Do they make bump steer tie rod ends for our cars? I cant find any. I have a horrid problem with bumpsteer in my car. Need help ASAP. I have 17" rims with 235 potenza S03 rubber 1.2 " spring tech spings with stock struts. 2005 cavi. What can i do to stop this problem?
Bumpsteer is quite minimal in our cars. Do you mean Suspention Tech or Spring Tech??
Suspension Tech makes the 1.2" drop. Spring Tech makes 1.8" drop.
Spring Techs on stock struts would give you some horrible bounce, that'll kill your handling.
Suspension Tech wouldn't bounce, not on your basically new struts anyway.
I have Suspension Tech Springs. the 1.2" drop. Maybe i hit a pot hole and bent a controll arm or something? It's really bad. Especially on the highway. It darts all over the place. Seems to be fine when on completely even and non bumpy roads. But anyways. The guy who just did my alignment said it might be my tires considering there so wide. Im open to sugestions. I need to fix this asap. It's dangerous to drive on the highway like this. I herd replacing the upper tie rod with an adjustible one can fix the problem. Anways i have no idea what i should really do and now im ranting..
Help Me PLEASE!
My understanding is that you're running your stock struts, lowering/higher-rate springs with 17" wheels and much wider tires.
I think your very wide tires with stiff sidewalls are playing a big part here. First, wide tires are known to track grooves in the pavement surface, causing highway speed "wander". Second, a stiffer tire sidewall will, conceivably, not deform to adapt to pavement irregularities but rather, will transmit them into the steering wheel, giving you way more steering feedback than you would ever want. If you want to try to rule your tires out as the cause of the problem, then either lower your tire pressures or, if you can, install your original tires/wheels (for now) to see if that solves the problem.
I think that if you're running stock struts that that alone can cause problems as you should need some struts with higher rebound damping to keep your heavier-than-stock 17" wheel/tire combination planted to the ground. You'll also need it to control your new higher-rate springs. I know that they aren't cheap, but IMO, aftermarket struts to match your new springs and tire/wheel combo would be wise.
If it's not the wheel/tire combo or the struts that are the problem and if it really is bump steer, then you should be able to use any bump steer-adjustable tie rod ends that will fit the diameter/threads of your car's tie rods. You'll almost certainly have to have it professionally bump steer ailgned, though.
I've got RE750 225/45R17s and I don't notice any track.
After-market struts (like KYB AGXs) would be a good idea, but I don't think that's your problem per-say.
Doesn't make any strange sounds or anything like that?
wider tires will tend to follow grooves easier
but you shouldnt notice it very much unless the groove is pretty bad
id be more will to bet the alignment is still off some , if he gave you a print out , id take it to another shop and see if you can get the tech to look it over and maybe test drive your car if its that bad
also you might want to try swaping tires side to side , see if that changes anything
S03s are directional, you can't swap them side to side.
OK so give us an update. I want to see what solved the problem.
Ok. Just for some more info.
I had my winter tires on about 2 months ago and this problem was happening.
I think it may have something to do with hitting a curb last november...
Now that i think hard it srated about a month after. Maybe i bent a controll arm? or just blew my struts. Anyhow I'm going to order some koni yello struts for now. Just the front though. I'll buy shocks for the back when i can afford it. I'm going to check the controll arms but i'm not quite sure how to tell if their bent.
On another issue
Some kid keyd my car the other day. Right down the right side. So now i have the left rear quarter pannel with slight body damage and the right door + right reer quartrer pannel to paint. If i'm going to spend this much money should i consider a good paint job?
