Actually, I've had the crash bolts in separately from everything else, and the
bushings in without the spring kit or the crash bolts present. I experienced
nothing but the normal "jitteryness" of a car with a lot of toe-out - no
pulling or dodging around.
So, the real change was the addition of the springs - which, due to the
neutral camber curve of this suspension geometry, a very long scrub radius,
and an imperceptible level of bump steer - does not affect either toe or
camber. Properly designed Macphearson systems are very constant in caster, so
I'm not concerned about that. There is a little cross-caster difference,
which causes a very, *very* slow drift to the left (starting on the right lane
marking, it takes about a quarter mile to drift all the way over to the
centerline when everything else is correct).
The rear is alignable, but only barely. It's a semi-independent trailing arm
with a twist-beam and integral torsion bar and anti sway bar. The shocks are
outboard of the springs. You have to use shims and adjust the subframe
relative to the frame. Of course, you have to realign the front when you do
that, since it introduces a thrust angle problem. I dream of getting a
coilover system. Maybe next year :) $$$$
Ken in OKC
'01 PT Cruiser Limited
STS 101
________________________________
From: Mark Sirota [mailto:mark@sirota.org]
Sent: Thu 1/29/2004 3:45 PM
To: Adamson, Ken
Cc: autox@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: Funny handling
--On Thursday, January 29, 2004 11:46 AM -0600 "Adamson, Ken"
<KADAMSON@Lifeline.net> wrote:
> I recently dropped the Eibach Pro Kit in my PT Cruiser, along with
> replacing the bushings with the Energy Suspensions Master Kit. At the
> same time, I put one set of crash bolts in to gain some negative camber
> in the front.
> ...
> I know, I could just take it to my favorite alignment shop and they'll
> probably fix it, but I'm an engineer at heart, ...
A true engineer at heart probably wouldn't have changed so many things at
once!
Mark
|