MR2 Roadster Owners Club

The Workshop => Maintenance, Problems & Troubleshooting => Topic started by: Anonymous on October 25, 2005, 16:52

Title: Really Light Steering?
Post by: Anonymous on October 25, 2005, 16:52
Hi,

Does anyone else's MRS /2 feel really light at erhem... 'less than legal' speeds? I'm talking about very very light at the front end at 90+ - to the point where it almost feels dangerous.  

I know the car's built more for going round corners quickly than straight line runs but I do use it on the motorway sometimes and it takes some real gettin used to.  

Other than looking at tracking - any ideas?  or maybe it's normal?
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Post by: aaronjb on October 25, 2005, 16:53
First thing to mind would be (after tracking  s;) ;) s;) ) tyre pressures. Even just slightly high can make the car feel quite wandery.

Other than that it could be suspension - but our cars aren't generally old enough.. Having said that, a couple of people here have had shock absorbers fail on fairly new cars, which can lead to somewhat 'unpredictable' handling  s;) ;) s;)  (Usual checks for that - look for oil leaking down them etc)
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Post by: Tem on October 25, 2005, 17:08
Many have noticed that  s:? :? s:?  Lowering helps, smaller front tyres help, front lip helps, together they made the issue go away on mine.

Of course after the obvious things like tyre pressures, alignment...
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Post by: mph on October 25, 2005, 17:20
With my '2, the front-end did seem to go lighter between 100-120, but stablised very well at speeds above that. Mine was lowered however, so as Tem says you could be experiencing a similar thing but at lower speeds.
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Post by: Liz on October 25, 2005, 17:41
My felt like that and the suspension strut had gone on the offside.  If this is your problem make sure Mr T change them in pairs - they only done one of mine at first.
Title: Re: Really Light Steering?
Post by: Tem on October 25, 2005, 19:17
Quote from: "Waddy"'less than legal' speeds?

at 90+

I just noticed you said less than legal speeds...but did you mean over legal speeds? What I described above happends at around 100mph, like mph said.
Title: Re: Really Light Steering?
Post by: aaronjb on October 25, 2005, 19:50
Quote from: "Tem"I just noticed you said less than legal speeds...but did you mean over legal speeds?

I'd say that's what he meant - it's one of those silly English turns of phrase  s;) ;) s;)  'less than legal' as in 'not legal' rather than 'speeds lower than the legal limit'.. But you knew that anyway  s:) :) s:)
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Post by: Anonymous on October 26, 2005, 09:51
Thanks guys.  I don't think it's anything serious other than the general handling characteristics of the car.  Sometimes it feels as though it would be more at home being a plane - it really feels as though its about to take off! Maybe I'll just have to push past 100 until it stabilises again!

It sounds as though lowering will solve it.  What's the recommended amount?
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Post by: roger on October 26, 2005, 14:33
Quote from: "Waddy"What's the recommended amount?

AFAIAA 30mm is the only reduced sized springs you can get.
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Post by: mrsmr2 on October 26, 2005, 17:52
I can't say I've noticed a big difference even at and up to 120 leptons.

Still, I can't say I've been doing much steering at those speeds to really notice.  On track I usually get to about 100 (when I do steer) with no obvious differences.

Jason
Title: ligh at the front end
Post by: Anonymous on October 31, 2005, 16:19
i had the same problem,  tyre pressures too high. i kept lowering then until it felt stable
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Post by: proeliator2001 on October 31, 2005, 19:15
It may be partly in the mind - when I first started dabbling with higher speeds I thought the car I had at the time went a little light - more experience showed that yes, while it was obviously a little lighter due to axle lift, it wasn't anything like as bad as I first thought and just needed a lighter touch of the steering to keep things ticking along.

Rent out Rockingham Oval and practice for a while   s:D :D s:D
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Post by: Anonymous on October 31, 2005, 20:37
I get the uneasy feeling above 80 in my 2   s:shock: :shock: s:shock:  

Whats the recommended pressure for the fronts?
Mines done less than 3k miles and so far I've not checked them.
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Post by: aaronjb on November 1, 2005, 08:14
Quote from: "nighthawk"Whats the recommended pressure for the fronts?
Mines done less than 3k miles and so far I've not checked them.

Depends what tyres you have on the car  s;) ;) s;)  Are you still running on the stock Bridgestone or Yokohama tyres? If so, the pressures from the manual should work fine (err.. I think that's 26psi front, 29psi rear) - if you're on Toyo T1-S then I find 28-31 works nicely.
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Post by: Anonymous on November 1, 2005, 08:29
Quote from: "nighthawk"I get the uneasy feeling above 80 in my 2   s:shock: :shock: s:shock:  

Whats the recommended pressure for the fronts?
Mines done less than 3k miles and so far I've not checked them.

26f / 32r
Title: light steering
Post by: Anonymous on November 1, 2005, 16:27
i just lowered the pressures at a pound a time then tried  a fast run until it felt right. i agree with you it can feel frightening even at  80+, give it a go it works for me.
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Post by: proeliator2001 on November 1, 2005, 20:48
I've done three figures in mine and find it nicely planted - I use a digital pressure gauge and set it to 26 front (Pots).
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Post by: Anonymous on November 1, 2005, 21:14
Mines on the stock yoko's at the moment, so i'll set them to 26 at work tomorrow.

My last car was modifed and I sort of told myself that I'd not play with this one, but the drive isn't as sure footed as i'd like at speed on the northwales A roads, so somethings going to need to change.....  s:wink: :wink: s:wink:
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Post by: proeliator2001 on November 1, 2005, 21:43
Surprised you can find more than 10 feet of speed cam free roads in North Wales with CC Braunstrom around   s:lol: :lol: s:lol:    Or have you fitted false plates to your car to avoide pesky gatsos!
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Post by: Anonymous on November 1, 2005, 21:52
if you know where your going, you can avoid the cams    s:wink: :wink: s:wink:  

the helicopter is a bit harder to get away from, but thats where no having a roof comes in handy   s8) 8) s8)