i havnt had my fc for too long so today i decided to get it up to 100. i have power steering and feel that its REALLY touchy at high speeds. i had to grab onto the middle of the wheel to feel comfortably in control. but what really caught me ofguard whas when my car started shaking. especially when i pressed on the brakes. is the shaking at high speeds normal? and isnt the steering supposed to adjust according to speed or is that engine rpm?

 

Don't go 100+ on the streets. Promblem solved.

 

shaking is not normal, but there are a myriad fo things that can cause shaking at that speed. power steering being too touchy is normal. if you dont like it, remove it. A well maintained FC in good condition can easily go over 100 without problems. Both of the ones that I have owned and driven enough to trust have felt fine at speeds much greater than that. my old NA used to go 140 for miles and miles with no problems...140 in it felt like 90 in a family car. My TII feels about the same at 160 as the NA did at 140. However, unless you are a very good mechanic, and personally maintain and/ or examine your cars very very thoroughly, you should never, ever go over 100. I do it, but i fit the criteria above, and its still dumb.

pat

 

I had a nasty vibration on my FC start around 90 mph and get worse with speed. I replaced the tires, and had them balanced - and it's smooth all the way up now.

However, other things can cause vibration that are much more likely to cause problems. Check the front wheel bearings (put the car on a jack, try to pull the wheel back and forth. If you can feel/hear it move, tighten the bearings). Check the steering rods (if there's play in them, you can get minor wheel shimmy at high speed). There's a lot of stuff that can cause vibration.

-=Russ=-

 

check rotors and pads. vibrating would likely always be felt, but exponentially at such speeds. wheel balance is a major factor at high speeds.
btw - the speedo is off at high speeds; 90+ supposedly. there was a huge thread about it. very interesting.

 

any lumps in tires will be much more noticable at high speed as well.

 

i am usually a pretty conservative driver. today the road was clear and i was just curious. it only takes a couple seconds to go from 60-100 and i let off when i got to 100. it was just somthing i thot i shud experience in my car.

 

Alignment is worth checking as well. I've gone 140 in my FC and she was solid as a rock. Braking is a tad shakey but that's because my brake rotors are out of spec.

 

i had the same problem way back when i first got my car ..

turned out to be tires ... i replaced to of them and the balanced/rotated the leftovers ...
worked like a charm .. that would be the first thing i would check ..
usually the cheapest too

 

I'm going with tires; if they're old then it's probably them. If you can't afford to get new tires you might look into getting them balanced and rotated.

 

alot of people are saying tires but tires usually can be felt all the way up to and at cruising speed not while only braking. a shake/shimmey or pulsation felt in the wheel while braking is usually caused by warped rotors or a bent wheel. to check for warped rotors it is most accurate to keep the rotor on the hub and check the runout of the hub and rotor because the hub will also have some runout as well, for high speed/performance applications you should resurface the rotor while it is on the car for the least amount of runout.


its possible you have a tire with a ripped cord but brakes are usually the first thing to check on a braking concern.

 

check the wheel bearings. tire balance could also be an issue but becomes less important at very high seeds because there is so much force from the road acting on the tire (mine were a out for a while, would shake HORIBLY at about 70 mph, but then went away by 90....)

oh, do you have the underpan on? there can be some aerodynamic buffeting if its off when you get over 100 (air doesnt flow very smoothly over the underside of the engine). with it on, the car SHOULD feel stable and controlable up to its top speed.

still, for no reasony should you drive at a speed that feels even remotely unsae for any reason.

 

I had some bad cruise speed road tracking with the s5 power steering. Ripped the ato steering out and that problem went away. Had her up to 155mph and the steering seems fine. Car really starts to get sucked down though. Not sure of the exact physics, at the speed the car feels less like a sports car and more like a bullet train full of enough inertia that turning = massive suspension travel on oneside of the car. Not a fun feeling.

 

I ran a 98 integra last night in my 1986 n/a and it has 272,000 miles... no rebuild and mainly factory parts (was maintained well) well anyways, I pulled his *** hard to about 130 and then just left him bye bye at like 147.... my speedo was dumped for about 45 seconds.... he probably thought I was somethin else and its funny cause im stock...

anyways back on topic... when I slowed down it shook hella hard, and im used to it since i hit 130+ at least once a wk... anyways, what everyone said up there is true.. theres 5 things ive checked, and its made it better... but last night I realized... theres still another 50 to go till that shake goes away...

oh, first was my brakes, second was my tires, third was my steering, and fourth was my bearings... still shakes a little after 130mph slowing down...

NO SHAKES IF IM ACCELERATING JUST WHEN I SLOW DOWN..

 

yess, i dont shake while accelerating either, only when slowign down.

 

the MIDDLE of the wheel? OMG NO! thats where your SUPPOSED to hold the freaking wheel!! your just asking to crash and die arent you? your telling us that you expect to drive 100+ with one hand on the steering wheel? or maybe one hand on top like a cool guy! OF COURSE you should have both hands in the PROPER position when driving at high speeds, or even driving PERIOD!

 

The S4 power steering is road-speed sensitive, and at that speed there is practically no assistance. What you felt was the front of the car getting lighter because of all the air passing underneath it. It's quite normal, but not ideal. Lower ride hight and front splitters are two ways to reduce front-end lift.

 

A nearly stock '86 N/A ran over 147 mph?

Where's that B.S. flag smiley?

 

 

my 90 TII could barely hit 140 when i was bringing her back from arkansas... let alone a freaking S4 N/A!!

 

Thank you!

 

There is a lot of variation in the speedo at those high of speeds and it's possible it was reading that high but really doing closer to 130.

Anyhow, my first FC was smoothest between 90-110.

 

i think you got the wrong interpretation of what i meant my middle. i wasnt g-ridin' with one hand at 12:00. what i meant by middle was that i put my hands on the arms of the steering wheel. like you would drive a motorcycle so that it takes more energy to move the wheel. that way i wouldt wiggle so much.

 

You should still have your hands on the rim, not the spokes.

 

[dick]

well if my speedo is ****** dumped... then I expect im doin the speed its doing... plus i added a few extra mph cause its was dumped for a good 30-40 seconds...

Now shove your ****** BS FLAG up your ***'.... if the speedo's wrong, then WOW... thats not me, im not driving and radaring my car at the same time.... so eat a dick bitch's....


[/dick]