[s-cars] Strange steering response

[Fred Munro]

Ivan;

If the alignment is half-decent, two issues will cause the steering to not
return to centre:
1. The rack preload is too tight. You should adjust this per the Bentley
procedure to rule it out.
2. The caster is way off specification. If the caster is less than +0.25 or,
heaven forbid, is negative, you are going to have a problem with tracking
and steering self-centering. There is no adjustment for caster (unless you
have 2B camber plates). You have to move the subframe and the sway bar
bushing mounts to get it back in spec. The caster should ideally be +1.0.

If the insides of the tires have worn out very quickly, I'd suspect toe
rather than camber. Negative camber usually takes a few thousand miles to
wear inside edges, but toe-out can scrub rubber off in a hurry. Reducing
ride height affects all the alignment settings, particularly camber, and
since camber and toe work together the shop may not have gotten everything
right.

Fred Munro
'94 S4
'97 S6


-----Original Message-----
From: s-car-list-bounces at audifans.com
[mailto:s-car-list-bounces at audifans.com]On Behalf Of Ivan Demkovitch
Sent: January 3, 2007 9:35 PM
To: Tom Green; s-car-list at audifans.com
Subject: Re: [s-cars] Strange steering response


Ok.. Bad news. Just checked tires - they gone. Front tires gone on inside
completely.

It looks like camber, but here is a question..
1. I did "Igor plates" modification. There is no difference between right
and left and they go only 1 way. So, I can't screw up that one.
2. On alignment "sheet" all numbers good.

Car rides on freshly re-valved bilsteins and new H&R's. Tires is not wide by
any means. This is my winter all-season 15 inch rims...

I'm taking car back to that shop tonight. I'm soooo mad. It was $250
alignment in "one of the best" places. *&)(*

Ivan.

----- Original Message ----
From: Tom Green <trgreen at comcast.net>
To: s-car-list at audifans.com; idemkovitch at yahoo.com
Sent: Wednesday, January 3, 2007 7:48:26 PM
Subject: Re:[s-cars] Strange steering response


Hi Ivan,

It may be they adjusted your rack when doing the alignment.  Check
Scott's write-up on his web site for removing
the "play" in the steering.  You may need to adjust yours the other
way.  I haven't done this on my cars, but the
write-up is here:

http://www.sjmautotechnik.com/trouble_shooting/susp.html#steerplay

Tom

> Date: Wed, 3 Jan 2007 16:07:21 -0800 (PST)
> From: Ivan Demkovitch <idemkovitch at yahoo.com>
> Subject: [s-cars] Strange steering response
> To: s-car-list at audifans.com
> Message-ID: <20070104000721.6590.qmail at web56814.mail.re3.yahoo.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ascii
>
> List,
>
> Don't know how to explain, but steering wheel doesn't "roll back"
>
> Driving at 30 miles per hour - I can turn wheel like 30 degrees and
> it will stay there.
>
> Is that alignment or what else can be?
>
> I had suspension overhaul and did alignment. It was kind of
> "sticky" after alignment, but drives straight when straight.
> Now it seem to be progressing.
>
> Thanks,
> Ivan
>
> 93' S4
_______________________________________________
S-CAR-List mailing list
S-CAR-List at audifans.com
http://www.audifans.com/mailman/listinfo/s-car-list