Crap handling

[totta Crolla]

Right this is what I've got !
Front Bilstein inserts in standard length struts, coil over conversion. 300lb 9" springs. Poly bushed TCA's and Tie bars. Cusco top mounts.
Rear Bilsteins 190lb springs. poly bushed. car is 1" lower than standard.
Silvia S12 15" wheels 20mm spacers 195/45/15 tyres.
Front settings:
Toe 3mm in
Camber 2.5 degrees negative
Caster 3.5 degrees
Basically the car is all over the place on anything but a totally smooth road and then it still seems to have a mind of its own !
Please help with this, I have a rally (tarmac) over Christmas and need to get it sorted.
What do you all think is wrong ?

[EE80Liftback]

Are you tyres any good? Even my powerless EE80 handled crap on old tyres. (Those where something like 8 years old, good profile, good brand but just dried out by lack of use)

[totta Crolla]

EE80Liftback Wrote:Are you tyres any good? Even my powerless EE80 handled crap on old tyres. (Those where something like 8 years old, good profile, good brand but just dried out by lack of use)

Tyres are ok but what do you reckon about the wheels ? I'm wondering if they are the cause of the problems

[The Doctor]

toe in 3mm? i thought it was measured in degrees?

But i found out my car handeld (sp? ) crap with to much toe in (ask Ivan141 ), are you sure that value is correct?

[NoHachi]

Define "all over the place"

[totta Crolla]

NoHachi Wrote:Define "all over the place"

Not precise at all, seems to kind of wander requiring constant correction.
All joints in steering and bearings are fine.
I'm not sure 3mm toe in is correct but that is what the value is. I think most people go for zero to 1mm toe in.

[jondee86]

Front suspension settings are within spec except for the camber

What offset are the wheels ?? Have you tried taking the spacers out
from the front ? And if you did, was the feel any better ??

Cheers... jondee86

[NoHachi]

I'm not sure about the mm toe setting. I know of toe settings in degrees and also that the Yanks state it in inches. If the mm setting is similar to the inches thing, then the actual angle is dependent on the rim diameter and could be off.

To much toe-in would cause exactly the kind of symptoms you are describing, so my money is on that. It will also wear-out tires like nothing you have seen before, so keep an eye on em.

If you have rose jointed TCA's then you should be able to run close to zero toe.

[totta Crolla]

Right I took all you have said on board and re-checked all of the settings.
I made the mistake of assuming the caster setting would stay the same when the topmounts were changed for Cusco items, this of course is not the case. Close inspection of the original mount shows that there is an inbuilt amount of caster not there on the Cusco's !
Too little caster appears to be the problem. I have set the camber to 1 degree negative and the toe in is parallel.
I expect the surface to be very slippy tarmac and the course will be mostly slowish tight corners so I need as much tyre contact as possible under all conditions.
Thanks to everyone for their help, I will update when I have actually driven the car !!

[totta Crolla]

Getting somewhere now, drives better with no wandering and has plenty of grip (removed rear arb) I'm just left with one problem though.
Having sorted the bumpsteer by aligning the inner steering balljoints with the TCA pivot bolts I adjusted the tie rods and removed/re-fitted steering wheel to suit.
Whats the problem ?
Car is steering left, if I let the steering wheel go and stop the car the front wheels are both visibly pointing left. It's obviously an alignment problem but could it be the caster rather than the toe ? I have set the toe accurately but have no way of checking the caster.
Could I have set the toe when the front wheels were not exactly straight, if so how do you ensure they are dead straight