Need advise from DSE subframe owners
 

So I'm going through the never ending process of sorting my car out right now, and figured I might as well ask for some help/suggestions online.

First off, the good - I've got a complete DSE suspension set up and can't complain about the quality of the product at all. Without being sorted out, and right out of the box, the car has been able to turn in some respectable times at the track.

The bad - we're having a bit of an issue with the front, specifically with the steering. The steering wheel just doesn't want to return to center when coming out of a turn. It might unwind its self a hair, but the car would probably just go in circles unless I pulled the wheel back. It gets really annoying on the track because the car doesn't really provide any feedback. I've got to guess when to unwind the wheel. Its almost like steering a car in a video game.

Initially I thought it was an alignment problem so I took it to get aligned, but the problem still persists. Anyone have any ideas what is wrong. I can't imagine this is normal and all cars with this DSE setup handle this way.

In case anyone is wondering, here are the specs:
255 front 335 rear tires
Camber: -.7 º
Caster + 5º
slight toe in

Any help, first hand feeback, etc. would be much appreciated

Matt

First thing
 

I would check is to take the steering linkage loose and make sure the column or the u joints are not binding...as in the bushings in the column are not too tight. I would drive it first and get it hot, make sure the wheel is not unwinding out of a turn.

I would also check to see if the outer tie rods are not binding on the steering arms.

If that is not the problem, it must be in the rack. Have you called DSE to discuss the problem?

Good thing is it can only be a couple of things and should be easy to diagnose pretty quickly.

Go back to the basics. Get it hot and jack up the car. Turn the steering wheel, it should be pretty easy. Turn the wheels by hand and see if you can figure out what's binding. Ball joints can cause the problem on top of what Payton said. They are greasable so that's not a bad place to start. Does it do it both ways?

Hey, it's Matt typing from Chris' account here at Best of Show.

Chris and I were talking, and he doesn't think that there is any kind of binding action. The wheel moves smoothly from lock to lock, and isn't notchy; it just doesn't want to center itself coming out of a turn, meaning I have to pull it back around. After the last alignment I noticed a little bit of return when I took my hands of the wheel leaving the parking lot, but not enough to keep the car from wanting to make a U turn.

When we had the car on the lift before, with me in it, back before SEMA we had the lines reversed and the wheel shot back around without making any noise, and after it was fixed it turned smoothly

Regardless of the fact that we doubt it's binding, we'll check everything out when we get the rear bar under the car, hopefully later this week. I still haven't called DSE about the issue, but will tomorrow to see what they think.

Matt

if you hooked up the lines backwards you got lucky and did not ruin the rack instantly, more then likely it blew up inside. i would throw a rack on it if you had alignment double checked, wheel base square?
if jacked up turn the wheel and see if it keeps on moving, if so its junk.

Agree, I hooked min up backwards and it blew the seal right out of the steering input. My buddy Frank didn't send me the instructions with my frame and I assumed red was high pressure! How foolish. :rofl:

Haha, when it happened to us the night before SEMA, I knew we were screwed because I remembered you said it was a huge pain to work on. I was installing something inside the car and got stuck up there while they worked on it for a good hour.

Oh, and Jake, thanks for the input too. Just curious, are there any other tell tale signs that the rack would be broken?

Matt

Matt, did you find the culprit on this yet? Was this the squeeking sound Mary was talking about at Pleasanton?

Where was that bolt from? Did you guys figure that out?

LOL--don't you just love road trips---I blew the L/R shock, broke off the return line fitting on the A/C, and found out the window seal problem is much worse than I thought---I can just now hear again.

Doug

Ain't that the truth. I couldn't wait to drive my Mustang because it's so damn quite compared to the Camaro :lol:

We haven't gotten to the bottom of the problem quite yet. As for the bolt, We're pretty sure it came from the power steering pulley. It threaded back in there, and noise the car was making before stopped. Today we put the rear bar on the car, which probably would have helped on the autocross, and then pulled the right axle because I noticed it was leaking a ton of fluid all over the brake and into the wheel. Everything looked good, so we just replaced the seal. I imagine that's why I'd have to pump the brakes once after the long stretches on the way back. Then we found two more bolts that had backed off, one on the spring pocket, and the other for an exhaust bracket. Honestly, I'm surprised you didn't need a new windshield after all the debris that fell off of our car, lol.

The good news is that I did get to sit in the car and turn the steering while on the lift at the end of the day. Something is screwed up, and likely in the rack. When you turn the wheel quickly to the right it pulsates and feels notchy. Chris was watching outside the car, and said it translated to the wheels. It doesn't happen turning to the left though.

I guess we'll know more tomorrow...

Matt

just replace the rack.