Re: Type 44 steering rack and paint questions

["Janet Scruggs" <scruggs@mbay.net>]

...and in my defense, your Honor...

Yet again Phil has correctly cut to the heart of the matter!  Yes, we now
know where we are, but we don't yet know how to get home.

My dissatisfaction with the way my car drives, noting the difference between
'driving' and 'handling,' is clearly the result of misalignment.  But I am
seeking the _cause_ and remedy of said misalignment.  This condition is not
the result of sloth or inattention as, short of replacing everything that
could possibly influence 'driving quality', I've done what I consider
reasonable in that pursuit.  This included three trips to the alignment
shop.  This shop does a lot of race car business and speaks the enthusiast's
language.  Each trip has been after a good reason, replacement of something
that either changed or perturbed a component in the alignment train of the
front end, and has always resulted a noticeable improvement in the quality
of 'the drive.'  But it is still not right.

So then.... the reason that I open speculation to the floor of this virtual
body is that I'm near wits end in my understanding of the number of
components which can possible influence the alignment of my car.  Mike
Velgia brings up a good point : Eibach springs have lowered the car ~1.5"
and as such some have suggested that bump steer is more likely and, I am
running 215/50-15 Yokohama AVS Intermediate tires on Fuchs rims.  I accept
the trade off for for bump steer, if it is really more prominent, for the
appearance of the car alone, not to mention that a hard stab at the brakes
results in no nose dive and enthusiastic cornering gives a nice flat
attitude.

Graydon's descriptions of 'vague' are as precise as my steering is not.  It
seems to take an inordinately large percentage of my attention to keep the
car from from ending up at an uncommanded place on the road.  We'll assume
for the moment that my attention span is at least no shorter than.... ahhh,
what was the question?  Anyway, given a flat, straight road with minimum
crown and without ruts my car does not track straight.

Ultimately Phil is right, it is alignment.  But back to Mike's point, what
is the correct alignment spec for non-OE parameters like tire size and
suspension height... any theories out there?  This renews my earlier
question of the list regarding tire pressures and recovering suspension
response characteristics when changing to lower profiles.

I shall be very disappointed if there are not at least half as many
alignment suggestions as there have been posts on 'one touch' power window
buttons during the month of January alone.

Regards, Gross

PS... I wonder if vagueness in steering is affected by the ritual three
shots of tequila that I have before each test drive.  Just a thought.


>Date: Tue, 2 Feb 1999 17:37:28 EST
>From: JustaxPHX@aol.com
>Subject: Re: Type 44 steering rack and paint questions

>> This is bad alignment, guys.  There's absolutely nothing vague about
>> Galvin's 200TQ (aligned by Paul Beaurain at Pro-Align in Northampton).

>Maybe and maybe not ... the Gross Scruggs I met last year seemed to be
pretty
>meticulous about his car maintenance and setup, and I'd be surprised if he
>wasn't keeping a pretty close eye on his alignment settings.  More likely,
>it's being caused by the low-profile tires we're both running, which have a
>greater tendency than normal to follow ruts in the road, etc.

>JG