Suspension wobbles?

[CTE]

I do not know if anyone could shed some light with regard to the following..
Whilst driving in a straight line over say a mahole cover, or similar rutt, both ends of my car have a tendancy to skip sideways, to some degree or another. I have just fitted some new gax spec springs and already have recent gaz dampers. I have yet to get the wheels correctly aligned and the tracking checked, but I have had this done before, with little difference to this erratic behavior. It does however feel very much like the wheels are fighting against each other, but the tyre wear does not indicate anything too untoward, although the outside tread does have a sharp edge on the inside face, whereas all the other tread across a given tyre is nicely rounded on both sides.
The car is brilliant on a non rutted surface (but the Norfolk lanes are far from perfect!), and I do not think it is bump steer. I have also fitted polybushes to the front wishbones. I left the rears because it looked like too much like hard work with my limited workshop, and when I stripped the front end, all the bushes were already as good as new. I cannot get any movement at the rear using a suitable lever, so I guess they are ok.

Any ideas?

[the gazman]

CTE said:

I do not know if anyone could shed some light with regard to the following..
Whilst driving in a straight line over say a mahole cover, or similar rutt, both ends of my car have a tendancy to skip sideways, to some degree or another. I have just fitted some new gax spec springs and already have recent gaz dampers. I have yet to get the wheels correctly aligned and the tracking checked, but I have had this done before, with little difference to this erratic behavior. It does however feel very much like the wheels are fighting against each other, but the tyre wear does not indicate anything too untoward, although the outside tread does have a sharp edge on the inside face, whereas all the other tread across a given tyre is nicely rounded on both sides.
The car is brilliant on a non rutted surface (but the Norfolk lanes are far from perfect!), and I do not think it is bump steer. I have also fitted polybushes to the front wishbones. I left the rears because it looked like too much like hard work with my limited workshop, and when I stripped the front end, all the bushes were already as good as new. I cannot get any movement at the rear using a suitable lever, so I guess they are ok.

Any ideas?

Suspension bushes or a proper geo check.
Guglielmi had it toeing in 10 minutes or .5mm
This is a very common complaint from people with new dampers and springs and you won't get all the benefits until you get the geo right IMHO

[CTE]

Thanks gazman....who is and how do I contact guglielmi?

[Jed-S]

I've not been impressed with the quality of ride over the Norfolk roads in my S3. Any manhole cover or pothole caused a harsh jolt from one side or the other. It was almost like there was too much compression damping and the car was skipping over the obstacle. I initially blamed the shocks for being 15 years old and past their best which no doubt they probably are.

However things are far better today. The mounting bolt for the gearbox to rubber mount was loose by about 5mm. A bit of a pain to get into but eventually I got a spanner onto it and it is now secure. I blame a previous owner for not tightening it fully when he had the box rebuilt .....

The difference in ride quality is unbelievable. Now that the 'box isn't bouncing around the car feels more solid and over ruts/manholes etc the harsh jolting has gone.

So it might be worth crawling underneath and seeing if you can lever the 'box upwards with a bar.

Jed

[Psychobert]

Might also be tyres/tyre pressure.. I've found the tyre walls on P6000s to be a lot weaker than SO2s, to the point I can sometimes feel the car wobble and be skittish. I'm pretty sure that its down to weaker walls..