Jump to content
SAU Community

Recommended Posts

Hi All,

My R33 GTSt has some steering/handling issues, which are most noticeable on poor road surfaces.

On sections of road that camber slightly, it has a tendency to pull on the steering toward the side of the road, like severe tramlining.

Also if it hits a dip at the side of the road, it tends to dart toward the direction of the dip in the road.

AFAIK I have standard struts/ride height at all 4 corners.

On flat, and twisty roads there is no pulling of the steering wheel, and in a straight flat road I can let my hand off the wheel, and it doesn’t veer to any one side.

This is my second R33 GTSt, and is much harder to drive than the first. On uneven roads, I continuously correcting/fighting the steering, especially at higher speeds.

The first car did try to tramline,at low speeds, but nowhere near as bad as my current car. (on the same bad roads), and was much more predictable and stable at speed.

The first car had the same tyres/ wheel size, R17, 265 rear, 235 front, wall heights 45 I think, I can check later.

Although the offsets could be different.

I disconnected the battery overnight and centred the steering, in case of the HIcas being the cause, I noticed no difference

Anyone any ideas what would cause these handling characteristics.

thanks for reading

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/100659-my-gtst-hates-uneven-roads/
Share on other sites

Firstly, I'd get the wheel alignment checked ( front and rear ) and at the same time get them to check over all the bushes, bearings and joints for wear ( including steering rack & tie rod ends ).

Then if no joy, maybe do a HICAS diagnostic check and see if that gives you any indications ( hell, do it anyway, it's fun to watch :blink: )

Most cars will pull down the camber on the road.

That being said, this 33 is older than your first? The suspension is older. The suspension bushes are older.

As suggested by FAT32, it's probably time to start replacing bushes (particularly castor bushes), and maybe new shock absorbers.

my 32 did the same thing, but that was due to a drift set-up. i had adjustable camber and castor rods front and rear. the reason y my car liked to pull to one side is because it was specifically wheel aligned for flat surfaces. due to our roads having camber to left or right depending on lane and direction my car would pull toward the camber and follow any dips and bumps in the road. perhaps u have more then u think, or it was wheel aligned differently, check ur front and rear left tyres for there camber to the other side....if they have more u have problems if there the same, u got a good wheel allignement

yep, sounds like it has to much toe out on the front. and posibly rear.

camber will afect it but not as much as toe.

if its got big wheels with the wrong ofset it can cause the same problem,along with low profile tyres.

un evan caster can have the same afect(more than a degree diferance will do it)

if the caster bushes are worn it can make it toe in excesivly on braking wich will make it jump all over the lane!!

get a wheel alignment:

front have slight toe in. (+1mm or so total)(if understeering toe out 1mm ish)

rear toe in abit more (+4 or 5mm total) better stability

caster should be abit more on the left.(.25 of a degree or so)

camber should be evan. ie front -1.5 rear -1 or so

hope that helps

My car is doing the same thing at the moment.

However my car was handling fine, then I put it in to get services and they said my "power steering links need tightening". I told them to leave it, then I get it back from them, and it handles like shit.

I do need a wheel alignment tho so I'll see how I go. I'll keep watching this thread incase its something else...

Crimpage.

I’ll try and start with an alignment check, and inspect the bushings, but the usual clunking over bumps that comes with worn bushes is not apparent, there doesn’t seem to be any looseness when driving, it just seems to be a handful.

I’ll need to check for any non standard suspension components.

What I have spotted so far is a rear wheel spacer kit, to give a wider track, the car also has blitz racing split rims, front and rear.

Can someone post the factory geometry settings, I need to take the figures with me when I get the alignment checked.

The nearest place here in Ireland doesn’t list Jap imports suspension settings.

thanks

Can someone post the factory geometry settings, I need to take the figures with me when I get the alignment checked.

I'm sure a search of the forums will dig them out for you (Probably in a thread featuring SydneyKid).

Alternatively, have a look at www.whiteline.com.au - they had a R33 project car; I'm sure the settings they developed will be there somewhere (start under "Your Car").

