Good suspension specialist in Birmingham?

[ilogik]

I have had my car fully aligned, and whilst it says its good, it does not give me confidence driving it above 70mph. I really want it to feel planted on the road.

Have tried lots of different combo's of tyre pressures but still struggling to get it right, speaking to people over on spyderchat they mentioned about altering the rear toe settings so that is my next point of call.

The one place I had tried who sounded like they had some great equipment is Procomp but they said that they didn't do MR2's.

Reading up on my issues seems a common problem on the MK3 with it going light at speed and feeling skitish on the road. Americans call it wallowing.

Here are my suspension settings

[tonigmr2]

What size wheels and tyres you running?

[ilogik]

17's,

215.40.17 17x7 et 0 front

235.45.17 17x8 ET 0 rear.

Guessing this complicates it

[tonigmr2]

Hmmn, yes!
Don't know of a specialist in Birmingham, but have in my head there is one in Northampton that sets up race cars, perhaps someone like that might be worth a visit?

[ilogik]

will try the place that originally did it for me over in Dudly on the weekend and forward them the info i gathered from Driftworks and Spyderchat. I am determined to crack these handling issues.

Normal road driving is fine, its just motorway that leaves skids in my pants

[toxo]

There's a place in Milton Keynes with the same 'Hunter' alignment system that Wheels In Motion use, if that's any use?

[BenF]

What tyres are you using, and have you done any other modifications to the suspension - or it is original ( and how many years old ? )

That alignment looks fairly sensible to me - a little toe at the front and rear and equal throughout otherwise.

For alignments - I've always travelled to Elite in Dagenham, who are about an hour away from me. I usually get an alignment done every 12-18 months.

I've got the original springs and shocks on with the facelift wheels+Neovas and the Sportivo ARBs and the car is OK at motorway speeds. In Germany, heading past 120mph the front end does begin to feel a little light and you loose feedback through the steering - is this what you're feeling?

[ilogik]

Sorry for late reply, the sensation im getting is it feels like it wants to steer from the rear if you rock the steering wheel side to side it feels like the back end wants to come round on itself, really scares the crap out of me.

Suspension are BC coilovers, with rear adjustable, track, toe and trailer arms.

Tyres are Continental sport contact 3's. I have experienced this feeling on both mk3's that i have owned, my first one was sorted when i switched to coilovers and went lower.

This car has the same coilovers but due to the size of the tyres arch gaps all the suspension was tweaked and lowered further, it does not feel as stable.

Tyre pressure's are 26 and 30, I tried it with the tyres slightly harder 30 and 38 rear and it felt very very floaty.

Booked it in for tomorrow, so going to go in armed with the info I got from spyderchat and driftworks.

[aw11rally]

I'm no mk3 expert but 38psi!!! Sounds far too high.

You could try a bit more front toe in to slow down turn in a little, it would make it a bit less twitchy. More rear toe would make the car less drifty/more understeery but increases tyre wear. I'd try more front toe in before anything.

Very low/hard suspension also buggers up handling as can overly large wheels and tyres, it might be worth giving the coilovers a tweak or reverting to a more standard setup.

What bushes are you running?

[frogger]

If you want pro alignment there's only a couple of places in the country with scissor lifts (not std car lifts which lift unevenly) and proper pro alignment kit (i.e. not the laser/hunter/etc stuff that 99.9% of garages have).

One of the places happends to be about 30~45 minutes from you down the M5 - Powerstation in Tewkesbury. Not only do they have the best kit around, but they have a lot of experience with MR2 geometry too.

http://www.powerstation.org.uk/

[ilogik]

Have had the rear toe settings changed, on some advice from spyderchat, the car now feels far more stable, still slightly wobbly, but i think thats the tyre walls being really soft, when you close the car door the car wobbles side to side

I only got to 50 test it at 50 but it felt far more stable and preditable, changed direction far better too.

Ohh and does anyone know if a gatso facing you can do you for speeding? lost concentration at went 40 in a 30. Will be the first ticket in 9 years if it does

New set up

[BenF]

Sounds like you've got good tyres and have spent money in the right places

Those alignments though are odd - are they from the same place?

The one at the top of the page shows a little toe in at the rear ( good ) but the 'before' at the bottom shows toe out, which would explain the twitchy rear of the car.

Adding a good dose of toe in as they appeared to have done will calm that down but will increase tyre wear a little.

If it is the same place, I'd be concerned how the rear toe could have changed so much in a short time.

Assuming they've not just setup the gear wrong, could any of the rear bushes be worn or have a little free play, allowing this to happen ?

[ilogik]

Quite a few people metioned toeing out the rear both on spyderchat and driftworks, so went on the recommendations of a guy over on spyderchat, was £25 to trial it, so far it does feel more stable at speed, ultimate test will be motorway driving.

Still i think it needs more work or development, would be nice to try it with a rear spoiler too/front aero just to see if it makes any difference.

Sounds like you've got good tyres and have spent money in the right places

Those alignments though are odd - are they from the same place?

The one at the top of the page shows a little toe in at the rear ( good ) but the 'before' at the bottom shows toe out, which would explain the twitchy rear of the car.

Adding a good dose of toe in as they appeared to have done will calm that down but will increase tyre wear a little.

If it is the same place, I'd be concerned how the rear toe could have changed so much in a short time.

Assuming they've not just setup the gear wrong, could any of the rear bushes be worn or have a little free play, allowing this to happen ?