Weird Steering....Possibly related to coilovers

rsalomon13

rsalomon13

New member
So I have asked a couple other questions on here and they have all been sorted out so lets see what you all think of this issue.

I just bought an 07 sti. It has a really weird issue. It feels to sometimes pull to the left and sometimes pull to the right. Especially when changing lanes on the highway. As I cross the center line it feels to suddenly pull towards the direction I am changing, i.e. if I am changing from the left to right lane it pulls to the right and vice versa. It actually creates a somewhat scary experience. I feel like I have to fight with the wheel. What makes this especially weird is that it does it in both directions and if I am driving straight on a flat road I can let go of the wheel and it tracks perfectly straight. :icon_scratch:

Have you heard of anything like this before? I am going to be bringing it to the dealer for some other issues on Weds. so I can talk to them then but was curious if anyone else on here had experienced this or has any input.

 
I think the crown of the road is playing tricks on you. Lanes are slanted away from the centerline, so if you go from right lane to left lane, you'll go uphill a bit towards center, over the crown, then downhill as you get into the left lane.

 
Actually I think what you're feeling would be the Potenza tires that come OEM on STis.... they're almost like friggin' motorcycle tires... my '05 STi would do the same thing over like "snake work" in the road (those black crack filler things)

 
There is nothing wrong with what you are feeling and it is entirely normal. It is a combination of sticky tires, steering rack ratio that is less than what you are used to, and suspension angles up front set up for turn in (to some extent). Hang on to the wheel with both hands and drive it.

 
that is what stiff suspension and a good amount of camber are going to do to you.

I am assuming you have had the car aligned since the coilovers correct?

Do you have the numbers from the alignment on you? and how low did you go with the car?

 
lawdog is spot on. the old tires and suspention setup i had on my GC was scary changing lanes on the highway. you'd just think about it and you'd be in the other lane.

 
how many miles on the car? slack in the tie rods, balljoints, etc could all contribute to your issues. extra-wide tires with stiff sidewalls tend to hunt back n forth like a friggin spaniel on a scent sometimes anyway, and if any of the front-end bits are tired, it's even worse..

alignment is also key. what sounds good in a tuner mag or setups for AX can be, as mentioned above, a bit of an eye-opener on the highway. zero front toe or even a bit of front toe-out is good for AX but skeery in normal driving.

the term for what you're feeling is "tramlining" where the car darts side to side over uneven road surfaces. it's why rally cars don't go for super negative camber for instance. we recently experimented with 1/16" toe out for the rally car...and it was all over the effin road. turn-in is super sharp, so we decided to stick with it and just get used to steering it straight.

welcome to the wonderful world of suspension/setup tradeoffs. you may be experiencing what a lot of ppl do who try to outfox factory suspension engineers--that for all-around driving, dead stock suby setup is hard to beat.

 
Thanks for all the input. I am bringing it to the dealer on tomorrow and i am going to have them do a new alignment and give me the numbers, as well as actually give me some info about the coilovers. I know this is bad but I have been so busy between work, and my grandmother just passed away that I don't even know what the hell was on the car when I bought it. Maybe I can get them to toss the stock springs back on and give me a full stock alignment and see how it feels. I just don't like spending this money to have any lane change over 60 mph scary. Or maybe I just need to learn how to drive. Back when these first came out I remember reading something where a guy said(of getting behind the wheel of an sti), "I thought I had forgotten how to drive", and damnit if that isn't how I feel.

 
that's all it is.

did you get a fresh alignment after the coilovers?

and if you did.. you should take a spin in my miata.. make an STI feel like a friggen caddy..

 
I took the car to the dealer today. Here are my alignment numbers....I do not know squat about alignment so if anyone could let me know if anything looks off that would be great...thanks in advance. I must say I really do not like the lack of symmetry.

Front Left

Camber: -0.6

Caster: 3.2

Toe: .01

SAI: 11.5

Included Angle: 10.9

Front Right

Camber: -0.6

Caster: 3.1

Toe: -0.02

SAI: 11.7

Included Angle: 11.1

Front

Cross Camber: 0.0

Cross Caster: 0.2

Cross SAI: -0.3

Total Toe: -0.01

Rear Left

Camber: -2.2

Toe: 0.00

Rear Right

Camber: -1.1

Toe: 0.04

Rear

Cross Camber: -1.1

Total Toe: 0.04

Thrust Angle: -0.02

 
Front looks fine.

back lookes way out.

do you have camber plates? and have you hit any big bumps lately?

The rear should be much closer than that.

where did you bring it? I am kinda surprised that they let that back out since it was on the rack.

 
I haven't hit any bumps lately. This is what the alignment was per Patriot Subaru when I bought it. I have had this car for about a week and went in today and asked for a print out of what they set it to before I bought it. Now I am kind of pissed. Could the rear settings be what is causing my wandering?

 
It is definitely possble.

so the coilovers were on it before you bought the car?

I would definitely have them reset the rear. granted i would get under there and make sure that the spring seats are locked down completely. Any change in ride height on a corner will change the alignment settings.

actually before you bring it in grab a tape measure and measure the fender lip to rim lip and make sure you match side to side on the front and the back.

 
These seem more trouble then they are worth, anyone want to trade some Megan Coilovers for a stock sti suspension setup. PM me.

 
Don't get frustrated. this is a relatively minor issue.

the alignment should be fine once you get it settled. but you could wind up with the same issues on stock suspension.

Call Patriot in the morning and talk to the service manager. As long as you don't flip out over the phone or something they will take care of you. They sold you the car, they will fix the alignment.

if you have any issues with it tomorrow PM me I will make a few calls.

 
Thanks man, I will try not to get frusturated.....this is the first car I have bought that had issues out of the box. But I love everything about it. I guess that when you buy a car made to have this kind of performance, you will have to tweak and adjust. I guess it can be fun and addictive to try and get everything perfect.
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As Pedro said, definitely don't get upset.

I agree, even looking at the numbers and not knowing anything about them as you said, notice how close the fronts are to eachother, and how the backs are over a point off from eachother?

I'm still a little lost, did you buy the car with them on? Or pay patriot to put them on and then do an alignment? What's going on here??

If you haven't made any suspension adjustments since they aligned everything for you, they shouldn't even put up a fuss with correcting this so long as you go in polite and everything...

Don't give up! Once you have it dialed in, you'll be really happy!

Additionally, that "Tramlining" feeling that Nigel described, when I got my '05 STi, I had it a lot, even over little stuff... just kinda darty feeling... I haven't done any suspension alterations save new tires, and it went away significantly for me, I picked up some Kuhmo Ecsta SPTs (as per suggestion of Pedro!) and I'm pretty happy with them, especially since they last longer than 10,000 miles. :tard:

 
To clear everything up I bought the STI at Patriot Subaru last week, the previous owner had put the coilovers, an intake(Perrin with a heat sink), and a boost gauge on the car. Patriot sold it with these aftermarket parts and still agreed to give me their lifetime powertrain warranty, +10 for them.

Unfortunately the handling is very darty, I am going to check with Patriot to have the alignment all sorted out and I am also going to be switching to some all seasons for the winter, so maybe the combination of some tires with softer sidewalls and the readjusted alignment will help the issues with tramlining.

 
what did you drive before the STI? the contrast in directional stability may be quite large, and making the sti seem more squirrely than it actually is.

as said above, be patient with getting the alignment right on the coilovers before ditching them. be patient but firm, they'll get it. switching to coilovers is a big step because there are many adjustments, realize that it often takes a few sessions on the alignment rack to get the setup right.

 
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