Twitchy handling on motorway
Discussion
Hi all,
This may be a silly post but I was wondering what would improve the ride on a motorway - as I bought my Caterham for touring and there will be motorways involved, I find whenever I exceed 90 mph (hope there's no employees of the police force reading this) the ride becomes very fidgety. Maybe this is what to expect or perhaps my Caterham is at fault somewhere?
Many thanks
This may be a silly post but I was wondering what would improve the ride on a motorway - as I bought my Caterham for touring and there will be motorways involved, I find whenever I exceed 90 mph (hope there's no employees of the police force reading this) the ride becomes very fidgety. Maybe this is what to expect or perhaps my Caterham is at fault somewhere?
Many thanks
webmobo said:
Thanks, i'll be checking the front wheel alignment ASAP.
Cycle wings - do flares really lift the front?
Cycle wings - do flares really lift the front?
Some people reckon they do. I had flared wings for about 4 years and 10,000 miles a year and never noticed any high speed lift. The ruts created by lorries on motorways do cause my 7 to twitch around a bit anyway.
tortoise said:
Too much toe in might make the front twitchy. Neutral or slight toe out might help and too little castor would probably have the same effect.
Actually a touch of toe in would act to stabilise the car and dull the steering response, while toe out would tend to make the car twitchy, would recommend getting it checked though. Maybe stupid but tyre pressures too high? Drove mine with the tyres at 40psi after the SVA
and it wasn't a fun experience - felt like it was aquaplaning everywhere 
Other way round Shirley? And buy some Stunner Scudo Tyres from Camskill. These are 15 inch and are a cheap softish compound standard road tyre that would be okay for touring as well as they have plenty of grooves. People have been using them to great effect in the clubs sprint championship in the last few years.
Whatever you do dump the pile-ups
Everyone who has has been pleased they did
In the short term as said above, check your tracking front and rear and your tyre pressures which should normally be in the 18-20 psi range on a seven
Whatever you do dump the pile-ups
Everyone who has has been pleased they did In the short term as said above, check your tracking front and rear and your tyre pressures which should normally be in the 18-20 psi range on a seven
Edited by pesmo on Friday 12th January 08:50
Check your tyre pressures first. And binning the tyres wouldn't be a bad idea either (Pilots are junk - I'd go as far as to say they're dangerous on a 7!).
And checking for broken bits is also cheap
If that doesn't sort it, take it to someone who can set the car up properly (with you in it).
And checking for broken bits is also cheap
If that doesn't sort it, take it to someone who can set the car up properly (with you in it).
SimonY said:
tortoise said:
Too much toe in might make the front twitchy. Neutral or slight toe out might help and too little castor would probably have the same effect.
Actually a touch of toe in would act to stabilise the car and dull the steering response, while toe out would tend to make the car twitchy, would recommend getting it checked though. Maybe stupid but tyre pressures too high? Drove mine with the tyres at 40psi after the SVA
and it wasn't a fun experience - felt like it was aquaplaning everywhere Apologies, you are correct of course. I think caterham recommends 20 minutes of toe in. Toe out is more of a track setting and will give much quicker steering response, so certainly not what you need to make the car more stable!
Ditch the Pilots before they ditch you. I had them on my Omega and they were OK in the dry but nowhere near as good as Goodyear Eagles in the wet, even on that great fat lump. As many have said, including Murph3555 above, verging on the dangerous on a car that only weighs almost one third as much.
Many thanks for the info, I thought the tyres were not too good - coming on the M40 sideways (maybe a bit too much right foot as well! ). I'll get a specialist to check the font wheels. Would anyone have any recommendations? Also, to get a good understanding what tyres are everyone running?
). I'll get a specialist to check the font wheels. Would anyone have any recommendations? Also, to get a good understanding what tyres are everyone running?webmobo said:
Many thanks for the info, I thought the tyres were not too good - coming on the M40 sideways (maybe a bit too much right foot as well! ). I'll get a specialist to check the font wheels. Would anyone have any recommendations? Also, to get a good understanding what tyres are everyone running?
). I'll get a specialist to check the font wheels. Would anyone have any recommendations? Also, to get a good understanding what tyres are everyone running?Now you're starting a hot topic
Do a search here and on Blatchat and you'll find plenty of advice.
I use Yokohama 21Rs and find them a very agreeable road tyre - last a reasonable time, good grip, excellent wet weather performance and cheap. Run them at much lower pressures than you'd think (start around 18-20psi and work down).
If you want to stay with your 15" rims then Scudo Stunners are an excellent tyre for road use and at around £30 a corner you can't really go wrong. If you want to move to 13" or 14" rims, Yokohama AO21r's are another very good all round tyre with 185/70 x 13" under £40 a corner and 60 series being around £60.
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