Discussion
Hi, all going well, new steering UJ's, rebuilt rack, rebuilt front suspension, and the Griff goes straight on flat roads. But, it still follows the camber on country roads, and can be disconcerting (dangerous)at high speeds. I have 205/55/15 SO2's in good condition, the camber is 0.75 degrees with 5mm toe in. Anyone else not have this? Or know how to go one stage better? (ps, dampers are original konis, in good condition - I am not sure they would affect straight line stability?).
Ta
Nic
Ta
Nic
NicBowman said:
(ps, dampers are original konis, in good condition - I am not sure they would affect straight line stability?)
Mine were the original Koni's also wich had no leaks and seemed ok, I had tramlining realy bad. Changed them for a set of specialy developed Koni sport shocks, the effect this had on the cars handling is short of amazing. The straight line stability is way better then it was, I can now drive with my hands of the wheel, no worrys. Turn in is way better, in all replacing the shocks has transformed the car, I never knew that they could have such a big impact on handling. You should realy consider changing your old Koni's for a set of new shocks (Nitron's Ohlins etc, you name it), you will feel a big difference to.
Fred
A change from Bridgestone S-03's at the front to Toyos cured tramlining that was horrible on my car !
Now much, much better - infact barely noticeable. That is with Avo shocks instead of the usual standard suspension; albeit the Avo's are effectively set to 'standard'.
I wouldn't have believed that tyres could have made that much of a difference ..... but they did
Now much, much better - infact barely noticeable. That is with Avo shocks instead of the usual standard suspension; albeit the Avo's are effectively set to 'standard'.
I wouldn't have believed that tyres could have made that much of a difference ..... but they did

Softer tyres will make a huge difference as mentioned by john57. SO2s are a bit softer than SO3s so you may not get quite as much of an improvement though. I'm sure there will be a geometry change that would help too but probably at the expense of crisp turn-in. My car is still a little susceptible to tramlining even with Nitrons and Toyos (albeit R888s which have harder sidewalls than the road Toyos). Handles like a dream though 

john57 said:
A change from Bridgestone S-03's at the front to Toyos cured tramlining that was horrible on my car !
Now much, much better - infact barely noticeable. That is with Avo shocks instead of the usual standard suspension; albeit the Avo's are effectively set to 'standard'.
I wouldn't have believed that tyres could have made that much of a difference ..... but they did
Now much, much better - infact barely noticeable. That is with Avo shocks instead of the usual standard suspension; albeit the Avo's are effectively set to 'standard'.
I wouldn't have believed that tyres could have made that much of a difference ..... but they did

SO 3s have very hard sidewalls, I think I was one of the first people to experience this years ago. I took the company to task about it as it made my car almost undriveable with the Racelines, they sent a spotty youth out to test it and his report naturally laid the blame on the cars set up even though I had a geo set up previously. I spoke to Ravenscroft at the factory and he concurred that the old SO 2s were a much more suitable tyre for the type of car, he also hinted that there had been some interaction with Bridgestone which surprised me at the time. Anyway, a nice chap at the company relented and I got a refund. I had the tyres removed at Stapletons in Royston where there were a set from a Porsche that the owner had removed for the same reasons.
Edited by apache on Sunday 18th June 08:59
shpub said:
Apache- you were also running bigger wheels with lower profile tyres that didn't help matters....
I like the S03 but they need to run a bit lower pressures than a s02. Just removing a couple of pounds is all that is needed. I typically run the fronts at 20-21 and the rears at 22-24.
I like the S03 but they need to run a bit lower pressures than a s02. Just removing a couple of pounds is all that is needed. I typically run the fronts at 20-21 and the rears at 22-24.
Steve, that's why I said 'with the Racelines'
I tried lower pressures but it made the manual steering too heavy,
Edited by apache on Saturday 17th June 13:19
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