steering not centering

[eightsixboy]

ok bassically if you take a corner it will feel like it pulls to that side for abit and then go once you have driven for stright for a little bit. its not that bad
that you can't drive or anything but get a but anoying sometimes.

Whats funny bout it is that it does it left and right, plus i have had the alignment checked and had +3 castor both sides.
I have coilovers with 30mm rca's and all new bushes.

Another thing thats weird is the camber, on my cusco tops its set to the same on both sides but has half a degree more on the left then the right,
nothing looks bent, drives fine, doesn't pull, no excesive tyre wear either. I have been told that with older cars this can happen over time but isn't
half a degree a bit to much of a difference just to be chassis wear?

Any ideas?

cheers

[biggo]

it is camber

not every road surface is flat, deal with it.

[Konakid]

it seems like every ae/ke ive come across has the 'mysterious' .5 degree camber difference on one side.

Best to just get it adjusted to the lower value if you want to run the most camber you can get.


As for the pulling, a prefect alignment is useless if your ball joints, rack ends and tie rod ends are rooted and sloppy.

[Sparkle86]

You should only use the marks on the strut tops as a guide, as there are too many other variables to take into account, eg the clearance on the mounting holes in the strut tower.

And, as KonaKid said, you have to make sure all the other components are in tip top condition as well.

[SLO-030]

Every car will have different camber side to side... Its to allow for the camber change in the road. Its not something bent or worn.

As for the none self centring steering just make sure everything is in top condition. Like tie rods and that and make sure the rack mounting bushes are good too and they are tight

[Jonny Rochester]

Once the ball joints are checked out, and tyres in good condition, you need to get it back on the wheel alignmet machine unless you can get good measurements some other way.

First adjust front caster to same on either side. Not just the same number of threads, the same angle, accurately meausred.

Then adjust camber the same on either side. Don't use the marks on the camber tops, measure the angle properly. 0.5 camber difference from chassis twist is not uncommon on such a old light car.

Adjust toe-in to near zero, with the toe measured from the rear wheels and thrust line, not off the body.

If you are using stiff sidewall tyres (low profile tyres like 40 series, or streatched tyres, or R-spec race tyres) the car will tend to "tram track" and wander according to the camber in the road, or potholes in the road. The only fix for this is to go back to more normal tyres, or get power steering.

You can get some bump steer from potholes and corners in the road if you lower the car without using the "roll centre adjusters" or something similar. But this is fairly mild and not a huge problem.