DC5S Suspenion

[SouLjAh]

Hi Guys & girls,

At the moment, I am running the AKOM setup, inverted tie rod ends with the steering arm bracket. The arms look pretty straight and parallel atm. I have had a wheel alignment done recently at Fulcrum Suspensions. Very minimal bump steer if any. Current settings the car is running:

Front Axel:
Castor L = 1.92, R = 2.12
Camber L = -1.79, R = -2.01
Toe L = +0.1mm, R = +0.01mm

Rear Axel:
Camber L = -0.87, R = -0.99
Toe L = +0.0mm, R = -0.1mm

I am lowered on Tein Flex with approximately 1 finger gap on all corners and running Brembos at the front only, so has JDM LCA's and aftermarket front swaybar.

However, not entirely happy with the way the car is running at the moment. There seems to be a bit too much play with the steering, and steering wheel itself is not 100% straight (has slight bias to the right). Fulcrum advised me that the bushes were starting to wear out at the front. Does anyone know what bushes these are and if they would help? Im thinking of running slight toe in as well for more straight line stability as I do alot of highway driving.

At this stage, what are my options for more steering wheel stability (less play). Would going back to stock Tie Rod ends be an option? Any thoughts/recommendations highly welcomed and appreciated. I'll add some pics later on..

[05dc5S]

Slight bias to the right could be due to tyres e.g. uneven wear or tyre pressures

I'm curious as to know which bushes they are referring to as well...

If you do a lot of highway driving i would just run 0 toe on all 4 corners unless you slam your brakes on a lot, in which case slight toe in at the rear should help stability?

[tofu]

when did ya get brembos! nice one!
other than a slight bias to the right, what else was it that you didn't like the feel of the car?

wanna swap cars one day to see if mine feels any different?

[SouLjAh]

Hey Jeff,

Got it not too long ago. yeah swap and test sounds good.

what settings are you running atm

[ChargeR]

At the moment, I am running the AKOM setup, inverted tie rod ends with the steering arm bracket. The arms look pretty straight and parallel atm.

Why is it desirable to have the arms straight and parallel?

Very minimal bump steer if any.

Did you take out the springs on the alignment rack and measure the bump steer?

The slight bias to the right could be due to a lot of things. I assume you have checked your tyre pressures very carefully? When I get my alignments done the guy often has a bit of trouble getting the steering nice and centred, and I suspect it is due in part to slight shifting in the steering rack. I am thinking about trialling Mugen steering rack bushes but the install looks fairly hard.

Your alignment settings look good but I would take the car back and tell them to get the steering centred. Check your bushes as they said but it seems unlikely that the bushes would be gone in such a new car.

Zero toe all round is what I run with no problems but as 05dc5S says slight toe in at the rear (2 or 3mm) will give more stability.

[daz]

Very minimal bump steer if any.

I find this comment very interesting.

I am using the AKOM inverted tierods only. They give the tierods a very stock angle and I did not see the benefit of running both inverted tierods and steering bracket. I have had these for about 5 months now and noticed a big change in how the car drives on everyday roads.

To say that there is no bump steer is untrue. Its a bit of a myth saying the inverted tierods will eliminate bump steer. After discussing this with a few members, it is clear that bump steer has been made more noticable.

A good option for you is to use stock tierod ends and the AKOM steering bracket. This is will still decrease the tierod angles but allow you to use the stock tierod ends over the nasty AKOM ones.

[tofu]

i'm using tein ss with j's racing steering tie rod...i love the way my car handles, no complains from me here.
no idea how much camber my car has at the moment, need to do an alignment soon, but visually looking at the car, i say front -2 or more and rear -1 or more.

[daz]

Don't J's tierods break easily?

[tofu]

no idea, mine's still going fine
haven't had any reports from my suspension guy that does my alignments.

[SouLjAh]

Why is it desirable to have the arms straight and parallel?

I don't know why it would be desirable and didnt mention that it was, just commented at how it is at the moment

for more stability and less wandering, will the fronts need slight toe in as well? Or will the rears suffice

Some more pics added

[SouLjAh]

I find this comment very interesting.

I am using the AKOM inverted tierods only. They give the tierods a very stock angle and I did not see the benefit of running both inverted tierods and steering bracket. I have had these for about 5 months now and noticed a big change in how the car drives on everyday roads.

To say that there is no bump steer is untrue. Its a bit of a myth saying the inverted tierods will eliminate bump steer. After discussing this with a few members, it is clear that bump steer has been made more noticable.

A good option for you is to use stock tierod ends and the AKOM steering bracket. This is will still decrease the tierod angles but allow you to use the stock tierod ends over the nasty AKOM ones.

When I first lowered the car I had a slight bumpsteer problem. After I installed the AKOM tie rods there was no room to put the cotter pin in. So I used a nut (think its M12 from memory). If you tighten this up really tight, more incline for bump steer.

However, the bumpsteer was reduced moreso than w/o the inverted tie rods. I recently installed the steering arm bracket and there was bump steer. I loosen the nut on the end of tie rod slightly and now its pretty much non existent.

What would running stock tie rods with the steering bracket achieve?

[daz]

When I first lowered the car I had a slight bumpsteer problem. After I installed the AKOM tie rods there was no room to put the cotter pin in. So I used a nut (think its M12 from memory). If you tighten this up really tight, more incline for bump steer.

However, the bumpsteer was reduced moreso than w/o the inverted tie rods. I recently installed the steering arm bracket and there was bump steer. I loosen the nut on the end of tie rod slightly and now its pretty much non existent.

What would running stock tie rods with the steering bracket achieve?

Sounds interesting. I am always worried that the bottom nut will come loose and drop off.

As I mentioned before running the AKOM steering bracket with stock tierod ends will decrease the angle of the tierods compared to using the stock bracket. In my opinion the stock tierod ends are far superior then the AKOM ones. The heim joint of the AKOM will have play in them eventually.

Judging from your pics the tierods are almost completely flat.

[tinkerbell]

Current settings the car is running:

Front Axel:
Castor L = 1.92, R = 2.12
Camber L = -1.79, R = -2.01
Toe L = +0.1mm, R = +0.01mm

maybe even out the toe as well? who aligned it like that?

or is that a typo?

[tinkerbell]

At this stage, what are my options for more steering wheel stability (less play). Would going back to stock Tie Rod ends be an option?

steering wheel play? how much?



find out which bushes are worn and replace them!

[SouLjAh]

maybe even out the toe as well? who aligned it like that?

or is that a typo?

Double checked, its actually
L= 0.1mm
R= 0.0mm

I got the alignment done at Fulcrum