slider,new custom steering arms with longer thread,new track rod's, front camber bolts, rear camber arms, x4 new tyres and full alignment. Drives perfect now lol

When you say custom steering arms, where did you get these with the longer thread? Rack riser and slider are the only things left to try once I get bushings fitted this week. I'll then consider the buddyclub rca's and have camber bolts for the front to go into the MeisterR coilovers. Hoping to sort this soon. Inverted track rod ends are pretty expensive. It's all money and I just want a cure

 

[spooke]

When you say custom steering arms, where did you get these with the longer thread? Rack riser and slider are the only things left to try once I get bushings fitted this week. I'll then consider the buddyclub rca's and have camber bolts for the front to go into the MeisterR coilovers. Hoping to sort this soon. Inverted track rod ends are pretty expensive. It's all money and I just want a cure

To be honest I think you should try raising the ride height before you do anything else, also what is your geometry? (you may have said elsewhere but I've forgotten).