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Thread: handling Issue with my S14a - any advice

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    Guest mathew8717's Avatar
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    handling Issue with my S14a - any advice

    Ok so bit of an odd one here, its been an issue for a while and its getting worse and im not sure why so want to pick the SXOC brain a bit!

    Basically when driving along at high or low speeds, so normal roads or motorway speed and going round a slight bend the car will quite violently pull to the left, doesn’t happen very time I go around a corner or anything like that its completely random it seems. Its bloody scary tbh at motorway speeds the car will move enough that it almost changes lanes. as I said its not like there is a pattern to it that I can see and could happen at any time. I have noticed it in the wet and in the dry and its gotten worse over the last couple of months and it will only do it to the left!

    The car has just had a rear end refurb again with strongflex polybushes, so subframe, front diff and rear hubs. Has had new DW rose joints in the rear arms, new DW ball joints in the rear lower arms and then a full 4 wheel alignment. Running 8.5j front and 9.5j rear wheels. HSD Monopro coilovers 6 clicks from soft all round (I will double check this) Upgraded Hardrace ARB’s all round. New disks and pads at the rear (standard items not upgraded as rear break swap is planned asap) and new pads at the front (ferodo upgraded pads).

    Just tried to list everything that’s been done recently that may or may not have contributed.

    So has anyone ever experienced anything like this before? Its an odd one and its got me confused. I will again check everything at the rear end once again to see any potential issues for the third time.

    Any advice or personal experience of whet to check would be great.

    Ta all,


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    Guest auz200sx's Avatar
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    Only in a Mkiii supra that had worn rear bushes and a Skyline that had a ****ed Hicas.

    Rear caliper not sticking is it?

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    Checked your steering rack bushes? They're easy to replace and could be causing your issue.

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    Guest mathew8717's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by auz200sx View Post
    Only in a Mkiii supra that had worn rear bushes and a Skyline that had a ****ed Hicas.

    Rear caliper not sticking is it?
    Just had the drivers side caliper carrier replaced as it was stuck on but its now free and moving, the actual caliper itself was a bit stiff to wind back but seems to be free and moving.



    Quote Originally Posted by handsomedez View Post
    Checked your steering rack bushes? They're easy to replace and could be causing your issue.
    And i upgraded those a month or two ago with energy suspension ones.

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    Is it definitely not just tramlining? Fitting uprated bushes, rose joints etc makes it much more noticeable. Wheel/tyre choice can after ft it too. Any abnormal wear on the tyres? When you got it aligned did you provide settings or did they just align it to what their machine told them to do?

    I've had similar symptoms on my E46 with polybushes on the front and rear arms making it feel worse. Turned out to be a combination of play in the front lower arm ball joints, rack ends and the rack itself. Had to replace one thing at a time until it was cured.
    Last edited by handsomedez; 13-07-2016 at 16:14.

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    Guest mathew8717's Avatar
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    Tramlining? Please explain ahahha

    The tyres are all good as far as i can tell, even wear across, they are not super amazing tyres or anything tho just run of the mill tyres.

    And the alignment was done to a fast Road setup, the guy is the best arround and loads of local sbody owners use him. I will get the specs of the setup when I'm home.

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    When you've got wide tyres and very little suspension movement the wheels/tyres are more likely to follow the contours of the road. It's particularly noticeable when there's tracks worn in the road by lorries etc, cat's eyes etc. Imagine a tram driving on a pair of tracks. The tracks steer the tram, not the other way round.

    It could be that it's just tramlining you're suffering or it could be something else. Is your car particularly low? Have you got anti-bump steer ball joints? When your lower arms are horizontal or pointing upwards towards the hubs this can cause bump steer.
    Last edited by handsomedez; 13-07-2016 at 17:28.

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    Guest mathew8717's Avatar
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    Yhe the car is quite low, and last weekend when ot was bad the car had a full tank, two people and camping kit along with many beers so made it even lower.

    And no I don't have the bump steer ball joints so that could be an issue.

    The only thing with the tramlining is that it only does ot on left hand corners? Can't imagine that it would only do that one way i would have thought it would do it both ways, and i suppose that's the same with the bump steer surley it would do it both ways?