Can someone post the factory geometry settings, I need to take the figures with me when I get the alignment checked.

I don't know of anyone here who uses the factory settings. This is what I recommend for a road R33GTST;

Front

Toe - zero

Caster - 6 degrees on the right and 6.25 on the left, more is better but keep the split around 0.25 degrees. R32/33/34's do not have standard caster adjusters, so if you have not added them they won't be able to adjust it.

Camber - between 0.5 and 1.0 degrees negative, that's both sides, don't have more on the left to stop the drift to the gutter, the caster split is better for that. R32/33/34's do not have standard camber adjusters on the front, so if you have not added them they won't be able to adjust it.

Rear

Toe - 2 mm toe in each side, and make sure the HICAS is zeroed before they start.

Camber - between 0 and 0.5 degrees negative. There are standard rear camber adjusters on the inner upper control arm that allow a small amount of adjustment (around 0.25 degrees).

Hope that helps

:D cheers :D

it all depends on wat ur doing with ur car........eg drifting, circuit or u just want a comfortable drive on the street. me i was happy with my R32 settings. Scott from AVS did a killa job, and that rear stabilizer bar u sent me was killa SK....car felt awesome out on the track

Thanks for the replys…

I got the front wheels off (for the 1st time) for a look, and surprise, surprise, I’ve got a wheel spacer kit on the front !!, as well as the rear !!

They look to be about 1” thick,

This car has the wider GTR wings (guards) , so I guessing they were fitted to make the wheel fill out the wheel arch.

So I’m guessing that the offset is screwed up.

I want to use the car for comfortable street use. Only downside is if I remove the spacer the wheel (blitz racing type3) hits the brake caliper.

The castor rods are stock, with some perishing of the rubber to be seen, but no excessive movement when levered.

I’ll need to get 2 front stock wheels with the spacers removed on the front and see how it handles.

Thanks for the replys…

I got the front wheels off (for the 1st time) for a look, and surprise, surprise, I’ve got a wheel spacer kit on the front !!, as well as the rear !!

They look to be about 1” thick,

This car has the wider GTR wings (guards) , so I guessing they were fitted to make the wheel  fill out the wheel arch.

So I’m guessing that the offset is screwed up.

I want to use the car for comfortable street use. Only downside is if I remove the spacer the wheel  (blitz racing type3) hits the brake caliper.

The castor rods are stock, with some perishing of the rubber to be seen, but no excessive movement when levered.

I’ll need to get 2 front stock wheels with the spacers removed  on the front and  see how it handles.

More caster on the front will help a lot. There are adjustable caster bushes on the Group Buy.

:rofl: cheers :rofl:

  • 2 months later...

not sure if this is your solution but my 32 also has this exact problem.one of my lower control arms in slightly damaged,not really bent as such,more so dinged. Took it to a couple of suspension places and they all told me that the car was behaving as you described due to my damged l.c.a..Iv got a replacement one sitting in the shed but havn't fited it yet.

