Beside not leaking, do the shocks work? You get a lot of bouncing and
bumping if the dampers aren't doing their job. That was the first thing to
get changed on my Sprite and what a difference it made. Before I changed
them, it sometimes sounded like I had a pneumatic hammer under the front
fenders when I drove over a bump.
The tires that came with it were radials in good condition. I do know that
tires can make all the difference in the world also. I find non-radial
tires to give a ride similar to being on a boat. :)
Robert D.
-----Original Message-----
From ryan marro <ryan_marro at hotmail.com>
To: spridgets@autox.team.net <spridgets@autox.team.net>
Date: January 7, 2001 11:45 AM
Subject: Steering and suspension
>List,
>If I want to redo my steering and suspension, I assume I should do all of
>the steering at one time and all of the suspension at one time. I'm
getting
>ready to do the steering. I have the tie rods and tie rod ends. Can I go
>ahead and replace these and do the suspension later? Or do I need to do
the
>suspension at the same time (i.e. could the old suspension excessively wear
>the new steering components)? My shocks don't seem to leak, the suspension
>seems ok, I've jacked the car up and pulled at 12 and 6 and at 9 and 3 like
>the Haynes says and don't see any problems. I also checked the steering
and
>there is no play in it. Because my Bugeye is an old car and I'm not sure
>what has been done to it before, and because I would like to have some
piece
>of mind, I wanted to replace a lot of things. I figure the old parts can
be
>kept as spares if they turn out to be ok. My steering doesn't seem to be
>quite right. Deep grooves in the road sometimes give the wheels a mind of
>there own. I remember this being a concern on a motorcycle, but it only
has
>two wheels. Shouldn't the Bugeye be free from this problem? Also,
>sometimes over bumps, the wheels act like that wheel on a grocery cart that
>just wobbles wherever it wants to go. The steering wheel stays steady in
my
>hands, but the wheels seem to move. I took the car in to a restoration
shop
>and asked to have the problem I described checked out. He told me my
>problem was separated belts in the old tires. These tires were OLD and I
>have replaced them. I was going to replace them before I took the car to
>the shop, but the guy told me to wait so that I didn't mess up new tires by
>having something out of whack. Any suggestions? Thanks.
>Ryan
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