Oh god! It understeers!

Anyway... the other day i was going around a corner (recommended speed was 25 or 35 i think, so it wasn't too sharp), and I took it around 55 or so. Result? Disgusting understeer with absolutely no hint (as far as I could feel) of oversteer... huh?! The car is a 1990 GXL, converted (100%) to a TII, with the stock (130,000 mile old) suspension. It's got 17 x 7.5" wheels on it with Falken Azenis sport tires (sticky!), and the front wheels are spaced out 5/16".

I thought these cars oversteered?! Am I missing something? I'd really like it to be more neutral if possible...

I was thinking of getting the Tein HA coilovers in a couple of months. The stock spring rates are ~100 / 100 front rear (roughly the same)., while the teins are 475 / 350 (I believe). Either way, the front is much stiffer than the rear with the tein coilovers. Wouldn't this just exacerbate the understeer problem?

must...convert...car... to... dangerous, unpredictable machine
Manolis

 

well, u gotta stiffin up the chasis too, sway bars, strut bars, etc, also bushings so u can tell what the car is telling u more easily

 

Yeah, that happens when you begin to sway and you decelerate, putting the weight of the car up front. Never take a corner that fast in 4th. bang it in 3rd before you enter the corner, otherwise you'll have very little conrtol of the under/oversteer characteristics.

Upgrading the suspension make it worse? Only if it's set-up incorrectly. Upgrade the suspension, get geefier sway bars with urethane bushings, and get a strut-tower bar.

WHaCKo

 

i was just wondering because there was no hint of any oversteer, meanwhile the front end was trying to go through the guard rail on the other side of the road (well, that's a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the point ). Don't FC's have some oversteer dialed in stock?

Hum... might have to go experiment a bit more

 

Um... I get oversteer from my car all the time. It's just your driving style.

'90 GXL

 

Its not just the car, I am not trying to talk **** or anything but driver ability has a lot to do with it.

 

Maybe you got understeer coz you accelerated at the turn-in of the corner?

 

It's prolly just style, like other ppl said. My car used to understeer a lot... Now, somehow, it oversteers when I take turns with zero throttle.. Mashing the gas a little makes it more neutral.. I did NOTHING to the car in the meantime, so I'm assuming I just unconsciously figured out how to do it..or something..

Try hitting the brake during a (fast) turn... that should make you oversteer.. (yeah..be careful when you do this, btw)

-Tesla

 

OK first of all: DONT TRY TO BRAKE IN A CORNER !! Its always best to go down a gear, and use the gas pedal to "steer" the car (especially in a RWD).

Second: ANY car will understeer if you drive it in a corner 20-30% faster than it can "navigate" that corner. Its simple physics. Ever heard of intertia ?

Over/understeer is the effect that you get when you navigate the corner according to the charadcteristics of the car, the status of the road surface, and of course YOUR SPEED !!!

Example: enter a corner cruising in 4th, then drop a gear, and use gas pedal AND steering wheel to navigate it. A FWD will give you understeer NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO (except some notable exceptions). A RWD will let you "choose" if you want undesteer or oversteer....

 

i had bad understeer too, coz weak points like bushings in endlinks, bad balljoints and tie rod ends.....now i changed whole subframe, steering, all balljoints, tie rod ends and going to get car aligned into my needs....and of course putting better tires in front (215 now, going 225)...

i`ll have coilovers and RB swaybars/endlinks here in Europe in couple weeks, GC caster/camber plates are here already waiting ;o)

 

Check your tire pressure. over/underinflating your fronts will cause understeer. If your fronts are bald, it'll do the same thing. A softer rear will cause oversteer in our cars, as it lets the "Rear Steer" work more.

 

Yay my car oversteers! I'm not doing it anymore though cause the neighbors were pissed at me.

 

My car feels more inclined towards oversteer when going through turns hard.

 

were you accelerating?

acceleration in a corner makes it understeer, because you unweight the front tires.

also, if your front suspension bottoms out, you will understeer as well.

 

Don't try and troubleshoot a vehicle with the original suspension with that many miles.&nbsp I put money the rear shocks are no good (i.e. leaking).&nbsp Replacing the shocks does wonders to a bone-stock suspension.



-Ted

 

I have the stock suspension on my T2 from 152k miles ago and I have to gas the crap out of it in a turn to get any kind of oversteer. If I don't do that, I get understeer like a SOB just the same as you did piston eater.

 

Brake before entering turns. No throttle or light thru the turn. Works for me every time.

 

If you want some oversteer, use some trail braking. Brake hard in a straight line before you get to the corner. This puts the weight of the car on the front tires, and makes the *** end light. Let up on the brake pedal as you enter the turn, and if the front end is still weighted, the tail will whip around pretty good. Warning! Don't do this unless you are ready for it, and there are no other cars or heavy objects around.

You are right. In a steady corner, our cars have a tendency to understeer. Of course, I'm only talking about in stock form. If you are accelerating through a corner, you will probably understeer if you have an N/A, because there is not enough power to induce power oversteer.

Try going to an autocross to practice your driving skills. After a while, you should be able to make the car do some different things. Good luck.

 

Don't those cars have the same system that causes toe adjustments to prevent oversteer. Check out http://www.k2rd.com/Online_Catalog/F...sion-index.htm
The toe in eliminators are $40. I recognize that you have a GXL but i'm not sure if the actual turbo II differs in that dept.

 

weird....i have my Tokico shocks for one year and couple monts, no more than 20 000 miles...could they got bad that fast ?