Annoying Problem = Tiring

[silverGPX]

Hey guys, my fto is driving me crazy at the moment.

When im slowing down to stop at the lights and there is like any sort of groove i have to grip the steering wheel tight or itll send me off into the gutter. Also when im accelerating and the problem is even more existent when accelerating hard it wanders, and yes its not torquesteer, its like its goin left and right and it also actually tires me on long drives having to grip the wheel so tight. I know they have replaced the shocks on it even though they are not that great, they are monroes??, never heard of monroes on an fto but anyway.

does anyone know the solution to my problem? also when im driving at highway speeds and i go round a corner it feels like (sorry for simplicity of explaination im fairly new to driving performance cars and not sure of the lingo) im driving a 4wd as in like the car leans around the corner I thought the car was meant to sit flat, like comeone its an fto?

Haha, I dont think its the shocks however when i took it to the pedders guy he said something about a top mount on the front left side being shot or something?

I just dont know what to fix??

Any help pleaaase lol

Also it has had a wheel alignment not too long ago

Oh and also another thing, i have new pads and rotors, like i can heavily brake no problems, however if i really kinda jam on the brakes at say 60kmh, bordering wheel lockup (NO ABS) i hear and feel a knocking sound through the pedal? is that normal?

[Bennoz]

Start with another wheel alignment. That feeling of it trying to steer itself into grooves is called tram-lining. Usually cause by having no toe, or toe out set of the front wheels. Go to another place to wheel align it & get them to dial in half a degree of toe in. This will counter the effect of tram-lining.

To see if your shocks are fucked, push down on a corner of the car hard & sort of bounce it. When you let go it should snap back up to its resting position. If it continues to bouce around, the shock on that corner is shot.

The only thing I can think of re brake knocking, is that you either have warped the rotors, or possible lower control arm bushes / lower ball joint is fubared.

[silverGPX]

Well i went outside in the freezing cold rain and bounced on all the shocks and all were firm and settled back into place straight away.

And with that "ball joint/bush, how can i tell if its worn?

[silverGPX]

update on the problem:

Its still fked was a little better after the bushes were changed but not really. So im gettin a bank loan out to get coilovers, thicker front and rear swaybars, front and rear strutbraces, new or re-conditioned steering rack, tie rods, tie rod ends, poly bushes all round, new rims and sticky tyres.

Questions:
1. I found out one front wheel is 1 degree more negative castor than the other front wheel , is this significant?

2. Is there coilovers that i can get that come with both camber and castor adjustment on the tops? If not.

3. Is there tops that i can use with coilovers to adjust castor?

4. Also is there anything else i have forgotten that i could replace to make my fto handle like a go kart?

5. Does using wider tyres and rims on the back make a car handle better?

6. Last question does anybody know the history of my FTO, i bought it from Affordable Family Vehicles in Southport, it got traded in, its silver 1996gpx it has bad gutter rash on the left hand wheels and the front bumper was damaged and the rear bumper was scraped on that side too. im thinking they might have bent the steering rack or something . Also it had NSW plates VA4778.

[vipfto]

sounds like you need the offset castor bush kit but just use one to bring that wheel forward making sure you replace all other buhes with same poly though

[silverGPX]

does that provide one degree forward?

[silverGPX]

actually id rather be able to adjust the castor from a topmount because the bush is a component that wears out and it will just go off again. is one degree a lot?

[vipfto]

yip it can make a big difference from what i have found only k-mac strut tops will give you caster and camber adjustments

and those bushes will not wear out prob for the time you have the car anyway

[silverGPX]

Oh okay, i had a look at those before but i wasnt sure if you can use those with coilovers? also i couldnt find any fto specific ones?

[vipfto]

give them a call they make them and should fit coilover (which you dont need unless on the track) they are the strut tops and will mate to any spring/shock package that you have for your FTO

I recomend for adjustable street use using lowered springs (king etc) KYB shocks and coupled with the Kmac strut tops you have adjustable camber/castor and better handling feel via lowered springs without the harshness of coilovers only part you cant do is adjust ride height whenever you want

[silverGPX]

Oh right its just all up struts and springs and struttops add up the same as coilovers. but yea if its really too harsh i might go that way.