Wheel alignment/ handling

[johncaul]

Hello all, the hadling on my tuscan 2 seems to have taken a turn for the worse- tramlining and jittery at speed. The tyre pressures are OK, so i guess one of the millions of speed bumps in London may have knocked the alignment out. Can anyone recomend a London garage that can do 4 wheel laser alignment and check the geometry for me, preferably south of the river?

Cheers
John

[kingofhearts1961]

not sure if this helps, i went to elite wheels essex and had all 4 wheels balanced i also took the camber/toe settings as per tvr with me. not cheap £135 but the ride is so much better now.

[GT TVR]

I wasn't happy with the handling of my Tuscan 2S either; it was brilliant on the track and in corners, but nervous at high speed.

Got an advice from Derek Gardiner (thanks again Derek!) to use these settings:
FRONT:
toe-in: 4 min per wheel, 8 min total
camber: -1 (per wheel)

REAR:
toe-in: 12 min per wheel, 24 min total
camber: -1,5 (per wheel)

Must say it's more relaxing and more stable going fast on B-roads; cornering remains fantastic. Haven't tried high speed motorway yet.

Might still go for Nitrons but for the moment I'm very happy. Roll on summer!

[GT TVR]

tripleblack said:

Hi,
I have a 2001 Tuscan S with Nitrons. Smashed the car so it needs new wishbones . Will these alligment figures also work out for the MK1.
Peter

Yep, think so.
Some people also recommend going to 225's on the front.

Edited by GT TVR on Tuesday 12th May 09:11

[VerySideways]

Mine's a mk1 on nitrons, quite low, and the front end is very nervous - follows cambers and ruts with some urgency and is nervous at motorway speeds.

Sounds like i need a geo...

[GT TVR]

VerySideways said:

Mine's a mk1 on nitrons, quite low, and the front end is very nervous - follows cambers and ruts with some urgency and is nervous at motorway speeds.

Sounds like i need a geo...

Shouldn't be with Nitrons. The geo settings above will help. And 225's front. Some drivers set the dampers a bit softer and use tougher springs.

[Arj]

VerySideways said:

Mine's a mk1 on nitrons, quite low, and the front end is very nervous - follows cambers and ruts with some urgency and is nervous at motorway speeds.

Sounds like i need a geo...

Hi Pete - congrats on your new car. As I've suggested in another thread, tyres can make a huge difference too. I recently changed mine to Vredestein Ultrac Sessanta, which to my surprise made the car much more stable. On Goodyear F1s (and later F1 at the front and Dunlop SP9000 at the back) the car had major tramlining issues - on the Vredesteins that issue has almost entirely disappeared. I still have 255/35/18 on all corners and inflate them to 28psi.

[VerySideways]

Thanks - i'm on T1R's and really like them actually, 225 front 255 rear.
Cornering is fabulous and grip is wonderful, it's just a little fidgety in a straight line...
Also suspect the rear end is a little stiff but i can't afford to back the dampers off without raising the ride height slightly, and have ordered a C spanner so i can do that.

[GT TVR]

VerySideways said:

Thanks - i'm on T1R's and really like them actually, 225 front 255 rear.
Cornering is fabulous and grip is wonderful, it's just a little fidgety in a straight line...
Also suspect the rear end is a little stiff but i can't afford to back the dampers off without raising the ride height slightly, and have ordered a C spanner so i can do that.

The side wall of the T1-R is too soft, that´s why. Had the same problem with my old Griff.
Changing to 888´s is the best solution, fantastic grip and stability, but you have to be careful in the wet. Maybe the Vredestein as Arj suggests.

[Chewitt]

just put GGp's on mine

has 255's all round - Bridgestone Potenza s03

looking for a recommendation for setup - and a how much figure if anyone can help.


Live in Vale of Belvoir so Notts/Leics and even Cov way (work there) are all in range....


any help?

thanks

[VerySideways]

Cov - TVR Power then surely?

[GT TVR]

BTW does anyone know if I can put 225's on the standard front rim (Tuscan MKII S) or do I need smaller rims? Should be 225/40, correct?

