Suspension help - or, a good shop in West Texas

[DecalService]

So, since I've owned this car, the suspension and steering hasn't felt... Let's say... Stable... It may just be me since I've never owned a lowered car (Rapido springs, koni yellow fronts and bilstein b8's in rear)... Both shops I've been to say that nothing is wrong.

I don't feel at ease when driving. Again, maybe its my lack of having driven a lower car, but I keep feeling like I should hold both hands on the wheel and just keep straight, all white knuckled. Sharp steering. I've also noticed the front wheels like to scrape the fenders on even light dips. Not much, no damage thank God (49k original miles and looking like new! Then again, I barely drive it)

I'd like to reach out to you folks... I'm at my wit's end and don't wanna just keep throwing money at it. I bought it this way, all OG rapido'd out, etc, but at the end of the day, I just want a pretty, easy driving, original and enjoyable XR. Any suggestions?

Also, I'm in a little town near Odessa, TX. called Monahans. Anyone recommend any shops around here that may be able to rectify my issue with the current suspension parts I have? The parts are all good, and no expense was spared on dampers, but I can't help but feel that something is... Off...

[Spaldino]

how are the tires? if they're worn unevenly it could cause some "feel" issues with tracking and whatnot. Are the feelings of instability consistent or easily reproducible? If so, I'd look at the tires. That is assuming your bushings, dampers, tie-rods, ball joints, springs, swaybars, wheel bearings, and whatnot all check out good and are torqued properly/have no play/greased adequately/etc etc.

Edit: If it isn't your tires maybe the spring rate/height and dampening rates don't work well together.

[thesameguy]

Like Spaldino said, there are a lot of moving parts here, and it's hard to equate what you find unstable to a specific issue. At 30 years old, all the rubber is toast *period* so if you don't have specific service history on that stuff, I'd get to replacing it all.

The fender interaction is a little odd - I had that problem with stock suspension and aftermarket wheels, but it was a result of non-optimal offsets and floppy stock suspension. If that's your situation, you need stiffer springs or wheels with better geometry. Perhaps what you're experiencing in instability is partially a side-effect of poor wheel geometry.

[Ed Lijewski]

Scraping fender liners on dips on my stock XR was a sign of failed struts, cured by installing new struts.

YMMV

[duncan1437]

maybe swap the front and rear tires to see if the problem goes away (tread separation)? maybe the alignment?

i've had lowered cars and never noticed a significant handling problem. most of my cars' tires rub occasionally because of lowering, wide tires, nonstock wheel offset, etc, but never a real problem.

[Ghost]

Check the bushings. Then check the alignment. If the front suspension has toe out it will be unstable in a straight line. Also, wheels with a centerline wider than the stock wheels will tend to cause wandering as well.

[Matt01]

I agree on bushings, on a good suspension setup like you have, that could make the stock weak bushings seem exaggerated.

[Esteban]

Rapido springs are rated very soft, nearly identical to stock rates. That's most likely the cause of the rubbing other than wheel offset.
Can you post your alignment settings again? Also how soft or hard do you have the koni yellows set to?

[DecalService]

Thanks guys! All great info! That's why I love this community.

I suppose it wouldn't hurt to take a better look at my konis on the front. To be honest I'm not sure what they are set at. I've never been big into suspension or wheels and the such, but lately I've been understanding the benefits of becoming acquainted with these topics.

Pushing down on the front corners yields what seems like a good result... The car springs back and stays there with no bouncing, but I don't know if lowered cars will do that anyway or not.

I'll have to take a look at the rubber all around as well. The tires are in great shape, almost new, and the car has been aligned twice now. Despite the car having a true 46k miles, there's no telling what time has done to the bushings if they haven't been changed out. If none of these solve it, I think I'll just take it to a huge, empty lot each day and get accustomed to the feel. It may just be my imagination after coming from a huge w116 Mercedes to this little chap -although I remember a fun handling car when I had my 1989 at age 18. I'm now 34. Ugh. That sucks.

[thesameguy]

Rapido springs are rated very soft, nearly identical to stock rates. That's most likely the cause of the rubbing other than wheel offset.
Can you post your alignment settings again? Also how soft or hard do you have the koni yellows set to?

Did not know that, but that would make loads of sense.

[DecalService]

I will certainly look around for my suspension settings sheet that was printed on last alignment and post it here. I am 99.9% sure I know where it is. My sincere thanks as always!

[Choochoochoo]

I know what you mean! I go back and forth between my 85, and the wifes w251. HUGE difference. I know mine needs to be aligned, but im thinking its also time for all new bushings up front because its getting a little "nibbley" if you will. It has a tendency to sway a bit at speed if im not paying attention to it, that and it feels like ive got warped rotors even though i just replaced them. From what ive read, those are tell tale signs of needing new bushings.. good luck! Hope you can get it figured out so you can enjoy it again!

[duncan1437]

heres the merkur shop manual page on diagnosing if the car is 'wandering'



and here are the alignment specs

[Ed Lijewski]

Nice primer here on suspension modding Don'ts and Dos:

https://youtu.be/K_JlpS_QDgM

YMMV

[Esteban]

Have a close look at all the suspension bushings as well. Maybe the shop missed a bad bushing.