TBs and alignment = poor handling?!!

[Jafman]

Hi All,

Just put some 265/75s on the nav and put it in to a 'specialist' suspension company for an alignment and to wind the TBs a little. After driving home I realised that the handling was much worse than before it was even sent in!! WTF?! On closer inspection I've found that the right side UCA is just touching the upper bump stop and the left side UCA has about 10mm clearance. Could this be the problem?? Surely a professional suspension outfit wouldn't crank them up so much that it affected the handling performance of the vehicle? I mean aren't these guys supposed to know what they're doing and advise accordingly??!!

Would appreciate your thoughts / comments. Planning to upgrade the suspension in the near future. Have ordered the calmini UCAs from the states after reading previous posts. Im only after a 2" lift but from what I understand the cal UCAs will provide better shock clearance and more travel, plus the TBs won't need to be cranked to the same degree? Is this right? What shocks / setup can you recommend that will provide good on road handling and stability, yet still be kick ass offroad?

Cheers

Pic of the right hand side upper bump stop - look dodgy to you? This is sitting on a flat driveway!

 

[bods]

I'd either wind it down a bit or take it back and tell them to fix it. I've wound mine up, both even with each others and it drives a lot better than what it did when it was new and they were sitting on the bottom bump stops...

 

[Jafman]

Cheers bods,

Yeah was thinking I'd do that next week anyway. I was planning on getting the same place to install the UCAs and new suspension. Will see how they go winding back the tbs first......... Do you think they'll charge me again considering it'll need another alignment? It was 180 bucks in the first place!!

 

[bods]

They shouldn't. If they try to, refuse to pay for it... They should have done it right in the first place. They might have done that side first and expected it to come down a bit when they did the other side, or the apprentice did that side and no one checked it..

 

[Jafman]

Will see what they say next week anyway. Just got back from a trip into freo - it really sh?ts me that the nav is driving worse than before! Just feels like I need to be far more careful when cornering.....
What suspension you running bods? Have you put the cal UCAs in?

 

[brendo]

I have efs and I also have the 3 inch cal uca's they are great I imo I have had no trouble it sits level now without being to close the the bump stops the reason I got them is when I got my spring they lifted the back almost 2 1/2 inch so when the front was sitting level they hit the stops now they miss and have more travel.

 

[OneMofo]

From what i know and been told but suspension places and guys on here, you should have atleast 10mm between the stops at rest and as long as the car is on even ground and not jacked up the bump stops should be even on both sides. take it back tell them its unacceptable and they need to re-adjust it to a safe level. $180?? pedders do my alignments for $120 until recently now iget them done for $70 but that doesnt include TB adjustment, i do my own with that one.

 

[bods]

Mines stock suspension wise. Xrox bullabar, 2 pairs of spotties, light bar, UHF aerial, 12000lb winch with rope, hanging off the front, its a 2010 so has the stock dual batteries under the bonnet.

I've wound them up to around 10mm from the top bump stop and it is a lot better than it was, even before I put all that gear on. From the factory they were nearly sitting on the bottom bump stops, so every bump you went over it would just about throw you out of your seat. I will have to get new shocks soon though and the rear springs are pretty much inverted from brand new. Just trying to put money away to get a lift kit for it...

 

[Jafman]

Brendo - I've got the cal UCAs on the way so this will hopefully fix the travel issue. So from what I understand they've really just cranked the bars up as high as they'll go and not worried about travel / handling? As mentioned I have one side touching the top bump stop and the other sitting 10mm below. The guy told me that the drivers side (side touching the upper bump stop) is sitting 8-10mm higher to allow for the weight of the driver? Stuck my head under today and the right hand nut seems to be wound higher up in the cross member whereas the left hand is lower. How did your nav handle touching both stops?! It must've been a dog because I'm finding cornering pretty sketchy at times atm!

Mofo - I agree $180 does seem pretty steep, but I went to them because they were around the corner from work and supposed to be a good outfit. I'll see how they react when I go in this week and ask them to adjust them back a bit.......will not be paying them!!

Bods - what sort of setup you thinking of getting when you do the lift? Been told the efs and west coast suspensions are basically the same kit, just re-branded like a lot of these suspension companies do. Mine is a 2013 model that has just about 1200ks on the clock. Only had it 2 weeks! Apparently the dealer had done the 1000k service when I picked it up? (Had 250 km on the clock) and has stamped the log book - do you reckon I should get the oil and filter done anyway as I'm thinking they're just telling me this so they don't have to do it (supposedly a free service)

Cheers all

 

[bods]

The 1000km service is only a check up, they don't change the oil and filter unless you pay for it.

As for the suspension, still undecided on brands. Thinking calmini uca's, then I just need to decide on shocks and springs..... The factory torsion bars are still OK for now even after around 50k km, so I'll leave them be until they sag again

 

[brendo]

Yeah mate it handled really bad i had no travel so ever bump was like hitting a brick wall I don't get why the guy would tell you that Iv never heard that before. The cal arms will fix the travel issue

 

[Jafman]

Well, took it back today and they were very accommodating. The guy told me that it shouldn't have been hitting the bump stop, tbs needed to be wound back and a re-alignment. Done FOC as it should be. When I picked it up he said it was weird because the the measurements had all changed since Friday and kind of accusingly looked at me as though I'd played around with it over the weekend! The nav now feels much more stable, less vibrations and better handling in general. Looking forward to the UCAs and decided on some bilsteins all round!

 

[bods]

Good to hear. I'd say they didn't check it after it was done, either whoever did it didn't care or didn't know what they were doing... Good to see they did the right thing tho...

 

[brendo]

Yeah good to hear it sorted mate