Why is my car so twitchy??

[Accordtheory]

I can't figure out why my car is so twitchy and refuses to go in a straight line! Before, I had cut stock springs which dropped the car to almost close the gap between my tires and the wheelwells. The front has the prelude upper arms, with all the spacers on the front to maximize the caster. The car used to drive perfectly, better than stock as far as the steering response when it was like this. The camber was at 0, toe was zero, and I think the caster was about 4deg. You could let go of the wheel on the freeway and the car would stay in its lane for a long time, and when you took a corner, the wheel would pull back against you nicely, more than stock, which I liked because it made the car easier for me to control. The wheel would also return to the center nicely when making lower speed turns too. All I really needed was stiffer shocks.
Now, when going around a corner, the steering doesn't have the same feedback at all, it doesn't pull back against you as much, and the car will jump sideways with the smallest input, or almost No input when you drive over different sections of road, and that takes all your confidence away in your ability to control it. (seriously, I almost lost it doing over 100 on an offramp, Not cool) When you drive through a parking lot, the car pulls the wheel in the direction of every surface imperfection, or it the road is angled, it tries hard to pull right off the road. All I did was install the Sprint springs in the front, (which took the right height up about an inch) and take it back to the alignment shop. The alignment guy said he doesn't know why it drives like that, and he is not stupid or ignorant!) The camber is ok, the toe is at zero, what the fuck!! I'm about to put my cut springs back in and get my toe realigned, but I really like how the front doesn't crash into the ground with the slightly higher sprints. Do any of you guys have similar experiences with the sprints, or any ideas about this? Thanks..

[AccordEpicenter]

hmm maybe you have bad ball joints or somthing is off in the rear end? Sounds like somthing is loose to me... very odd

[smufguy]

if a car jumps on slight turns, then the camber of the left and right tires are different. Thats how fucked up my car is and it does not jump, but u can feel that the car turns rapidly on left turns than right turns since my right camber is more than the left camber. but the car does go straight sometimes and sometimes it does not. Weird thing is that under acceleration it has a mind of its own. my left camber is -0.6 less than the right.

Did you hit any curbs or anything? if ur suspension components are bent, usually the lower control arm or the radius arm. U can still adjust and set it to the specs, but under driving and turning the problem will be pronounced.

[Vanilla Sky]

i believe you need to have it put on an alignment rack and checked... and check your geometry, too... you might wanna go a bit more conservative on that caster, though...

[AZmike]

After 2 years with the maximum caster setting on my car (only 2.2 degrees) my cheap remanufactured rack developed some play. I noticed a big improvement when I replaced it. Your even higher setting would be pretty hard on all of your steering components. As far as handling goes, 4 degrees caster should be fine. Some people autocross with 6-8 degrees in other cars. Not only does caster increase self-centering and increase steering effort and feedback, but it also gives you some camber when turning--when it's most helpful without the uneven wear you'd get with static negative camber.

Toe out will cause a lot of what you're describing. If the alignment is still good I don't see how a small ride height and spring rate change would have such a big effect unless some of your bushings or joints are really worn as suggested earlier. Let us know if you find anything.

[FyreDaug]

Listening, this seems messed up.

btw... over 100 on an offramp? :|

[Accordtheory]

Everything is tight..no worn balljoints, etc, and the alignment ok technically "ok". The tech didn't charge me for setting the toe after I installed the sprints, which was cool because I'll no doubt be going back to experiment with different alignment settings.. But if worse comes to worse, I'll set it back down with ground controls..

[thegreatdane]

What about your caster radius rod bushings?

[ICEMAN707]

i think the problem might be from the tie rod. when you lower the car, it is at an angle instead of straight the way it was in stock form. i've been thinking about this, but i think you can flip the tie rods upside down with the castle nuts on the top instead of the bottom. that would make the rack and pinion/tie rod assembly close to horizontal and your steering should be better. mine is not shaky but it does move when i go over imperfections on the road like big patches or speedbumps. so i'm thinking of doing that mod. make sure those castle nuts are tight and the pins are in place to lock them.

[AZmike]

i think the problem might be from the tie rod. when you lower the car, it is at an angle instead of straight the way it was in stock form. i've been thinking about this, but i think you can flip the tie rods upside down with the castle nuts on the top instead of the bottom. that would make the rack and pinion/tie rod assembly close to horizontal and your steering should be better. mine is not shaky but it does move when i go over imperfections on the road like big patches or speedbumps. so i'm thinking of doing that mod. make sure those castle nuts are tight and the pins are in place to lock them.

To minimize bump steer the tie rods should pivot about the same instant center as the upper and lower control arms. Making the tie rods horizontal may reduce your bump steer or it could make it even worse. I haven't done enough measurements to tell you how our cars are setup.

[thegreatdane]

You can not flip the tie rods upside down.. They are conic.

[w261w261]

Try more toe-in. Also, is there any possibility someone might have overinflated the front tires?

[Oldblueaccord]

You can not flip the tie rods upside down.. They are conic.


Yes but the tie-rods have a taper you would have to ream out the knuckle to accept that taper.

wp

[Oldblueaccord]

To minimize bump steer the tie rods should pivot about the same instant center as the upper and lower control arms. Making the tie rods horizontal may reduce your bump steer or it could make it even worse. I haven't done enough measurements to tell you how our cars are setup.

Yes that is why I am a hard sell on lowered cars. Messes up the angles to much.

wp