Dodgy handling...

[Andy_Z22SE_SRi]

Right... here goes... its a long one so grab a cup of tea lol.

Im driving a 51 plate astra 22 sri, totally standard , standard wheels, not touched the suspension (yet) or lowered it or anything. Car is completely standard apart from airbox mods.

The problem is that the car doesnt feel as stable or sorted on the road anymore. It feels like its wandering ever so slightly and this gets worse under braking - it pulls to one side then the other momentarily accompanied with a juddering in the steering wheel. :?
It also feels like it lunges into corners now, not like the solid turn-in it used to have.

Ive recently had the nsr spring replaced as the garage said old one was worn. The trackrod-ends are fine, and everything is tight. The front wheelbearings/hubs were just replaced aswell, as they both started grinding, along with new front discs/pads and rear pads, so i doubt it will be anything there. Brand new tyres (balanced too) and tracking was setup ok at time of new tyres getting fitted.

It might not have anything to do with it but i bottomed the car out about a year ago with 2 people in the back, bloody roads round our way are terrible :evil: Is the standard susp. equipment not upto harsh roads?

Could it just be a worn suspension bush/component?

Is it worth poly-bushing everything to try and get rid of the prob?

Has anyone else had a similar problem?

Im sure its getting worse, the back end has stepped out a couple of times now, so im getting quite worried.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Cheers cheers..

 

[JohnnyN]

Definately get the suspension checked. It could be the shocks that are gone. Whats the mileage? Its recommended that you have the shocks checked after 30k becasue they will wear. You wouldn't notice the wear until you had a new set fitted. Does the suspension make any swishy noises when you push down and bounce the corners of the car?

 

[Lightning Coupé]

Have you had the Camber Angle of your front wheels checked. It can't be done with the typical tracking gear found in most trye fitters or back street garages, you need a full four wheel alighnment set to do it all properly. If one side is just one degree out to the other then it will handle like a pig and pull all over the place. If you had the springs changed and the hubs then the struts must have been off and its with them you have the adjustment. The holes between the lower strut and the hub are slightly oversize and allow quite a lot of movement for the camber angle. If it wasnt set back up after you had the work done, or has been knocked out slightly by a harsh speed bump, then this will more than likely be the problem. Try and find a specialist to set it up for you, the vaux dealers ive had experiance with where a waste of time and didnt even know there was any adjustment there, neither do your typical grease monkeys so beware anyone trying to fob you off that there isnt any adjustment. Hope this helps.

 

[Andy_Z22SE_SRi]

its done 67,000. I do quite a lot of mileage running between work and home, and everytime the raf send me on a stupid course down england. I cant say that i can hear any noise coming from the corners. i pushed down on them recently (after reading the haynes manual fault finding section) to see how they rise and all looked ok. it didnt wobble like or judder.

im seriously thinking of biting-the-bullet and next month buying a full set of adjustables, and trying to get a hold of a full poly-bush set. ive no had much luck with poly-bushes, no one seems to do any for the 2.2.

either bilsteins or konis not too sure... what would anyone recommend... im would like to have a bearable ride, but more interested in sacrificing that a wee bit for cornering and handling!

cheers

 

[Andy_Z22SE_SRi]

Cheers Lightning Coupé, you must have posted that reply while i was typing lol. I will try and find a decent garage round here (like rocking-horse sh*t to be honest) and get them to set it up. i knew there was a slight adjustment possible, but as you say not many grease-monkey spanner wanglers would be.

 

[Lightning Coupé]

I'm resonably confident its that. Mine had the same symptoms you describe above, pulled to the left, brake steer, dodgy handeling, and mine was only about .75 of a degree out of tolerance. Also note that the camber angle for the coupe is slightly diferent to the hatch, I have no idea why? but it is. I'm sorry I cant remember the figures but if your stuck for them I could look around.

 

[Lightning Coupé]

Ok, I found them, Vauxhall recomend the following.

-0.45 degrees on the coupe with a tolerance of +/_0.45 degrees

-1 degrees on the hatch with a tolerance of +/_0.45 degrees

However, WhiteLine who make the antiroll bars etc recomend -1.25 degrees and zero toe for the best handeling on a hatch

 

[l7jnd]

you said in your post that the nsr spring was replaced, did they change the off side too ?? If not then I would get a new spring for the offside aswell cos its much better changing them in pairs.

 

[Andy_Z22SE_SRi]

thanks for the info on the camber settings Lightning Coupé, much appreciated!!

yeah, they only replaced the one rear spring, i would have said get them both replaced but at the time it was just before christmas and as you all know at the time of year... to say money is tight is an understatement! i need the car to commute, so waiting till the money was available for both wasnt an option

There are a number of things needing done, but this is probably the most annoying... the rest (a/c has a leak and no longer works, clutch makes a funny noise when let out under load, and exhaust has started blowing from centre) all need checked in due course.

cheers once again guys, yet again this site and the kind members havent let me down! gee