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    You don't happen to still have the standard front tension rods fitted? When the standard grease filled bushes start leaking it can throw your steering (and me personally i noticed the braking) all over the shop. Definitely worth a check.

    Either way best bet is to jack up all 4 wheels individually and check for play in each wheel, check they aren't binding etc, check all bolts are done up especially on the balljoints and track rod ends. A small amount of play in a bush/balljoint can feel like a lot through the steering wheel!

    Good luck!

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    Guest mathew8717's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by drc View Post
    You don't happen to still have the standard front tension rods fitted? When the standard grease filled bushes start leaking it can throw your steering (and me personally i noticed the braking) all over the shop. Definitely worth a check.

    Either way best bet is to jack up all 4 wheels individually and check for play in each wheel, check they aren't binding etc, check all bolts are done up especially on the balljoints and track rod ends. A small amount of play in a bush/balljoint can feel like a lot through the steering wheel!

    Good luck!
    No mate there adjustable aftermarket ones that were on the car when I got it, tho atchiily come to think about it the guy that did the alignment said they were seized and he couldn't adjust them. He said it would affect the self center of the wheels when skidding but that's about it.

    I wonder if that could be it then?

    I do have another set of aftermarket ones to refurb to but haven't got round to it yet.

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    Dorset & Hants Rep pointz's Avatar
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    Any developments on this mat?

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    Guest mathew8717's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by pointz View Post
    Any developments on this mat?
    No mate, tho I have noticed a clunking noise at low speeds tho so I need to look into it

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    NE and Merch Rep type Vigilant teSte's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by mathew8717 View Post
    Tramlining? Please explain ahahha

    The tyres are all good as far as i can tell, even wear across, they are not super amazing tyres or anything tho just run of the mill tyres.

    And the alignment was done to a fast Road setup, the guy is the best arround and loads of local sbody owners use him. I will get the specs of the setup when I'm home.

    Sent from my E6553 using Tapatalk
    Those braces you got from me made my last 14a tramline like a sod and it was on stock suspension

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    Have you checked the anti roll bars ?

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    Guest mathew8717's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by leonatlarge View Post
    Have you checked the anti roll bars ?
    Has just had brand new hardrace ARB's all round mate

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    mine is a bad boy too, tried to run me off on the straights. turned out to be a sticking front caliper..

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    Guest mathew8717's Avatar
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    OK mate, i have looked into this and believe that the rear calipers are past it, passenger side especially, which may explain it. it was an excuse to upgrade the rear breaks to z32's so going to get the swap on and see if that fixes the issue.

    i may take the subframe off again next week as im off work and check it all over again, im getting good at getting the subframe off this thing now!

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    Guest mantachris's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by mathew8717 View Post
    Checked your steering rack bushes? They're easy to replace and could be causing your issue.

    And i upgraded those a month or two ago with energy suspension ones.
    Not quite the same problems you're having but I had vague steering after uprating the steering rack bushes, they weren't quite big enough to hold the rack tight so it would move side to side, might be worth checking them out just in case they're adding to your problem.

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    Quote Originally Posted by mathew8717 View Post
    OK mate, i have looked into this and believe that the rear calipers are past it, passenger side especially, which may explain it. it was an excuse to upgrade the rear breaks to z32's so going to get the swap on and see if that fixes the issue.

    i may take the subframe off again next week as im off work and check it all over again, im getting good at getting the subframe off this thing now!
    either way, z32's would be a good upgrade from old seized up ones

  20. #20
    Guest mathew8717's Avatar
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    Just going to follow this up after i eventually found out what was wrong in case anyone is searching and has the same issue, i did the whole z32 rear swap with still no success so i just put up with the issue and it got realy bad. eventually found out that it was a front ball joint that was knackered and causing the issue, it was tucking the with the amount of play that it had and causing the car movement.

    i replaced the front lower arms with refurbished arms with new polybushed and hardrace balljoints and all is well.

    So lesson learned, even though it feels like the issue is at the back and a floaty rear end it could be the front ball joints and or poly-bushes at the front casing the issue.

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