A friend and I just got some tien coil overs.. Ever since we installed them.. Sometimes during a slide, the car would wobble left and right... It didn't do that before.. Was wondering possible reasons for this?

Tried lowering it to the point where the wheel was barely able miss wheel well...
We do have a sway bar..

=\ Iono

 

Which Teins?

 

You might not have tight bolts (although I'm sure you checked that) The top mounts could also be in trouble.

 

your alignment is probably off too.

 

I'd suggest an alignment check, too--I am assuming that you did an alignment after installing the coilovers. Also, not directly related, but did you cornerweight the car?

 

What does cornerweighting have to do with drifting?


-Ted

 

Car has coilovers on it so unless it was cornerweighted the weights are probably all over the place. Just setting the perches to get each corner at the desired ride height doesn't do it.

 

Buy a 240. . . .

Full threaded coil overs are not any better than shocks w/springs (assuming same rates, dampening, and what not) unless they have been corner weighted. In fact, many times full threaded setups are worse(lap times) then their non-adjustable counterparts after installation.

The function of the height adjustment is so that the car weight can be set left to right, front to back, and left rear to right front and right rear to left front. It is not so that you can get that slammed ricey look. Typically cars do not handle well very far away from the manufactures designated ride height unless other suspension components have been changed to accommodate the change in suspension geometry. By this I mean the length of suspension pieces and or position of them has been changed.

A good set of scales will set you back about $1000.00 from racerswholesale.com. There is a science to setting up a car for racing and counterweighing is a major part of it. There may a shop in your area that will do it for you. It takes a LONG time to do right and will cost you a lot in labor for someone else to do it. I would think $500.00 would be a minimum, but more realistically around $750.00 for shop time. If you want it done right then add $$ for track time and tuning at the track. $2000-total…. ($750 at shop, $250 track time, $1000 in tech time at track.)

The DYI method would be this.

Typically what you would do is put the amount of weight in your driver seat as you weight (180lbs or so in gym weights is what I use). Put everything in the car that you would have in it during a race and nothing else. Adjust the weight of the car to your desired weights.

After you have done this, then go to the track (or parking lot/ alley, or where ever people drift these days) and do some runs. Adjust the suspension based on car feed back. Continue to do this until the car starts performing like you want it to. I would guess that drifting would have some kind of best practice corner weight % goals established for cars. I know that more traditional types of racing do (often times for the track that one is going to race).

Good luck. And don’t drift into any fixed objects.

 

One thing to check is that you have not lowered the car so much that you end up on the bump stops in the middle of your turn. In that case you go from whatever effective wheel rate you have (function of spring rate & swaybar rate & geometry) to an infinite wheel rate, which can certainly unbalance the car.