Tuscan Speed 6 Handling - Terrible!!
Discussion
I have just bought a 2001 Standard Tuscan Speed 6, I love the car and performance is insane, however the handling is terrible, I'm not talking about how it goes round corners as there seems to be plenty of grip, I mean how it just generally handles the road going along in a straight line, any kind of change in the road surface or bumps and it pulls and twiches all over the place. The car also feels a bit unstable at high speeds. As far as I know I have standard shocks, they are coil over. Can anyone tell me if this is just the way they are as I have heard about tramlining and am not sure if this is the same thing, and if changing the suspension to say nitros would solve this problem? or is it down to a bigger issue like the chassis design.
Any help would be greatly appreciated, as at the moment I just dont feel safe driving the car at speed, my much slower 3 series BMW feels much safer at higher speed of course taking much longer to get there.
Any help would be greatly appreciated, as at the moment I just dont feel safe driving the car at speed, my much slower 3 series BMW feels much safer at higher speed of course taking much longer to get there.
first - what tyres does it have on it? 35 or 40 profile. Ours was like this when we first got it - a geo check and change to 40 profile rubber was a huge improvement...next step would be Nitrons.
Another thing to note is that the steering rack is v quick - abou 1.8 lock to lock I think...so if you grip the wheel real tight, hit bumps etc then any movement in your hands is converted to movements of the wheel and can exaggerate things - try to relax when doing 3 figure speeds down b roads
Another thing to note is that the steering rack is v quick - abou 1.8 lock to lock I think...so if you grip the wheel real tight, hit bumps etc then any movement in your hands is converted to movements of the wheel and can exaggerate things - try to relax when doing 3 figure speeds down b roads
Have a butchers' at this
www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=153038&f=5&h=0&hw=tuscan+handles+badly
www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=153038&f=5&h=0&hw=tuscan+handles+badly
bogie said:
first - what tyres does it have on it? 35 or 40 profile. Ours was like this when we first got it - a geo check and change to 40 profile rubber was a huge improvement...next step would be Nitrons.
Another thing to note is that the steering rack is v quick - abou 1.8 lock to lock I think...so if you grip the wheel real tight, hit bumps etc then any movement in your hands is converted to movements of the wheel and can exaggerate things - try to relax when doing 3 figure speeds down b roads
agree. It's like riding the bike. You need to relax and let the car move. If you tense up you won't feel the car under you. either relax or slow down (if you are tensing because you are going to fast).
it's a light car, with rubber band tyres. you will always get a bit of tramlining and a bit of movement even with the worlds best suspension.
But the difference between a good tuscan and a bad one is also night and day. It's probably worth getting a go in another one to get a feel for how yours fits into the spectrum of handling first...it could be that yours in chubbed at the end of the day. 2 out of 4 I drove (or shotgunned) when I was looking for mine drove like dogs.
stu
I fink he means go to tvr power or someone who knows what they are doing.. not your local kwikfit 'laser alignment' place..
It's aboot toe in and toe oot, and shake it all aboot. negative and postive camber, etc.
needs to be power, blackpool or someone like Joolz for that sort of thing.
stu
It's aboot toe in and toe oot, and shake it all aboot. negative and postive camber, etc.
needs to be power, blackpool or someone like Joolz for that sort of thing.
stu
powerlord said:
I fink he means go to tvr power or someone who knows what they are doing.. not your local kwikfit 'laser alignment' place..
It's aboot toe in and toe oot, and shake it all aboot. negative and postive camber, etc.
needs to be power, blackpool or someone like Joolz for that sort of thing.
The all singing, all dancing laser alignment places I took the Tuscan to didn't improve it one bit. I'd leave it to the experts - people that know how to get the most out of Tivs. Both TVR Power and Central TVR did a great job on mine. If you're in Surrey, I guess TopCats and Austec are "kind of" down your way (as in close enough for a drive there & back in a day), and should both be able to help. Have no personal experience of them, but have only ever heard good things...
Could be tyres warming up if your pressures are out. Or you could be taking the road faster as the car's warmed up. Or, possibly more likely, the road surface could just be worse on one side. 
Didn't leave the standard shocks on the Tusc for long enough to tell what the hell they were like in different situations... they just simply weren't up to the performance of the engine & brakes in my mind, so had to go.
Didn't leave the standard shocks on the Tusc for long enough to tell what the hell they were like in different situations... they just simply weren't up to the performance of the engine & brakes in my mind, so had to go.
J_S_G said:
Could be tyres warming up if your pressures are out. Or you could be taking the road faster as the car's warmed up. Or, possibly more likely, the road surface could just be worse on one side.
All accepted.
The manual's recommended tyre pressures presumably relate to the OEM tyres - don't know what they are but the present ones are Proxes. Anyway, I'm still going by the manual.
And, according to my manual:
Front: 22 psi (1.51 bar)
Rear: 22 psi (1.65 bar) (sic)
What should the rear pressure actually be? I'm guessing that 1.65 bar is correct.
Thanks for the replies, I currently have new:
Bridgestone 234/40/ZR18 - front
Bridgstone 245/40/ZR18 - rear
Not sure what the shocks are, they are white and coilover, I remember that when I had a look underneath as when they had it up on the ramps. I dont really want to start forking out huge amounts for new suspension and stuff as the initial huge outlay for this car in my mind should at least provide a car that can drive down a straight road, I'm not talking about problems doing 120mph down b roads, I'm just talking 60-70 mph with pulling and twiching, its not good.
