There's some variation due to tires, some being more prone to trammlining than others. It's been a few years ago now but my memory is that my SO2's were really bad with that.

Otherwise, alignment is very important...so what's your alignment numbers? How low is your ride height? Do you have coilovers, and if so, which ones?

 

I have a appointment with the alignment shop in the next two days but the car is lowered with eibachs and koni yellows. Tire brands are Nitto NT555r drag radials which I'm thinking its these tires that contribute to most of all the bump steer.

 

Don't have the car aligned to OEM specs - use these specs: http://mkiv.com/techarticles/lance_alignment/index.html

If you can get more caster on both sides than +5.0, go for it - on stock suspension parts it's basically impossible to end up with too much caster.

 

Hey, thanks for the tip

 

Ride height too low.
Loose rack.
Alignment.

 

Ride height too low.

I'd like to know how would the ride height affect bump steer if the car's lowered. Wouldn't the height of the tie rod be higher if the car's lowered? Or is it the height of the tie rod from the knuckle is what we need to play with bump steer? Given a proper alignment

**Edit**

I just looked at my car, and the Mkiv has the tie rod bolted from up front, and underneath the knuckle, which should theoretically toe in as the suspension compresses, but I'm not sure if having the tie rod bolted from underneath the knuckle would cause the bump steer to be worse the more you lower your car.

 

toe in on the front a bit will help with bump steer

 

Has anyone had any experience with the Battle version outer tie rods that may potentially help combat bumpsteer while accommodating wider front tires?

**Edit**

Here's a picture that I've found so others'll have a better idea of what I'm talking about. I will probably be in the same boat shortly...

http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/432138_4531761938113_589472529_n.jpg

 

Has anyone had any experience with the Battle version outer tie rods?

Yeah, I would like to see some reviews of this as well.

 

Alignment is critical but if that is OK, worn bushings will definitely cause both bump steer and tram lining. Wider front tires also tend to tramline more. Worn suspension bushings seem to be very common on Supra's especially if above 100K miles so unless they have been changed, that would be my guess.

 

Which bushings in particular?

I'm on koni's and eibachs, stock width front tires. Definitely follows every imperfection in the road. It's definitely a car you want to keep a firm grasp on the steering wheel.

My steering rack seems to be perfectly fine.

 

The upper and lower front control arms are the usual culprits. The bushings on the body side of both of those sets of A-arms tend to wear out over time. Another culprit can be loose lower camber bolts, as some alignment shops lack the testicular fortitude to actually torque them down to spec, which is around 165 ft-lbs IIRC.
I've only ever encountered one Supra LCA with a bad balljoint and it had suffered an impact on that corner. So long as the balljoints check out, a set of urethane bushings from a suitable source such as R2 will do the trick. Newer ball joints are always just a smidge tighter/better though, so a lot of folks simply spring the $ and buy new upper and lower control arms all around.

 

Yep I'm on koni yellows and eibach also. I gotta say I hate how hard these ride and was also looking at the possibility these might be the culprit.

 

are your tires feathered by any chance? i drove a cr-v with feathered tires and it would wander and steer where ever the hell it felt like it whenever it felt like it.

 

how would you test the integrity of the lca balljoint itself

 

Bump for an older thread. I got my Battle version outer tie rods, so here are some pictures of them, though I can't give my feedback until my car's back on the road with the alignment dialed in.


In the pictures below, that's how I got them out of the box. There's a gap between the spacers and the joint because the bottom nut isn't tightened down, just to save everyone the confusion. In the seperate bag, are the spare spacers which you can swap to heighten or lower the tie rod.







Here's a pic of it installed, I currently have the largest spacer on top and smallest on the bottom, so we'll see how it does.

 

Today I just got my car back together, so I'll report back one more time. I started getting the alignment dialed in at the alignment rack, and on my way to the shop, the car wandered like crazy due to just about everything being off, but the bumpsteer wasn't too bad. Granted my ride height, I started off with the Lance's alignment as a base, but still ended up with about -2 degrees of camber give or take all the way around. I had about 1mm of total toe in the front and rear if I remember correctly. The machine didn't read my caster angles, although I have those eccentric bolts currently maxed out positive. I still need to go back to do some more tweaking tomorrow, but so far I'm not experiencing any major bumpsteer or wandering issues at all. Mind you, this is on a 285/35/18, and 315/30/18 tire combination.

 

...this is on a 285/35/18, and 315/30/18 tire combination.

I just read this post by Steve and it might be applicable to your front setup:

285/35R18's will be a big problem, don't mount them. As mentioned, they are too tall.

If you hit a large bump while turning, the tire will grab your fender lip and bend it outward. Don't ask me how I know.

Later, Steve

 

Thanks for pointing that out Nick. The front does rub a little on hard dips, so I'm looking into giving the front fenders a slight roll for the time being. Made a costly mistake on the 35's

 

Yeupers. Run a 285/30 or 295/30 up front if you can.


Steve K.