there are a number of things that can result in twitchy freeway steering.
other than an alignment out of desired spec:
1. too high tire pressure
2. too much front toe-out
3. bump steer
4. too much sway bar rate
5. too much steering boost (you can install a valve (from Heidts) to dial in
a restriction)
what did i miss?
-james c
OSP - Once Sub Par
----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael R. Clements" <mrclem@telocity.com>
> Well I'm glad I opened my big mouth! I guess I'll keep my +7 degrees
> caster. And if the tire wear is even at -1.5 camber, what can I do to
> desensitize the steering?
>
> The underdrive pulleys helped a bit, probably by slowing down the power
> steering pump. But I would like to make the car just a bit less twitchy.
> Any advice?
>
> Thanks,
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: james creasy [mailto:Black94PGT@pacbell.net]
> > Sent: Wednesday, April 10, 2002 14:19
> > To: John J. Stimson-III; Michael R. Clements
> > Cc: 'J C'; ba-autox@autox.team.net
> > Subject: Re: Educate me on alignment
> >
> >
> > more positive caster increases the self-centering force,
> > stabilizing the car.
> >
> > more importantly, (in my double a-arm suspension anyway),
> > more positive caster increases the rate of negative camber
> > gain under compression- a good thing!
> >
> > -james c
> > OSP - Often Suspension Primping
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "John J. Stimson-III" <john@harlie.idsfa.net>
> > To: "Michael R. Clements" <mrclem@telocity.com>
> > Cc: "'J C'" <veloimpreza@yahoo.com>; <ba-autox@autox.team.net>
> > Sent: Wednesday, April 10, 2002 2:07 PM
> > Subject: Re: Educate me on alignment
> >
> >
> > > On Wed, Apr 10, 2002 at 12:44:13PM -0700, Michael R. Clements wrote:
> > > > For example, my car turns in too fast and the steering
> > gets darty at
> > > > freeway speeds. Also it has too much power oversteer. So
> > when I get
> > > > my alignment done next, I'm going to reduce the positive
> > caster up
> > > > front from its current +7 degrees, down to maybe +5 or
> > so. Hopefully
> > > > that will slow down the steering and make it a bit less twitchy.
> > >
> > > I thought that caster stabilized the steering by creating a
> > > self-centering force. I would think that less caster would
> > make the
> > > car more twitchy. Some Miata drivers who traded off their
> > caster to
> > > get more camber wound up having the steering wheel pull to
> > the inside
> > > of the turn when the course got tight. That's got to take you by
> > > surprise...
> > >
> > > Have you considered a little less toe out (or more toe in) up front?
> > >
> > > --
> > >
> > > john@idsfa.net
> > John Stimson
> > > http://www.idsfa.net/~john/
> > HMC Physics '94
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