Re: Gross Misalignment? I think not!

[JustaxPHX@aol.com]

> "Vague" is where the steering movement does not correspond to the wheel 
> movements, and there are no apparent disconnects between the steering 
> wheel and the two wheels/tires.  A perfect example would be if there was 
> a big, soft rubber bushing in the steering column that allowed the steering 
> wheel to turn a little before the tires started to turn.  A sloppy 
> steering box, or worn ball joint will be immediately obvious by the click 
> that is felt in the steering wheel, or the sudden change of attitude of 
> the car during manouvers.

While I can't bring a virtual suspension engineer's credentials to this
argument, I can confirm that when I said "vague," I meant vague in exactly the
same way that Graydon does.  I hadn't really noticed it until recently, when I
bought a used set of OEM wheels/tires for my 200q in preparation for attending
the Steamboat event this year.  Mounting them on the car was a bit of a
revelation in that one problem I'd been noticing of late virtually
disappeared: Unless I'm always paying full attention to where the car's
headed, it has a tendency to drift around a bit in the lane, which I find
rather unsettling.

For instance, when I'm adjusting the rearview mirrors and am (briefly) looking
backward, it will often drift across the lane into the next one without my
noticing or feeling a thing, something which never happens with the 6x15s and
205/60s.  I was in fact so surprised by this finding that I swapped them back-
and-forth twice during the day to confirm that I wasn't imagining it.  The
following day, I mounted the steering damper and -- voila! -- the effect was
greatly diminished, even if wasn't entirely gone.  This is why I suggested to
Gross that a steering damper might make a difference on his car, with his
50-series tires and similarly stiffer-than-stock suspension.

> who was virtually offered a job as a suspension engineer today...
> I need a break from NVH :-)

Congratulations ... it's about this time each year that I start thinking about
making a career change myself, especially since I wasn't able to make the
Steamboat event for yet another year!  :^(

JG