steering issue

[justincredible]

Hi all,
My VP tends to pull left or right, it has a mind of its own. I have had several wheel alignments and balances done, they have not fixed the problem as the car drives straight drive when I take my hands of the steering on a flat, straight, stretch of road. I started to think I was wanting more from my car than was expected from a car of its age, but after getting a friend to drive it, they agreed with me about the steering issue.
It is a VP series 2 executive 93 model. It currently has stock shock absorbers and coils (although coils and shocks are going to be replaced in the next few weeks), all stock steering components, except the steering wheel. I have had a pedders check done and they told me to replace a few of the bushes which I did. The only mod that I suspect may have any relation to this problem is my upgrade to 17"s from the stock 15"s, and the budget tyres that are on them.
Any thoughts, ideas, or someone with a similar experience?

[Sabbath']

If you've had an alignment done with the 17's on, then you'd expect all the angles and geometry to be set up for that tyre. Also, i wouldnt expect the quality of the tyre to have an overwhelming bearing on the quality of your steering.

Things i'd be checking if you havent already:

Bent Steering Arms
Tyre Pressures
Brakes Dragging

[justincredible]

Thanks. what exactly do you mean by brakes dragging?
Is high tyre pressure or low tyre pressure more likely to cause this issue?
I will check all of this with pedders when I get the suspension fitted.

[TheIceman]

tyre pressures will have an effect, make sure they are around 35-36psi. and yeah, its wheel aligned with the 17's on then it hsould be ok, if not wheel aligned with 17's on then get another alignment and check. if the offset of ya 17's are quite different than stock then this will have an effect on steering as well.

[75hjprem]

the offset should not affect the steering to just one side though because offset should be equal each side.
you could try checking your steering rack and sway bar also hope this helps

[justincredible]

i'll check it out. Thanks for the ideas. I'm so sick of mechanics and just people in general telling me that it must me the wheel alignment, there is more to a cars handling than just an alignment and balance lol.

[LordMayhem]

could also be the strut top bearing plates being stuffed.
the ones in my vn are rooted (changing them this weekend lol ) and after a turn either way she wants to steer to that side for a while after.

[zskinner]

yeah what LordMayhem said, definately check out your strut top bearings for any cracks or damage

[justincredible]

actually now you mention it, I think they are slightly cracked, I was not aware that they affected the steering to such an extent. I will get these attended to when I overhaul my suspension.
Off the topic slightly, does anyone know where to get (cheap) after market strut mounting plates for a VP with adjustable camber?
Thanks for the help everyone

[zskinner]

When getting mine the cheapest I could find was at repco (they were having a sale at the time though) and they were something like 160 I think? Just ring around to suspension shops and spare parts shops and ask for a quote for adjustable strut top bearing plates. better yet, if you have a mate or something that can get trade price then ask them to get it, cos trade price is usually a fair bit cheaper then normal retail price particularly when it comes to nolathane products

[TheIceman]

Off the topic slightly, does anyone know where to get (cheap) after market strut mounting plates for a VP with adjustable camber?
Thanks for the help everyone

cheap not necessarily good. you might find yaself replacing them when they stuff up prematurely. ive seen cheap strut mounts push through the top as they seperate, get decent ones, cheaper in long run.

[LordMayhem]

look on ebay i just put in a set of nolathane strut tops that cost me 102.50 posted to my door......they are the none adjustable ones though

[justincredible]

I'll check it all out. thanks for the advice

[Warranty Void]

You could do worse that contacting whiteline suspension or having a whiteline "full works" kit put in, mine cost 2500 installed and I love it. I think pedders are whiteline dealers now anyway.....I reckon the whiteline gear is top notch and the geometry is improved over stock items. The suspension dude who did my install reckoned that tyres do make a difference to steering straight and that the only consistently equal reasonably priced tyres he had seen were yokohamas and toyos. The number of passengers, weight distribution, camber on the road, brakes or wheel bearings dragging....the list just goes on and on.....all you can do is make sure your suspension is healthy and keep equal pressures in the front tyres....I like 36psi as a good compromise between grip and comfort.

