RX7 Handling

[Rotaryguru]

Last weekend, I took my RX7 from London to Leeds, and have now that i\'ve spent some time in the car, i\'m starting to feel how it handles, but I think somethings wrong.
Crusing to 100kmh is fine, its once over 120kmh-140kmh it feels like it driving on marbles. A couple of times it would slide either left or right so I back off. This isn\'t when pushing it either, just crusing passing someone in fifth gear.:3gears-lh
 
Do you think its the Jap tyres (probably not in the best condition) or the tracking or alignment?
 
This is my 3rd RX7, but my first FD, and my others handled much better at higher speeds!!!

[clive]

An FD should feel much more stable at the speeds you describe than the earlier models so I would sugest that a four wheel alignment check / suspension/ check will be the very first thing to check

[Rotaryguru]

Thanks Clive,
 
Its very, very low (I stuggle to get over speedhumps) So I think perhaps the various potholes in the street may have played havoc with the suspension.

[iaint]

The back end of mine felt very detached from the steering input at speed - you\'d change lane and it\'d feel as though the back end caught up a few minutes later.

Turned out to be almost completely failed dampers (probably tired springs too).

Swapped the standard setup for a Tein Flex system and it transformed the car.  Probably still need to change the bushes - 16 years and 67k miles.

[Rotaryguru]

Turned out to be almost completely failed dampers (probably tired springs too).
 
Swapped the standard setup for a Tein Flex system and it transformed the car. Probably still need to change the bushes - 16 years and 67k miles.

I\'ve got Bilstein suspension, so hopefully the springs should be fine, I would say the bushes, etc.
 

[Rotaryguru]

The back end of mine felt very detached from the steering input at speed - you\'d change lane and it\'d feel as though the back end caught up a few minutes later.

Its not so much the changing lanes, thats fine, just in a straight line at higher speeds, it just seems to get abit twitchy.
 
Heres my plan of action: check alignment, suspension and bushes etc, and if not - its the tyres....

[dthebuk]

does it have a spoiler at all?

ive heard some people mention that they really do need the big spoilers as they make the car much more stable at higher speeds

[logicalChimp]

Hmmm

Thats sounds fairly similar to how my fd is handling, although you can add tramlining to my woes...  mind you, it is a \'92 with ~145k chassis KMs - and still on the original suspension setup.

Can\'t afford to do anything about it yet, but i would be interested in knowing how you manage to sort your handling out, Rotaryguru

[Rotaryguru]

does it have a spoiler at all?

Yep, but maybe its causing lift?
 

[D2BBA]

Recently had my car 4 wheel aligned and the tracking etc done.  I didnt realise how far it was out, but its made a big big difference!

Chris

[RemarkLima]

Personally I\'d 99% say some bushes are on their way out, you should be able to go well into highly illegal speeds without a wobble, and certainly without a spoiler!

If it was tracking / alignment (which it could be as well) then you\'d tend to feel a pull one way or the other all the time.

If the shocks are knackered you should feel an extra "bounce" or two over bumps, as the springs are just left to their own devices to spring away merrily over any bumps

Have you just picked the car up? The MOT should have seen if any of the bushes are knackered... Unless it\'s "one of those" MOT\'s

[m4drx]

bushes or mounts in my opinion.

I have had a diff, engine mounts, diff mounts, 4 wheel alignment, balancing etc etc

it all basically and i found that coming on and off the power my jerkiness was to do with the diff iteself more than the mounts but both helped alot.

the biggest difference was with the engine mounts, one of mine had collapsed and it made the car extremely unstable. to the point that i felt uncomfortable to drive fast at all (i mean quiker in an astra) and it made hardened fd nuts who drove it sweat!.

hope this helps.

Let me know if you need more info as to where to look for them.

[m4drx]

good UK rubber is a very good way to go also, i had a problem whereby if i accelerated hard and went over a bump the car would skip or wheel spin, this was solved by removing the jap rubber for some uk good quality stuff and made the world of difference. I can even accelerate through corners now.

i went for Falken 452\'s at £520 a set but worth every penny.

[Rotaryguru]

Have you just picked the car up? The MOT should have seen if any of the bushes are knackered... Unless it\'s "one of those" MOT\'s

Only had on the road for two months after importing. I had heaps of trouble getting registered etc, see my other posts! But the MOT was a strict one.  :reallymad
 
Hence why I din\'t expect any handling problems!!

[Rotaryguru]

good UK rubber is a very good way to go also, i had a problem whereby if i accelerated hard and went over a bump the car would skip or wheel spin, this was solved by removing the jap rubber for some uk good quality stuff and made the world of difference. I can even accelerate through corners now.
 
i went for Falken 452\'s at £520 a set but worth every penny.

Yeah, will be on the look out for some new rubber come payday:2Rolleyes!!