After I put my lowering springs on my car wants to wander over uneven roads. You have to chase the car around sometimes. I took it to get aligned and it was still straight after the install. I looked at Steeda's website and seen that they have offset rack bushings, x2 balljoints and bumpsteer kits but I don't know what would be the one to start with. What would be the best part to try and solve this problem with to start off? And what have any of you done to correct this problem on your own cars?
Suspension Help!!!
- Thread starter turboscrew
- Start date
you shouldn't have that much trouble with bumpsteer with the C springs but X2's and bumpsteer kit with help with the bumpy road travel. it will fix the problem.
get the x2's and bumpsteer kit from steeda. that should fix your problem. You need a special press to get the balljoints out, like a c clamp, with various size sleeves. the bumpsteer, even with trying to mark the old tie rod end links, will allow your tires to face different directions, so take your time, and you will definately need another alignment. good luck
You shouldn't need any parts to correct bumpsteer!
From the Maximum Motorsports site:
BUMPSTEER
Bumpsteer is the toe setting of a wheel changing as the suspension moves up and down over bumps, or with body roll while cornering.
There is a myth that the tie rod should be kept parallel to the ground to avoid bumpsteer. THIS IS NOT TRUE! What IS required, is that the tie rod be kept parallel to the lower control arm so that as the suspension moves, the arc of the ball joint and the arc of the tie rod end do not cause any steering input to the spindle. As you lower your car, the tie rod end and the lower control arm move together, staying
parallel. If you install offset rack bushings on a stock geometry K-member, you are making the tie rod end
and the lower control arm NOT parallel. You will actually CREATE bumpsteer by installing offset rack bushings on a stock K-member.
Ford engineers have actually done a very good job at designing a low level of bumpsteer for daily driven cars. Specifically, Ford has designed the bumpsteer to toe out the front wheels under bump. This is a roll understeer condition; the outside loaded tire will turn to the outside of a corner as the body rolls. This condition is designed by Ford by positioning the tie rod end slightly low relative to the steering rack.
Increasing caster raises the tie rod end relative to the steering rack. Increasing caster up to half of the
adjustment range with our Caster/Camber Plates will actually HELP bumpsteer and help performance by
reducing roll understeer. If you increase caster beyond half of the adjustment range, the bumpsteer curve will shift toward toe IN under bump, or a roll-oversteer condition. In this case, it is beneficial to raise the rack, but only by about 1/10 of an inch. Offset rack bushings raise the rack far too much. The best solution is to lower the tie rod end using a bumpsteer kit (MMTR-3,-4). See our test results in the July 1993 issue of Super Ford for details.
Competition cars using stock K-member geometry will also benefit from an adjustable tie rod end kit (MMTR-3,- 4). These kits provide an assortment of spacers in .015" increments to best position a rod end at exactly the correct height; thus taking into account suspension geometry tolerances.
Offset rack bushings DO have a purpose and may be beneficial if you have raised your inner control arm pivots using an aftermarket K-member. In this case, raising the rack will help match the geometry of the raised inner control arm pivots. If you do use offset rack bushings, be sure to only use aluminum bushings - polyurethane offset bushings do not work. The urethane has too much “give”, and therefore it is impossible to get the rack mounting bolts tight enough to prevent the bushings from rotating during hard cornering.
______________________________
Are you sure it wasn't doing the same thing before the springs went in? Are you sure it's not just those wide tires following the ruts ion the road?
From the Maximum Motorsports site:
BUMPSTEER
Bumpsteer is the toe setting of a wheel changing as the suspension moves up and down over bumps, or with body roll while cornering.
There is a myth that the tie rod should be kept parallel to the ground to avoid bumpsteer. THIS IS NOT TRUE! What IS required, is that the tie rod be kept parallel to the lower control arm so that as the suspension moves, the arc of the ball joint and the arc of the tie rod end do not cause any steering input to the spindle. As you lower your car, the tie rod end and the lower control arm move together, staying
parallel. If you install offset rack bushings on a stock geometry K-member, you are making the tie rod end
and the lower control arm NOT parallel. You will actually CREATE bumpsteer by installing offset rack bushings on a stock K-member.
Ford engineers have actually done a very good job at designing a low level of bumpsteer for daily driven cars. Specifically, Ford has designed the bumpsteer to toe out the front wheels under bump. This is a roll understeer condition; the outside loaded tire will turn to the outside of a corner as the body rolls. This condition is designed by Ford by positioning the tie rod end slightly low relative to the steering rack.
Increasing caster raises the tie rod end relative to the steering rack. Increasing caster up to half of the
adjustment range with our Caster/Camber Plates will actually HELP bumpsteer and help performance by
reducing roll understeer. If you increase caster beyond half of the adjustment range, the bumpsteer curve will shift toward toe IN under bump, or a roll-oversteer condition. In this case, it is beneficial to raise the rack, but only by about 1/10 of an inch. Offset rack bushings raise the rack far too much. The best solution is to lower the tie rod end using a bumpsteer kit (MMTR-3,-4). See our test results in the July 1993 issue of Super Ford for details.
Competition cars using stock K-member geometry will also benefit from an adjustable tie rod end kit (MMTR-3,- 4). These kits provide an assortment of spacers in .015" increments to best position a rod end at exactly the correct height; thus taking into account suspension geometry tolerances.
Offset rack bushings DO have a purpose and may be beneficial if you have raised your inner control arm pivots using an aftermarket K-member. In this case, raising the rack will help match the geometry of the raised inner control arm pivots. If you do use offset rack bushings, be sure to only use aluminum bushings - polyurethane offset bushings do not work. The urethane has too much “give”, and therefore it is impossible to get the rack mounting bolts tight enough to prevent the bushings from rotating during hard cornering.
______________________________
Are you sure it wasn't doing the same thing before the springs went in? Are you sure it's not just those wide tires following the ruts ion the road?
I guess some tires, track with groves in the road more than others, and wider will effect this. Mine did the same thing, seemed to pull one way or another, after I lowered it, and my factory balljoints started squeaking BAD soon after the drop. So while we had the front suspension apart for the balljoints, we put the bumpsteer kit in, to save labor in the future. alignment, after alignment gets annoying and costly
Right now I'm using Kumho 712's that are going to be replaced in a couple of months. I'm going with some Hankook Ventus H405's in the stock size 245/45 17. I need something with a little more treadwear than the Kumho's. I'll call Maximum Motorsports today and see what they recommend. Thanks for the help.
StangPro
New Member
Kuhmo 712's are garbage and that's a big part of your problem I suspect.
Other thing is probably a lack of caster. What were your alignment numbers (not that most printouts mean anything) when you installed the springs?
Other thing is probably a lack of caster. What were your alignment numbers (not that most printouts mean anything) when you installed the springs?
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