[GT TVR]

Update on the handling after the new geo setup: took it out yesterday, 24 degrees sunshine , really pushed it on the back roads this time. Must say the handling is brilliant, stable, relaxed, also remains stable when braking hard before a corner. Could really use all the power (these things go, don't they?) Very happy!
One test left: high speed on the motorway; might be tricky since the French have discovered speed camera's.

Edited by GT TVR on Monday 18th May 08:23

[GT TVR]

GT TVR said:

BTW does anyone know if I can put 225's on the standard front rim (Tuscan MKII S) or do I need smaller rims? Should be 225/40/18, correct?

Any thoughts on this guys?
I see that some Tuscans have 235/40/18 on the front; mine (MKII S) has 255/35/18 like the Sag. The closest to this size seems to be 225/40/18, or am I mistaken? How about the rim?

[VerySideways]

Mine's running 225/40 up front. Happy.

[GT TVR]

VerySideways said:

Mine's running 225/40 up front. Happy.

Hi Pete,
What did you have before, 235 or 255? What rim size do you have?

[VerySideways]

Car came with 225's, certainly never experienced any understeer (and i don't hang about!). Plenty of oversteer of course, when i provoke it (255 rears).

Not sure what rim width i'm afraid, i would guess 8" or 8.5":

[Chewitt]

GT TVR said:

GT TVR said:

BTW does anyone know if I can put 225's on the standard front rim (Tuscan MKII S) or do I need smaller rims? Should be 225/40/18, correct?

Any thoughts on this guys?
I see that some Tuscans have 235/40/18 on the front; mine (MKII S) has 255/35/18 like the Sag. The closest to this size seems to be 225/40/18, or am I mistaken? How about the rim?

according to miata tyre calculator the 2 sizes have negligible difference.

http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html

I've seen many Tuscans with 225's on the front. The tyres look to be flush with the rim rather than proud as on my 255's but otherwise .....Was advised mine 255's all round as is a RR. Handling was bleedin scary now the GGP's have sorted this massively and next step will be a geo and then maybe 225's.

GGP's best £590 and a few hours spannering ever

Edited by Chewitt on Monday 18th May 15:00

[GT TVR]

Chewitt said:

GT TVR said:

GT TVR said:

BTW does anyone know if I can put 225's on the standard front rim (Tuscan MKII S) or do I need smaller rims? Should be 225/40/18, correct?

Any thoughts on this guys?
I see that some Tuscans have 235/40/18 on the front; mine (MKII S) has 255/35/18 like the Sag. The closest to this size seems to be 225/40/18, or am I mistaken? How about the rim?

according to miata tyre calculator the 2 sizes have negligible difference.

http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html

I've seen many Tuscans with 225's on the front. The tyres look to be flush with the rim rather than proud as on my 255's but otherwise .....Was advised mine 255's all round as is a RR. Handling was bleedin scary now the GGP's have sorted this massively and next step will be a geo and then maybe 225's.

GGP's best £590 and a few hours spannering ever

Edited by Chewitt on Monday 18th May 15:00

Yep, difference between 255/35/18 and 225/40/18 is only 0.2% so seems OK.
However, don't know if they will fit my rim.
Also, strange that most Tuscans run 235/40/18 in stead of 225.

[Ab Shocks]

GT TVR said:

I wasn't happy with the handling of my Tuscan 2S either; it was brilliant on the track and in corners, but nervous at high speed.

Got an advice from Derek Gardiner (thanks again Derek!) to use these settings:
FRONT:
toe-in: 4 min per wheel, 8 min total
camber: -1 (per wheel)

REAR:
toe-in: 12 min per wheel, 24 min total
camber: -1,5 (per wheel)

Must say it's more relaxing and more stable going fast on B-roads; cornering remains fantastic. Haven't tried high speed motorway yet.

Might still go for Nitrons but for the moment I'm very happy. Roll on summer!

That is a benign road set-up and should not tramline.
I should point out that the trackday stars would run more front camber 1.5 to 2.0 neg and probably go back to parallel. The rear is good IMHO for road and track.