mrx76

I know that the steering & suspension isn't the greatest in standard form but just recently the steering has felt really light and unresponsive. It is almost like you can feel the front wheels moving around with the road suface even though you have the steering wheel fimly held and straight.

Anybody else experienced anything like this? Do I need my geometry checked or is this quite common. It still corners ok.

Nathan L

Your geometry could be out but sounds more like tram-lining to me, where the tyres follow the course and ruts of the road. What tyres are you running? Bridestone Potenza RE011's ?

May be worth changing them to better tyres if the tread is getting low. Bridgestone Potenza S02's or SO3's, Goodyear Eagle F1's or Toyo Proxes T-1's are all safe choices.

Cheers

Nathan..

haynesaj

Sounds like tramlining to me too. I had this on my MY01 with RE011's and it really annoying. Swapped to Michelin Pilot Sports and problem eliminated. Steering now much sharper too. Originally the RE011's were ok, but seemed to decline rapidly with age/mileage

mrx76

Yep they are Bridestone Potenza RE011's. They have only done 7k and are only 7 months old. Do they wear quickly, should they be doing this at their age/mileage?

Maybe I should get me a set of 18's with better tyres and Eibach springs.

nigelward

Try this thread from the Wheels and Tyres Forum:

http://www.scoobynet.co.uk/bbs/thread.asp?threadid=57142

The RE011's were on the car for 9 months and were awful for the last two months that they were on the car.

nigel s

I too find the steering light, with 18" wheels, Eibach;s and geo setup. Maybe its the Pzeros?.

mrx76

Thanks people, at least I know from the above thread that it's not just me. Think when they are low I will see about getting a new set of boots and not from the dealer.

Doesn't fill me with a great deal of confidence to throw the car about till then!!!

nigel s

I been for another drive to try and dispute my theory in this light steering debate. On a 3rd gear corner which tighten up I lost the car again, yes again but his time no damage (phoo). Trying to restore some confedence in myself and the car has been blown out the water, soon 1.1L Feestes will be overtaking me. I cannont drive this scoob as quick as my previous Saxo, which in my current state of mind was faster on A or B roads. I think help is required!

Dave T-S

Nigel
Are they Pzero rossos on a MY01? There is zippo grip on the roads at the mo anyway, but experience of these tyres is that their grip on anything but a dry road is poor.

nigel s

Yes on the rear and P Zero Direzionale's on the front (replaced the previous front rossos under warrenty).

Lenny.

Exactly the same problem as me. MY01 WRX, started noticing at 6000 miles. Very disconcerting. Initially more noticeable at lower speeds, scared the crap out of me the other day when cornering at the national speed limit.

Had to pay for geometry check (no fault found) and then power steering pump replaced under warranty. Now informed by dealer they have checked with Subaru and it is a known problem with standard wheel/tyre setup.

Do I pursue Subaru to replace the wheels/tyres if this is a recognised defect? The tyres don't need replacing yet but when they do I will upgrade to 18" OZs anyway. My mate's Fiesta feels more stable to drive at the moment!

Dave T-S

Nigel
Running a mix of Pzeros probably doesn't help, what pressures are you using?

mrx76

Lenny,
That was about the same mileage that mine started. If this is a known problem did your dealer give any advice on what to do? My dealer insisted that there was nothing wrong when all they did was take it out for a quick spin around the block.

Surely there is something that they can do, maybe a free geom check or tweek some settings or something.

nigel s

When Powerstation set the geo they also checked tyre pressure and reset to something like 32-33 front 30-31rear. Can't remember exactly.

haynesaj

My dealer woundn't do anything other then say I might like to buy a set of P-Zero's!

Now running Pilot sports that eliminated original problem however not getting much grip from the front tyres at the moment anyway due to weather and probably the fact that these tyres are not as good as others on wet surfaces (so I am told). Can't keep the power down all the way through some fast corners, now its very much a slow in - quickish out afair

DrEvil

This is interesting, a dealer contacted me recently asking about this very problem on the standard wheels and 18"+Pzeros, wondering what my input was on it as I'd run both types of tyre past 5K miles.

It does seem that with either the OEM tyre or the PZero Rosso, after 5K or so tramlining increases due to tyre wear. Quite a few MY'01 owners are experiencing this.

Hmm...

Dave T-S

This is also something clearly to do with the standard "Forester on stilts" suspension.

Had NO problems whatsoever with tramlining on Pzero rossos when they were worn, with Leda suspension.....

Andy Hamilton

interesting stuff.........

My MY01 with standard RE011's is tramlining all over the place at the moment. I put it down to the fact that the wife managed to kerb it twice in a week a couple of thousand miles ago

I have now covered 8000 miles and it does seem to be getting worse. I'll reseve full judgement until I have had a proper geometry set up done later in the week.

Andy

DT

My RE011's tramlined badly too reducing my speed and confidence. Toyo's, Prodrive Springs and a proper geometry set up, transformed the car.

Have some fun abusing those tyres and then treat yourself to the above - best mod yet IMO.

Lenny.

mrx76 - they didn't believe me at first. Let the mechanic and the service chap drive the car - they noticed it!

DrEvil - could I ask was this a dealership local to you???

DrEvil

I'm running Prodrive springs and OZ 18" with PZero Rossos, although it reduced the problem, it hasn't in anyway illiminated it.

Lenny - the dealership in question is near Epsom, not my local one.

Rgds, Alex

Pete Croney

My car, as new, was the same.

Putting on my 18" completely changed it.

The 01 hub is the same as the 99/00 but the wheel offset has increased from ET53 to ET55. The effect of moving the wheel further inboard is that there is less feedback from what is happening at the contact patch.

My Speedlines are ET48 and my Tecnomags are ET50. Both transform the steering feedback and let you feel when you are approaching the maximum slip angle (the point just before the steering goes light) after which the tyres generate less grip and you understeer.

If you can't feel this change in steering, and you can't with the standard wheels, it is not possible to safely exploit the limits.