Re: 1995 90, aligned 5 times, still drifts???

[Chris Newbold <newbold@telerama.com>]

Armagan Ozkaya wrote:

> I have a 1995 90 with 5 spoke alloy wheels and 195-65-15s (Goodyear
> Eagle craps). My previous car was a 944 (miss her). Since I bought the
> car last June, I have not been happy with the way car steers. It has

Run, don't walk, to your nearest city dump and heave those tires into the
deepest pit you can find.

There's no nice way of putting this: those tires sucked like nothing has
ever sucked before.

They are a very common cause of several handling problems in these cars,
pulling in particular. Even without any outward signs of uneven wear...

I started to notice pulling/drifting after about 10-15k miles on the tires.
Since switching to top-quality rubber, I've never had a problem.

> always pulled to right. If I keep the steering wheel slightly off to
> left (1/2 inch) it goes straight, so the steering wheel is not straight.

May just be your compensation for the tires. It isn't uncommon, though, for
shops to do an alignment without first centering the steering rack. This
results in a discrepancy between the front wheels and the steering wheel.

> - Is there a way to stiffen the steering a bit? It feels rather loose
> for my taste.

Nope. This is one common complaint about these cars; the power assist is
too powerful. Some people have suggested tightening the adjustment
screw on the rack to increase the preload; I haven't tried this, so I
can't vouch for the results.

-Chris
1993 90CS 5spd 73k miles