Self centering steering?

[Grizzly]

haven't had chance to have a look at it since putting the post up but i was just thinking would modern tires effect the way the steering returned to center? regarding the tire pressure, i run mine at 26psi front and back...... Not sure it will make any difference but i may drop it into the early 20's and see if it does anything.

[Foxie]

haven't had chance to have a look at it since putting the post up but i was just thinking would modern tires effect the way the steering returned to center? regarding the tire pressure, i run mine at 26psi front and back...... Not sure it will make any difference but i may drop it into the early 20's and see if it does anything.

Equal pressures front and rear might not help your car's handling, or straight line stability.

The Manual recommends 18/23 psi front/rear for the Elan, and 20/24 psi front/rear for the +2 for speeds of up to 100mph.

For constant driving at 100 mph + they recommend an all-round increase of 6 psi, (That's a bit of a step-change !!) but keeping the same front/rear differentials.

Again, it's a good idea to test-drive these settings, and experiment with adjustments.

[Orsom Weels]

In my case, rear track (& front) is well within spec & equal, better than than the +2, which is close, but not100% equal both sides. If I run the uniroyals down to 18psi, they look half flat & also feel like it on the road! I find 25/26psi for the Elan & 26/28psi for the +2 to be best for the tyres fitted. (Kumho's on the +2)
Another small anomaly is that on the road, the steering feels lighter on the +2, for a small light car, it always feels heavy on the Elan. When stationary, there's very little difference to the feel. The +2 may be a touch heavier, as you would probably expect, but almost imperceptibly so, but on the road, the Elan seems to load up more & requires noticeably more effort. I can only put it down to the different tyres?
Regards, Tim

[Donels]

You don?t mention it and I?m sure you?ve checked, but I?ll ask anyway. You have checked that the trunnions are well lubricated?

[denicholls2]

You say your front toe has been set to spec, but the steering response does not feel the best. Have you tried adding a bit more toe, say 50%, and test driving the result ?

Have you had the rear toe checked ?

Yes, I was surprised how far the thread got on adjusting non-adjustable bits without getting into Toe-In. On the front, toe-out will make the car vague. On the back, it can be treacherous with a car as neutrally balanced as the Elan.

Easy to check yourself with the string method, which is mentioned somewhere here. And also pretty easy to experiment with on the front.

Wild guess: Is it possible your shop gave it the specified amount of toe out instead of toe in? I ask because FWD cars, which nowadays means almost all cars, have toe out because the front wheels are driven. Do that on an Elan and I'd expect something like your symptoms. The string will tell you.

[Sploder90]

Just wondering have you checked front / rear ride heights?

Running front / rear rake in effect alters the caster angle.

Mel