Steering has become really easy after suspension change?

Heya guys,

Could anyone clear up a steering question for me?

I've changed my suspension on the front and rear with Koni shocks and eibach springs, after I changed it all over the steering has become really easy and not stiff like it was.. It's not such a bad thing really I can do a roundabout with my little finger to be honest and at speed!

When I fitted the suspension I also had some rubbing issue which I managed to fix with the addition of some spacers, also my ride height has changed quite a bit, they are wound all the way up and I will try to wind them down in the morning.
(was gonna see if the suspension settles,as they've only been on a day or so)

But is there any real reason why it was once so stiff and now has become really really easy to turn the wheel? Could it be that because it's so high that their is less stress/friction being transferred through the steering rack because of the angle of the connecting rods to the wheels?

Kind regards,
Didge

have you had the camber checked? if not thats probably why

rubjonny said

have you had the camber checked? if not thats probably why

Cheers buddy,

I've been reading about how to adjust the camber on the shocks, it's the elongated upper mounting hole on the lower section of the suspension shock.

Are camber settings isolated to each car and suspension setup, or are they universal no matter what the suspension setup? I can't find any information about that from searching, as if the settings are very similar or the same I was going to ask someone to take an image of their settings and I could get them setup to what they have an work from there..

See when I changed the shocks an springs I firstly had no idea that, that was some kind of camber setting infact changing the camber settings did not even come into my mind when changing the suspension.

Still learning eh!

Camber isn't universal but there's a range of camber which is 'in spec' and this can be used with uprated/lowered suspension. There is the possibility of setting it to whatever you like, but you'd need to know what you're doing otherwise you could make the handling of your car dodgy.

As well as camber, you need the tracking set too. Camber should be done first, then tracking (if you do it the other way round, resetting camber affects tracking). Lowering definitely alters the tracking, and can throw it well out of spec leading to very light steering, very heavy steering, and generally bonkers handling (and tyre wear) until its properly sorted out.

I know what you talking about.
Just my opinion and assessment if that.
I went from p slots with 70profile tyres and spongey suspension
To new rims with low pros and new stiffer shocks and springs.
I put it down to simply stiffer setup….

around 1-1.5degrees -ve works for me, but everyone has a setting they prefer. you need to get a set of gauges really plus a flat section of ground to park the car on in an ideal world.

for mine i got some reasonably flat ground and one of those magnetic base camber gauges attached to the wheel hub. To set it I took off 1 wheel and put a jack under the ball joint, set car as close to normal ride height as possible then adjust. repeat for the other side, then get the camber set.

its not going to be 100% perfect unless you can find a totally flat area, but it did the job close enough for me in a pinch.

Cheers fellas,

I've redone the complete front suspension today and tried sorting out the camber as best I can, It still feels really light. I'm going to put this down to the suspension changing the handling and just to be on the safe side I'm going to re-do the pressure in the tyres and get someone in the know down at the garage just to check the balancing of the wheels and tracking.

After ive played with it, because at the end of the day I have to learn how to fix this car myself!
If the garage says it's all fine then I've already learnt how to fit suspension and do the camber/tracking over the last few days


Cheers for your help an advice fellas!
I'll update with what the garage says, just so you know either to never let me near your suspension either that or I might be able to help you's out as a spare hand eh! Lol

Kind regards,
Didge

Did you replace the top mounts?

Mine seemed lots better with the new front suspension, i think the new top mounts helped!

Hi all my 83 cab has really heavy steering ! Changed top mounts no difference she's running 14" scala alloys andstandard springs , came down a multi storey carpark the other day and it was real hard work wants to centralise it's self all the time , no grip on the road in the wet either real dodgy   ! Any clues I'm thinking the front shocks are no good although no leaks from them look forward to your comments

Sounds like the same, a classic case of the tracking being out? This needed adjusting after new top mounts, aswell as the camber (first). You can do a basic check to see if the front shock absorbers are knackered : press down hard on the front corner of the bonnet/wing area to lower the car, then quickly release. The car should quickly rise straight up, then back down to where it sits without bouncing up and down more times. If it bounces more, they're probably knackered, especially if they're noisy too.