Thread: Floating D3

Old wheels & tyres?
If so, did the wheels go back on in their original positions?


If they didn't go on as they came off, then they might need rotating to find the optimal position on the car.

If these symptoms were not present on the other set of wheels/tyres, then I'd say these ones are back in the wrong spots (mine is very sensitive to which tyre is where). Also how are tyre pressures and were the old ones worn evenly ?

Here's a random two bobs worth on steering/suspension issues Ben ... having been driven slightly mad by mine over the last year or so ... I've spent mucho money on my Disco suspension to, basically, get it's groove back. Mine is an '05 V8 (140Ks).

Mine slowly and subtly developed the following symptoms over a few years: wandering around lanes, tramlining, softness in front LHS (and bad turn in), slight clunks/groans and bad handling/ride quality.

Heres what I've learnt (obviously YMMV) ... bad ride/handling = mostly shocks (no prizes there), control arms contribute slightly; clunking and groaning, softness and bad turn in = front control arms (lower particularly, but also front upper had some nasty movement); tramlining / wandering = (lower control arms contribute to this slightly) rack ends, wheel alignment, bad tyres / bad tyre position (be careful with rack ends, if you have any play at centre you'd be best off investigating a whole rack rather than just rack ends (rods & ball joint) - racks are about $550 and rack end sets are about $200 - so if you have excessive play off centre, I'd just change the whole rack - I learnt this the hard way).

So, I'd make sure the tyres are worn evenly, put in the optimal positions and then get a wheel alignment (done right). If that doesn't help, check rack ends for play and go from there. Good luck, hope it's something simple !

Thanks lads,

The previous were steel rims with KM2's, lots of noise and movement etc so never took notice to any of it.

My roadies are H/T Coopers on the 18inch alloy rims. - Fairly worn.

A good thing to add is I randomly put them back on, as I took no notice as to where they came off haha, lesson 1.

I am thinking there is a little play in lower arms and rack ends, being at 188ks I guess it is expected.

I'll get the alignment done when I replace the squealing adjustment pulley on the aux belt, sounds like I am running a supercharger haha - It needs to go into tight tolerance mode for the alignment?

Yes, TTM for wheel alignment. Best to find someone who's done D3/D4 before (or even better take it to wherever your nearest dealer subs out wheel aligns). My most recent alignment was done in TTM, test driven by the techo, driven by me (TTM disengaged) and then had the steering wheel put to straight ahead not in TTM - odd way of doing it, but it's the best aligment I've had.

To check rack ends, with all four wheels on the ground at standard ride height, get someone to gently move the steering wheel whilst you're under the car and listen / feel for movement. The ball feet often wear and make a little noise and contribute to wandering around. To check lower arms, lift a wheel off the ground and see how much you can move the inner and outer lower rubbers with a crow bar - mine currently have zero movement (yay !).

At 140km mine is on it's second set of LCA ... ! And ... good luck

Cheers,
Mick

The wheel alignment can be perfect but you can still have this problem. The tyres become 'handed' after a while & unless they go back on the way they came off, you might be chasing your tail sorting it out.

Thanks Mick,
Any recommendations around Sydney for a wheel alignment?

Will do the rack test tonight, thanks for the info!

Thanks Scott,
Make sense, I wonder how I can find out how they went on originally. With this theory it kind of makes the whole rotating the tyres theory a bit debunked?

Cheers,
Ben

What Scott says is very true and I would be starting there (particularly with very worn tyres). Wrt rotations ... You need to be very vigilant. My current set were rotated every 10000km (note my extensive suspension issues contribute) and by 30000 they cannot be moved without upsetting things. On a normal car (eg my Subaru) it's much less of an issue but I rotate every 5000 on that (v expensive tyres !).

No idea on align in Sydney but I'm sure someone will come along with a good suggestion !

Originally Posted by Epic pooh

What Scott says is very true and I would be starting there (particularly with very worn tyres). Wrt rotations ... You need to be very vigilant. My current set were rotated every 10000km (note my extensive suspension issues contribute) and by 30000 they cannot be moved without upsetting things. On a normal car (eg my Subaru) it's much less of an issue but I rotate every 5000 on that (v expensive tyres !).

No idea on align in Sydney but I'm sure someone will come along with a good suggestion !

Semi's on the subaru? I rotated mine on the GTR ever 2 to 5 thou.

Thanks mate, I'll look a bit further into it. I am actually considering getting new A/T's on the standard rims.