Bridgestone 234/40/ZR18 - front
Bridgstone 245/40/ZR18 - rear
Not sure what the shocks are, they are white and coilover, I remember that when I had a look underneath as when they had it up on the ramps. I dont really want to start forking out huge amounts for new suspension and stuff as the initial huge outlay for this car in my mind should at least provide a car that can drive down a straight road, I'm not talking about problems doing 120mph down b roads, I'm just talking 60-70 mph with pulling and twiching, its not good.
nevil said:
Thanks for the replies, I currently have new:
Bridgestone 234/40/ZR18 - front
Bridgstone 245/40/ZR18 - rear
Not sure what the shocks are, they are white and coilover, I remember that when I had a look underneath as when they had it up on the ramps. I dont really want to start forking out huge amounts for new suspension and stuff as the initial huge outlay for this car in my mind should at least provide a car that can drive down a straight road, I'm not talking about problems doing 120mph down b roads, I'm just talking 60-70 mph with pulling and twiching, its not good.
Standard shocks should be "fine" for that kind of road... not great in supercar terms, but still "more than competent" in sports car terms. Tuscans SHOULDN'T FEEL NERVOUS. Incidentally, can't tell whether you've got totally standard or the revised height-adjustable dampers from that description (won't matter THAT much in the grand scheme of things).
What Bridgestones are they? S03s? If so, do the following in this order:
1. Check the wear on the very inside edge of the front tyre
2. Check the tyre pressures when cold (24 PSI or so all round)
3. Fork out £100 or so for a geometry check from a Tiv specialist
4. Fork out £200 or so for a pair of better front tyres (or borrow a couple of front wheels off someone with Goodyears/Toyos on for 1/2 an hour first to check)
It should feel as planted (in the dry) as a typical euro-roadster, etc.
J_S_G said:
Thanks for the replies, I currently have new:
Bridgestone 234/40/ZR18 - front
Bridgstone 245/40/ZR18 - rear
Not sure what the shocks are, they are white and coilover, I remember that when I had a look underneath as when they had it up on the ramps. I dont really want to start forking out huge amounts for new suspension and stuff as the initial huge outlay for this car in my mind should at least provide a car that can drive down a straight road, I'm not talking about problems doing 120mph down b roads, I'm just talking 60-70 mph with pulling and twiching, its not good.
Standard shocks should be "fine" for that kind of road... not great in supercar terms, but still "more than competent" in sports car terms. Tuscans SHOULDN'T FEEL NERVOUS. Incidentally, can't tell whether you've got totally standard or the revised height-adjustable dampers from that description (won't matter THAT much in the grand scheme of things).
What Bridgestones are they? S03s? If so, do the following in this order:
1. Check the wear on the very inside edge of the front tyre
2. Check the tyre pressures when cold (24 PSI or so all round)
3. Fork out £100 or so for a geometry check from a Tiv specialist
4. Fork out £200 or so for a pair of better front tyres (or borrow a couple of front wheels off someone with Goodyears/Toyos on for 1/2 an hour first to check)
It should feel as planted (in the dry) as a typical euro-roadster, etc.
they are S03's, I have the car in for a service on monday so I will see what they say, bought it from Gatwick TVR(formerly Mole Valley TVR) and so far they seem pretty good so I am hoping they will sort it for me.
Given the amount of time, money, and effort I threw at getting it sorted, the biggest difference of the lot (out of multiple sets of nitrons, multiple sets of springs, multiple geometry checks, untold wheel-balancing and pressure checking exercises) was far and away getting rid of "Death tyre S03" from the front. Doing that as a first step could have saved me a four figure sum. 
J_S_G said:
Given the amount of time, money, and effort I threw at getting it sorted, the biggest difference of the lot (out of multiple sets of nitrons, multiple sets of springs, multiple geometry checks, untold wheel-balancing and pressure checking exercises) was far and away getting rid of "Death tyre S03" from the front. Doing that as a first step could have saved me a four figure sum.
When you say the death tyre SO3's, I presume SO3's are the Bridgestones that I currently have? or is SO3 a term used by different manufacturers? also why do you say death tyre?
nevil said:
When you say the death tyre SO3's, I presume SO3's are the Bridgestones that I currently have? or is SO3 a term used by different manufacturers? also why do you say death tyre?
Bridgestone used to make S02s as one of their best tyres. They were great. Most people really liked them. I had them on the Elise; they were great on that, too. Then they replaced them with the S03. Which appears to have been manufactured out of teflon rather than rubber. It's a camber-seeking missile. "Death tyre" (when it's on the front) because it does its damndest to throw you off into a ditch at any opportunity, regardless of speed, but especially so at speeds that could cause, well, "death".
(But again, I like them on the rear of the car where tramlining, etc. isn't half as much of a problem, and its characteristics quite suit what you want the back-end to do)
J_S_G said:
When you say the death tyre SO3's, I presume SO3's are the Bridgestones that I currently have? or is SO3 a term used by different manufacturers? also why do you say death tyre?
Bridgestone used to make S02s as one of their best tyres. They were great. Most people really liked them. I had them on the Elise; they were great on that, too. Then they replaced them with the S03. Which appears to have been manufactured out of teflon rather than rubber. It's a camber-seeking missile. "Death tyre" (when it's on the front) because it does its damndest to throw you off into a ditch at any opportunity, regardless of speed, but especially so at speeds that could cause, well, "death".
(But again, I like them on the rear of the car where tramlining, etc. isn't half as much of a problem, and its characteristics quite suit what you want the back-end to do)
so on the front you would recommend?
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