Strange Problemo

[NMMotorsport]

hey guys, i have a problem with my car p5 .

first i'll tell u what im running


17 alloys - 7.5 wide, 215/40 tyres
ebach springs

over the past few weeks my car is having major problems. firstly the ride feels really floaty, and wallery (eg, like its not grounded) . its dragging every where. and yesterday on the motorway, the car just started bouncing and wouldnt stop. it bounces loads when going round bends in the carrigeway, and feels hyper unstable.

now since i've had the springs fitted which was about 15 thousand miles ago, ive had a camber alligment done, tracking about 3 times, mazda, and my motorsport garage have looked over everything, and cant find anything wrong, ive done bump tests on the shocks.

if i have people in the car, it doesnt bounce or anything but when im on my own it bounces around like crazy at speeds. now i know by having the bigger wheels im gonna get a bit of tramlining, but what is happening is crazy. im lost for ideas of what the problem is. ive had all new drop links fitted, (mazda ones). and the cars only done 40 thou miles.

im really stuck here. i dont know whats wrong with it.

any ideas?

cheers

 

[SeminoleMan]

The floaty, bouncy motions sound like symptoms of worn struts.

 

[urbanbiker]

hey,

sounds like worn struts to me as well. With the car parked, push down on the front bumper and let the car bounce. It should bounce once then stop, any more than once and the struts are gone.

Do the same for the rear and see what happens.

Matt

 

[NMMotorsport]

yer ive done that, and everything seems normal. although ive been told that the energy from the road isnt been transfered into the shocks cos they broken inside .

cheers guys

 

[Action Jackson]

Either it's underdamped/worn struts or springs with a very high spring rate.

 

[mzdalvr]

hmm, i have to agree with worn struts/shocks. springs do not degrade or wear out (i'm most sure that someone will find something to condradict this, but the springs life will most certainly outlast the life of the car).

to clarify your statement with the shocks broken inside? - if thats the case your car would be bottomed out and you would continually have no rebound in the suspension at all.

most of the time the symptom of whats like driving a boat occurs when you lower the car - you put stress on the components of the suspension - struts/shocks will take the grunt of this and they usually wear out first.

cheers!

 

[Purrfectangel]

I agree with it being the struts/shocks...often times people lower there vehicles and don't bother to change the struts or shocks to compensate for the shift in load and then they wear out within six months or so.

 

[NMMotorsport]

cheers guys. ive never had shocks wear out on any of my cars though when using lowering springs. strange.

there defo messed up though now, i went on a trip the other day. bumpy roads etc, and now the car sits ultra low in the back. looks sick but it most defo f***ed lol

 

[Blake]

It is worn out struts, how many miles you got on them?

 

[NMMotorsport]

40,000miles. 10.000 on the ebachs.

 

[Kansei]

Weird, I had at least 30,000 while lowered on my stock P5 struts before replacing them at 65,000 miles on the odometer. Mine were still fine.

 

[NMMotorsport]

yer i moved to a street where the speed bumps are bascily like driving over really big kurbs. my tracking gets knocked out really regular.