[justincredible]

Aside from tyre pressure, and tyre brand, does the actual tread pattern on the tyre have anything to do with whether the car is likely to pull or have a tram-track effect? I am thinking of upgrading tyres but don't wanna replace crap with more crap. If someone could possible attach a link or something so I can see an example of a decent tyre. Thanks for the input.
PS will let you guys know how it all goes in a couple of weeks, still gotta get my licence back lol

[TheIceman]

yes tread pattern has an effect on the way a car handles in various situations and for straight line stability.

PS will let you guys know how it all goes in a couple of weeks, still gotta get my licence back lol

and you dont have this problem if you dont do nothing wrong.

[donboy2000]

Directional patterns can make a huge difference if they aren't fitted properly. I don't know if that would affect your car as much but it's worth a look. Also what is your steering rack and pinion like ? Because they can flog out really bad. A good way to find out is by trying to turn the wheel left and right if it is RS you will here a dull knock.

[justincredible]

i had my steering rack changed bout 10,000km ago but i didn't do it myself so who knows if it was a crappy one that was put in as the replacement. I don't here any knocks. just as described in my first post.

[justincredible]

had coils, shocks and strut bearing plates changed today. firmer ride, however steering is still stuffed. I have been advised that is is most likely to be the bushes around the lower control arm, radius rod, upper and lower trailing arms, and sway bar. A few replacement bushes should do the trick. thanks for all the suggestions
(I still think the tyres make a huge difference though and are gonna get them upgraded regardless.)

[zskinner]

the lower control arm bushes, sway bar link and mount bushes, and radius rod bushes are a definate possibilty, but the upper and lower trailing arms are in the rear suspension and shouldnt affect the steering at all. if you do end up getting the radius rod and lower control arm bushes done maybe consider replacing the ball joints too? good luck to ya mate

[wortus]

had coils, shocks and strut bearing plates changed today. firmer ride, however steering is still stuffed. I have been advised that is is most likely to be the bushes around the lower control arm, radius rod, upper and lower trailing arms, and sway bar. A few replacement bushes should do the trick. thanks for all the suggestions
(I still think the tyres make a huge difference though and are gonna get them upgraded regardless.)

I found that just having the front sway bar link bushes worn or not at the right tightness (if they are standard) can make a huge difference to how these cars feel on the road. How are the bushes in the sway bar links? Bushes like the radius rod bushes and lower control arm bushes, if they are not loose don't bother with them in the first instance, a good check is to roll the car slowly with some one watching the front wheel and put th ebrake on and ask them to see how much the wheel moves back relative to the car, if it's a lot its a good indication they are loose but if they are not like a dick in a shirt sleeve there probably OK. Can you post a pic of your sway bar links? If I were you I'd look at a Nolathane kit to replace these, the one with the bent link pin is a good choice and you get these at Repco for around the same price as a genuine part.
Were they standard bearing plates, if so how did they position them when they did the wheel alignment? Mine were set for max castor and camber, they both should b e the same however some places do both sides differently to compensate for the camber of the road. As said directional tyres can make a car steer funny if there are depressions running along the road from a lot of heavy vehicles using it for example. I had directional Toyo's on my VN and they were like that. I changed to Yokohama C- Drives and they are a really good tyre with a high margin of safety and had good grip right down to the wear markers.

What you can also do is jack up the car one side at a time and check your wheel bearings for play and also push back on the rear of the tres and see if there is play which indicates worn rack ends. My VN had a tiny bit of free play in the steering and I found it was the coupling to the steering column, there are nuts that are not meant to come loose and they had lost that feature and the slight play on the spline connection is amplified by the radius change of the steering wheel. I just cleaned the threads and used some loctite super wick in and no more problems. Also if you still have the huge VN steering wheel the non air bag wheels of a VR are a good replacement, thicker, a bit smaller and you can still see your instruments properly.

[justincredible]

rear suspension still effects steering as it allows the tail of the car to move around and hence makes the front end harder to control.
gonna get the bushes i mentioned changed and put better tyres. then i'll write back to this thread to tell everyone how it feels.