My Cayman's gone floaty ?
Discussion
Hi,
I've recently bought an 09 Cayman S (Gen2)with just over 20k miles on it, it has been serviced during the last 12 months, had a full pre-delivery inspection, etc. It's on 19" sport classic rims. I have a one year warranty of sorts (Non OPC).
For the past 5 months, I've been absolutely loving it, it just feels uber-precise on the twisties and I've felt that I could just chuck it into a corner and instantly get a feel for the limit..
Anyway, fast forward a bit to last weekend and after leaving it standing for a couple of weeks on a London street, I jumped to do a round trip to Cardiff and it felt instantly 'off'. The handling felt floaty at the front end with me needing to gently correct it..Not confidence inspiring at speed... it almost felt like a very minor sort of 'corkscrew' effect.
Does anyone have any ideas ? Shot shock somewhere or alignment off ? I'm thinking to get it booked in for an alignment but was wondering if anyone else has experienced anything similar.. my first Cayman/Mid-engine car
cheers,
Jono
I've recently bought an 09 Cayman S (Gen2)with just over 20k miles on it, it has been serviced during the last 12 months, had a full pre-delivery inspection, etc. It's on 19" sport classic rims. I have a one year warranty of sorts (Non OPC).
For the past 5 months, I've been absolutely loving it, it just feels uber-precise on the twisties and I've felt that I could just chuck it into a corner and instantly get a feel for the limit..
Anyway, fast forward a bit to last weekend and after leaving it standing for a couple of weeks on a London street, I jumped to do a round trip to Cardiff and it felt instantly 'off'. The handling felt floaty at the front end with me needing to gently correct it..Not confidence inspiring at speed... it almost felt like a very minor sort of 'corkscrew' effect.
Does anyone have any ideas ? Shot shock somewhere or alignment off ? I'm thinking to get it booked in for an alignment but was wondering if anyone else has experienced anything similar.. my first Cayman/Mid-engine car
cheers,
Jono
mathmos said:
Cold weather maybe reducing grip? If it's on summer tyres then they will be really slippy and take ages to warm up.
Most likely a combination of summer tyres on cold roads and dropping tyre pressure. The effective of summer tyre compound hardening in cold weather can be very noticeable on a car with any decent level of performance. your tyres could be 'dead' .. I had a similar experience in the Alps one summer in my Boxster. One day, the car was perfect. The next, it was completely terrible. There was still around 3mm thread. Changed tyres, car was back to perfect.
when were your tyres manufactured? Look for a 4 digit number on the sidewall; 1st 2 numbers is week, 2nd 2 numbers is year. If 6 years old or more, probably time to get new ones.
when were your tyres manufactured? Look for a 4 digit number on the sidewall; 1st 2 numbers is week, 2nd 2 numbers is year. If 6 years old or more, probably time to get new ones.
Thanks a lot guys, you were Dead right - tire pressures !! DOH
So plugged in my (newly purchased) digital pressure gauge/electric pump thingy over the weekend and pressures were all over the place...27 PSI front right, 24.5 front left but the real culprit was RH rear which must have a slow leak as it was 10 PSI !!!!!
Got everything back to 32 all round and normal service resumed
I think in moving from a Tuscan to a Cayman I've sort of become so used to being able to just jump in and drive, I've totally forgotten how important it is to check tyre pressures, especially before a long, reasonably fast trip !
Cheers all.
So plugged in my (newly purchased) digital pressure gauge/electric pump thingy over the weekend and pressures were all over the place...27 PSI front right, 24.5 front left but the real culprit was RH rear which must have a slow leak as it was 10 PSI !!!!!
Got everything back to 32 all round and normal service resumed
I think in moving from a Tuscan to a Cayman I've sort of become so used to being able to just jump in and drive, I've totally forgotten how important it is to check tyre pressures, especially before a long, reasonably fast trip !
Cheers all.
Got one of these http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WIRELESS-TYRE-PRESSURE-M... tyre pressure monitoring kits for christmas - not the last word in elegance but works very well. Set up instructions are crap but once you've figured it out it's all good. Receiver on mine lives in glovebox, plugging into cigarette lighter socket there (it beeps if a tyre loses pressure or gets overheated - and I can check occasionally to see that there isn't a gradual loss of pressure). They say it doesn't affect wheel balance, but the senders weigh 10gm which I thought too much to ignore - stick on wheel weights (easy to fit opposite the valve) are peanuts on ebay - so I fitted them.
jonolondon said:
Aha interesting (tire pressure sensors) ! Now I need to find the wheel nut locks !!! I wonder where they might be !! Another of those great questions I forgot to ask the dealer in my excitement at collecting the car ! ??
No need to take the wheels off - just the dust caps for these sensors (as opposed to the internal sort).jonolondon said:
Aha interesting (tire pressure sensors) ! Now I need to find the wheel nut locks !!! I wonder where they might be !! Another of those great questions I forgot to ask the dealer in my excitement at collecting the car ! ??
Should be in the compartment with the tyre gel in the front boot.
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