The next time you drive your Trophy...

[matt5687]

Can somebody please report back on the following:

Driving straight ahead at 60+ MPH using small movements of the wheel around the centre is there much "feel/feedback"? I have had lots of work done on curing a wandering/tramlining problem which is now sorted and the handling/steering feel is now incredible when cornering to be honest but just curious about the straight ahead stuff. Also when accelerating straight ahead the same lack of feel is present...normal??

I am pretty sure its 100% and the doubt is just in my head (once you notice something and all that..) and I know all cars need a degree of vague feel straight ahead as they would be too twitchy at speed. The car responds to any slight movement of the wheel but just not with much feel like there is when turning in or corner exit on the throttle.

Thanks,

Matt

 

[rubens172]

I would say your perception is proabably correct and the car has been set up with a mm or two of toe in. The only big effect of slight toe changes is in steering feel, and toe in gives a lazy feel to the steering when straight ahead. You'd expect less feel when accelerating as the car tends to toe in even more when the front suspension is 'pulling' the car along.

Toe out or -ve toe makes the steering more sensitive, but too much and the car feels darty and unstable when braking, perhaps ypur original porblem?

Who ever worked on your car has obviously given it toe in to help settle it down for you. Or you have moved from toe out back to zero toe and are feeling the effects. I have always preferred zero toe or slight toe out, but I'm sure other poeple will recommend settings. Just get the tracking checked if your head is full of questions.

Allan

 

[aucky]

The difference is probably in the suspension. When Corning and the suspension is loaded up, the 'slack' is taken out of the response time between steering input to result.
The suspension is relaxed when driving straight.

 

[matt5687]

Thanks guys. Rubens, the car has been given slight toe out but nothing extreme and unchanged standard camber. The car turns in great as a result and nearly all severe torque steer and searching/wandering even under power has all but gone. Would you guys say that what I have described is normal for the car as having not driven another Trophy but mine I can't really compare. You can carry lots of speed down a bumpy, cambered B Road and have very minimal grip on the wheel but just no feel. I am starting to think it is normal as if you had "bite" on the smallest wheel movement the car would be very difficult to drive on such a road?

Thanks Again,

Matt

 

[Carbon Chaos]

I would say from your description this is a normal trophy as for toe it should run 1mm out on the front i think.

 

[matt5687]

Yeah this is what I think. Thanks for everybody's help. ^^ I see you in good old Wiltshire? I'm in Melksham

 

[kev182]

I agree with Allan, the character of the steering when set correct seems to be a bit reluctant to give feel on the straight-ahead. I disagree that toe in csuses it, when I have tried toe in it makes dead-ahead feel better to me - more feel! But overall the factory settings of a little toe out will be best and I have found I like a little toe out. With out (negative) "Feel" does then improve once some lock is applied and changing direction through flowing corners is great. It's all very subjective!

 

[ravydavygravy]

What tyre pressure you running?

I recently hiked the fronts to 36psi and the front was all over at motorway speeds.

 

[matt5687]

I agree Kev, feel is all very subjective. It definitely sounds like my characteristics are normal as suspected which is good. I would be inclined to agree with Allan that toe in would cause a more lazy steering action as the fronts are essentially driving towards each other where as toe out they are driving away from one another and would cause the car to follow bumps and cambers more.

I have just lowered the pressures to 30 front and 29 rear which is better that the 33 front as the car doesn't skip as much. New tyres are in order though as I still have all four PE2's and they are getting old now. Hopefully changing tyres to probably PS3's will help bring back a bit more feel too.

 

[kev182]

Good stuff, Quality tyres are always worth it to me.

As you say the car is now how you like it in the corners I doubt there is any problem at all in the setup. I just disagree that it will have been given toe-in, that's all. From what you said you seem to have perfectly described the pro's and cons of the standard (slight) toe-out settings.

I've spent too much time playing around with settings and have come to the conclusion that it's best to stop worrying and enjoy - that is my advice!

 

[marrow]

Good stuff, Quality tyres are always worth it to me.

As you say the car is now how you like it in the corners I doubt there is any problem at all in the setup. I just disagree that it will have been given toe-in, that's all. From what you said you seem to have perfectly described the pro's and cons of the standard (slight) toe-out settings.

I've spent too much time playing around with settings and have come to the conclusion that it's best to stop worrying and enjoy - that is my advice!

These posts make for interesting reading - technical that even the non-technical like me can understand.

 

[matt5687]

Lol is that a way of saying we don't have a clue what we're on about? Only kidding. I am hopefully able to drive a another trophy near me after talking with another owner at work to compare. As kev mentioned, I don't want to get lost messing about and end up chasing my tail. Like my old 172 the t would appear to have a slight lazyness about it on the straight ahead as soon as you commit to a corner its the exact opposite. Hopefully a comparison with another one will help assuming its all up together damper/sus/alignment wise