Need advise from DSE subframe owners

[Matt@BOS]

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

[Payton King]

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.

[Vegas69]

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?

[Gordz32]

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

[68protouring454]

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.

[Vegas69]

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.