Poor Handling

[MHHJ]

Hi peoples,

I have been surfing around the net for a few hours looking for some answers to help solve my cars poor handling.

Hopefully I can get some answers here! When I mean poor handling, I mean I can feel every bump and grind on the road and the steering feels "loose" and not that stable. My wife's old Lancer feels safer to drive at times!

I have done a wheel alignment, changed the steering rack bushes, changed the tie rod ends, and had the front two tyres changed (they were pretty worn to be honest). However, the car still does not handle the way it first did when I got it (it felt nice and solid - if that makes sense).

I know some people say a simple bump on the road can throw the car's alignment off and cause terrible handling, however is there no permanent solution for this? Do I really need to get this thing wheel aligned every 3 months!?!?!

I am now going down the path of getting my front control arm bushes replaced with Nolathane ones and hopefully this solves the "loose" steering feel.

Does anyone have any other suggestions of what else I should look for? I am thinking my shocks/springs are getting old and maybe need to get these replaced too. My mechanic had a look at them and said as there are no leaks they should be fine to continue using. Is this correct?

Does anyone also know if the standard R33 GTR shock/springs can go into the VSpec equivalent?

Sorry for long winding rant and questions. Love my GTR and just want it to handle like one!

[GTSBoy]

Just because shocks aren't leaking doesn't mean they still damp the spring motion the way they did when they were new. They do wear out. A proper suspension specialist would be worth talking to about assessing how good they are. I would look at every single bush in the whole car. You'll probably end up replacing a lot of them. The front castor rod bushes are a prime candidate, the front lower inner control arm bushes also. At the rear you could have sloppy HICAS tie rod ends, along with nearly every bush in the rear arms. cheers

[central coast person]

Is it like a fat ass boat???? i had that feel.

My GTS-4 which is the same as the GTR at the front needed the whole castor rods, you can get new nismo ones for $300. It felt ok after but i needed to do the swaybar and D bushes and links aswell to make the car feel more stiff when steering. In the end it is just showing its wear and tear. the springs will cause the car to sway like a boat so consider coilovers around this time aswell. ill be getting some in less than a week because my stockies are well over and done.

Everyones going to post up there 2 cents if they feel like it because there are so many way to go about it but it really is the wear and tear feel of a boat that the r33 gets when it gets worn.

[blind_elk]

"Dead" shocks can induce a harsh ride. I once had a Sigma (company car) that I fitted heavy springs / gas shocks to. It rode better than the "fleet" cars that had crapped out stock suspension components.

Simply test for the shocks - "bounce" the corner of the car. The car should stop bouncing within 1 or 2 bounces.

Looseness in the steering could be due to wear inside the steering rack, causing dynamic toe changes.

Replace the shocks first - good ones, eg Bilstein, Koni. See what difference that makes.

What size tyres do you have?

[GTSBoy]

Simply test for the shocks - "bounce" the corner of the car. The car should stop bouncing within 1 or 2 bounces.

That's provided the springs are not so hard as to make it too difficult to get a convincing result. When the springs are quite stiff, I never feel comfortable pushing down hard enough on the gaurd to get a big enough oscillation.

[KiwiRS4T]

"Dead" shocks can induce a harsh ride. I once had a Sigma (company car) that I fitted heavy springs / gas shocks to. It rode better than the "fleet" cars that had crapped out stock suspension components.

Simply test for the shocks - "bounce" the corner of the car. The car should stop bouncing within 1 or 2 bounces.

Looseness in the steering could be due to wear inside the steering rack, causing dynamic toe changes.

Replace the shocks first - good ones, eg Bilstein, Koni. See what difference that makes.

What size tyres do you have?

When you push down and let go corner should come up and stop dead (no bounces). Some suspension shops will have a fancy meter they can attach to the car and give you a printout.

[MHHJ]

Thanks for the responses guys.

I guess defining it like coming close to a fast boat does make sense. A boat in choppy seas! It feels 'ok' on nice smooth roads, but when you hit the tram tracks, it's like white water rafting. I will test the shocks for the "bounce" effect today and see what I get. I am going start with the front bushes and see where that gets me and the work my way to the shocks.

I have the stock shocks/ springs, and considering the car only has done 70,000 kms I assume they should last a bit longer?