My car is doing the truffle shuffle...

[skydragoness]

So, ever since i bought my 2nd S13 this past June, I've noticed an odd quirk about it that never came up in my previous S13 before. If I am driving over rough pavement, especially expansion joints,etc. The car's rear-end will jerk side to side for the duration of the rought pavement/imperfection. It's not as apparent as wheel-hop, and it conveys a real vague/mushy feeling when it does it. It's always a surprise in the seat of the pants too, because it feels like it's 'walking' side-to-side. It did it when it was stock, and its still doing it now that I have put the suspension components from my other S13 on it (which includes, AGX's, Suspesnion Tech springs, and subframe collars). My rear agx's are not blown, and i was hoping the collars would alleviate the i issue, but the symptom remains.

The only thing i'm *hoping* it is, is the car has some really out-of-whack toe or camber settings that's altering the rear wheel's thrust angle, as i have not had the car aligned when i got it in June or since i put the suspension components on (mostly because i'm waiting to install front LCA's and SPL t/c rods.) Could a bad wheel bearing cause quirky handling? I'm isolating this problem to being in the rear, because when the car jerks side to side the steering wheel stays straight, so i don't think its a front bumpsteer issue.

Any thoughts?

[Bronze MFP]

weak sidewall tires maybe? are you running a rear swaybar?

haha your car looks like this:

[skydragoness]

LOL

Oh, yeah lemme mention other variables. I run Potenza RE950's and i upped the psi all around since I put the suspension stuff on, even so, they are stiff tires for being an OEM size. From what i can see under the car, nothing looks bent either. I'm thinking about jacking up my car by the diff once i'm done eating my lunch here, and seeing if the wheels wiggle up/down or left/right. Arrrgh

oh, i'm not running a rear sway bar either.

edit: ok, just jacked up the car and such, tryed to wiggle the wheels while they were up in the air--not budging. So i don't know.
Modified by skydragoness at 3:08 PM 9/30/2005

[skydragoness]

Ok, here's another likely possibility:I took off my wheels 20min ago, because the rears have been needing another coat of duplicolor (i have my alloys graphite color) and the right rear wheel, which i rolled across the driveway with one hand, felt lop-sided. I pushed it off and it went rolling, then fell over (wheel's face-side).

So it's possible my old potenza's are distorted because they used to be on a set of other alloys that were out of round for a year or so, so they probably conformed to the bent wheel. Now that i did a switcheroo to straight rims, i think its evident i probably need a new pair of 'stones. mmmm. Still doesn't explain why the car was doing it when i bought it (it had old dunlops all around before i switched my wheels and tires over)

[slydin'240]

I am having the same problem. I had our alignment guy out it on the rack and he said my rear strut mounts are bad and that 'could be' the problem. The only way I know to check your strut mounts is pop the covers off the top in the trunk, push down on the rear bumper and if they move they are bad.

[skydragoness]

I am having the same problem. I had our alignment guy out it on the rack and he said my rear strut mounts are bad and that 'could be' the problem. The only way I know to check your strut mounts is pop the covers off the top in the trunk, push down on the rear bumper and if they move they are bad.

Hmm. that's a possibility too. Except...the rear strut mounts are from my previous S13 and one of them is new. So i don't remember the quirkiness on my previous white s13, actually once i added the collars to my white one it was very solid-feeling in the back. Not so with my red coupe now. I'm at my wits end.

[InsanityInc]

Let's see. Your rear end feels loose. You don't have a rear sway bar installed.

...

This isn't rocket surgery, folks.

[skydragoness]

Let's see. Your rear end feels loose. You don't have a rear sway bar installed.

...

This isn't rocket surgery, folks.

Are you refering to not having a rear sway bar at all? As i do have my OEM one, i just don't have an 'aftermarket' one.

[Nismo_Freak]

Let's see. Your rear end feels loose. You don't have a rear sway bar installed.

...

This isn't rocket surgery, folks.

Uhhh... a sway bar with 100+k mile endlinks isn't gonna do crap for preventing side to side movement.

It most likely is a toe issue, where slight bump in the suspension neutralizes one side and the other tracks.

Toe would also explain why a tire would roll over to one side (one side is shorter due to toe wear)

But hey, it's not "rocket surgery"

[skydragoness]

Uhhh... a sway bar with 100+k mile endlinks isn't gonna do crap for preventing side to side movement.

It most likely is a toe issue, where slight bump in the suspension neutralizes one side and the other tracks.

Toe would also explain why a tire would roll over to one side (one side is shorter due to toe wear)

But hey, it's not "rocket surgery"

thanks alan, that was my initial assumption was that the toe was off. soon enough i'll be getting an alignment (after i get some spl t/c rods!) and we'll see if the alignment was off (undoubtedly)

[InsanityInc]

Are you refering to not having a rear sway bar at all? As i do have my OEM one, i just don't have an 'aftermarket' one.

Well, you said you "didn't have a rear sway bar". You'd be surprised at what some people do.

Quote »Uhhh... a sway bar with 100+k mile endlinks isn't gonna do crap for preventing side to side movement.[/quote]Not having a rear sway bar will make the rear end feel very strange, since your drive wheels will be 100% independent of eachother.

[Nismo_Freak]

Well, you said you "didn't have a rear sway bar". You'd be surprised at what some people do.

Not having a rear sway bar will make the rear end feel very strange, since your drive wheels will be 100% independent of eachother.

I drove my S14 for years without a sway bar and it felt no different than any other S14 with a sway bar. The factory sway bar is purely worthless with any stiff spring.

[InsanityInc]

I drove my S14 for years without a sway bar and it felt no different than any other S14 with a sway bar. The factory sway bar is purely worthless with any stiff spring.

I'm talking about taking it off with a stock setup. The 100% independent nature of the rear end without the sway bar coupled with the fairly soft stock springs makes for very odd behavior over any kind of irregular ground. Sure, if you have really hard springs it's not going to change much since even though your wheels are fully independent, they won't be moving much at all anyway. I have rode in RWD cars without a rear sway bar and an otherwise stock suspension. It produces a very strange feeling whenever you go over any kind of noticably rough ground.

[skydragoness]

*bump*

Just thought I'd chime back and say that I had my bf take my car to Nissan (he's a tech there) to install my super-cool SPL t/c rods (in red of course), new LCA's w/ ball joints (from PDM-Racing), and the Tein inner/outer rods from my previous S13. My bf told me the rear toe was so out of whack it wasn't even registering on the computer (in the ranges they give I suppose). Scary. Anyway, they didn't have enough time to get to the rear, so I'll go back on Thursday to get it finished. After this, new tires! Yay. Planning on going with some BF Goodrich Traction T/A's for the winter months (excellent ratings like my old Potenza RE950's, but much better rated for snow than the 'stones)

[Dano]

Alan speaks the truth about swaybars and endlinks. The Toe, as he said, is likely your probly. But in addition to worn out endlinks and an alignment issue, im willing to bet your subframe bushings are crap as well... SPL has the cure for that and that's one of the best things i did for my car....

Good luck Sky!

-Dan