just another idea for u

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • From there, it is really just test and assemble. Plug the adapter cables from the unit into the back of the screen, then the other side to the car harness. Don't forget all the other plugs too! Run the cables behind the unit and screw it back into place (4 screws) and you should now have 3 cables to run from the top screen to the android unit. I ran them along the DS of the other AV units in the gap between their backets and the console, and used some corrugated tubing on the sharp edges of the bracket so the wires were safe. Plug the centre console and lower screen in temporarily and turn the car to ACC, the AV should fire up as normal. Hold the back button for 3 sec and Android should appear on the top screen. You need to set the input to Aux for audio (more on that later). I put the unit under the AC duct in the centre console, with the wifi antenna on top of the AC duct near the shifter, the bluetooth antenna on the AC duct under the centre console The GPS unit on top of the DS to AC duct; they all seem to work OK there are are out of the way. Neat cable routing is a pain. For the drive recorder I mounted it near the rear view mirror and run the cable in the headlining, across the a pillar and then down the inside of the a pillar seal to the DS lower dash. From there it goes across and to one USB input for the unit. The second USB input is attached to the ECUtec OBD dongle and the 3rd goes to the USB bulkhead connected I added in the centre console. This is how the centre console looks "tidied" up Note I didn't install the provided speaker, didn't use the 2.5mm IPod in line or the piggyback loom for the Ipod or change any DIP switches; they seem to only be required if you need to use the Ipod input rather than the AUX input. That's it, install done, I'll follow up with a separate post on how the unit works, but in summary it retains all factory functions and inputs (so I still use my phone to the car for calls), reverse still works like factory etc.
    • Place the new daughterboard in the case and mount it using the 3 small black rivets provided, and reconnect the 3 factory ribbon cables to the new board Then, use the 3 piggyback cables from the daughterboard into the factory board on top (there are stand offs in the case to keep them apart. and remember to reconnect the antenna and rear cover fan wires. 1 screw to hold the motherboard in place. Before closing the case, make a hole in the sticker covering a hole in the case and run the cable for the android unit into the plug there. The video forgot this step, so did I, so will you probably. Then redo the 4 screws on back, 2 each top and bottom, 3 each side and put the 2 brackets back on.....all ready to go and not that tricky really.      
    • Onto the android unit. You need to remove the top screen because there is a daughterboard to put inside the case. Each side vent pops out from clips; start at the bottom and carefully remove upwards (use a trim remover tool to avoid breaking anything). Then the lower screen and controls come out, 4 screws, a couple of clips (including 3 flimsy ones at the top) and 3 plugs on the rear. Then the upper screen, 4 screws and a bunch of plugs and she is out. From there, remove the mounting brackets (2 screws each), 4 screws on the rear, 2 screws top and bottom and 3 screws holding in the small plates on each side. When you remove the back cover (tight fit), watch out for the power cable for the fan, I removed it so I could put the back aside. The mainboard is held in by 1 screw in the middle, 1 aerial at the top and 3 ribbon cables. If you've ever done any laptop stuff the ribbon cables are OK to work with, just pop up the retainer and they slide out. If you are not familiar just grab a 12 year old from an iphone factory, they will know how it works The case should now look like this:
    • Switching the console was tricky. First there were 6 screws to remove, and also the little adapter loom and its screws had to come out. Also don't forget to remove the 2 screws holding the central locking receiver. Then there are 4 clips on either side....these were very tight in this case and needed careful persuading with a long flat screw driver....some force required but not enough to break them...this was probably the fiddliest part of the whole job. In my case I needed both the wiring loom and the central locking receiver module to swap across to the new one. That was it for the console, so "assembly is the reverse of disassembly"
    • But first....while I was there, I also swapped across the centre console box for the other style where the AV inputs don't intrude into the (very limited !) space.  Part# was 96926-4GA0A, 284H3-4GA0B, 284H3-4GA0A. (I've already swapped the top 12v socket for a USB bulkhead in this pic, it fit the hole without modification:) Comparison of the 2: Basically to do the console you need to remove the DS and PS side console trim (they slide up and back, held in by clips only) Then remove the back half of the console top trim with the cupholders, pops up, all clips again but be careful at the front as it is pretty flimsy. Then slide the shifter boot down, remove the spring clip, loose it forever somewhere in the car the pull the shift knob off. Remove the tiny plastic piece on DS near "P" and use something thin and long (most screwdrivers won't fit) to push down the interlock and put the shifter down in D for space. There is one screw at the front, then the shifter surround and ashtray lift up. There are 3 or 4 plugs underneath and it is off. Next is the rear cover of the centre console; you need to open the console lid, pop off the trim covering the lid hinge and undo the 2rd screw from the driver's side (the rest all need to come out later so you can do them all now and remove the lid) Then the rear cover unclips (6 clips), start at the top with a trim tool pulling backwards. Once it is off there are 2 screws facing rearwards to remove (need a short phillips for these) and you are done with the rear of the console. There are 4 plugs at the A/V box to unclip Then there are 2 screws at the front of the console, and 2 clips (pull up and back) and the console will come out.
×
×
  • Create New...