Mk3 MX5 weaving under acceleration

[supersport]

My parents have just bought themselves an 07 1.8 MX5, very nice and really quite impressed, seems very responsive and surprisingly quick.

I had a little blast and nailed it going up a slip road and to be honest it almost got quite scary. It felt like the backend was weaving around. My mother was in the passenger seat and she said it did that to her when she first got it two weeks ago and it was down to the sensitive stearing. Admittedly it does seem quite direct but having driven numerous performance cars I have never experienced this before.

Is she right, or is their something wrong with it?

[hornetrider]

A-l-i-g-n-m-e-n-t.

[MX-5 Lazza]

And by that he means full 4-wheel geometry, not cheapo rubbish "tracking"

[supersport]

MX-5 Lazza said:

And by that he means full 4-wheel geometry, not cheapo rubbish "tracking"

Is there any other kind?

Will get this sorted and hopefully the thing will behave normally.

[Snoggledog]

Torque steer?

[hornetrider]

Might also want to check all the tyre pressures are ok as well.

[MX-5 Lazza]

supersport said:

MX-5 Lazza said:

And by that he means full 4-wheel geometry, not cheapo rubbish "tracking"

Is there any other kind?

Will get this sorted and hopefully the thing will behave normally.

Yep - the crappy stuff you can get done where they just check the tracking of the front wheels - it's all most FWD cars need these days anyway.

[bluetone]

MX-5 Lazza said:

supersport said:

MX-5 Lazza said:

And by that he means full 4-wheel geometry, not cheapo rubbish "tracking"

Is there any other kind?

Will get this sorted and hopefully the thing will behave normally.

Yep - the crappy stuff you can get done where they just check the tracking of the front wheels - it's all most FWD cars need these days anyway.

You can find your nearest Hunter alignment machine here.

[tuttle]

More speculating really Could this be the "60mph shimmy" which is usually associated with worn shocks/links. I have not experienced this but remember reading on miata net that its fairly common on mx5s with tired suspension. Though this one isn't that old. Might be well worth having a good look underneath for any signs of wear/damage.

[supersport]

The car has 35K on the clock and doesn't do it under braking and didn't appear to do anything else odd.

[NeoVR]

tuttle said:

More speculating really Could this be the "60mph shimmy" which is usually associated with worn shocks/links. I have not experienced this but remember reading on miata net that its fairly common on mx5s with tired suspension. Though this one isn't that old. Might be well worth having a good look underneath for any signs of wear/damage.

Not sure if the shimmy applies to the MK3 with it having different rear suspension?..
could be wrong tho

[pugwash4x4]

hornetrider said:

Might also want to check all the tyre pressures are ok as well.

this- had a Mk3 delivered new (which had been PDI'd)- had 48psi in diagonally opposing tyres and 23psi in the other! Made the handling very very scary-suggest you try this as a first stop!