Cruising speed handling

[Creatine Phil]

I've had my Tdi sport pd130 for just over a week now and I've noticed that it seems to follow the grain on the road when I'm at cruising speed (70-90mph) on the duel carriage/motor way.

It feels like the effect you get if you put wheels on the front of the car that are too wide and when there is a dip in the road the car feels like it steers itself into it.

The car is completely standard though and with the 16" sport rims .

Has anyone else experienced this or is there something wrong with my car - it's not even done 40k so I wouldn't of thought anything had worn out already.

Doesn't happen all the time but its a little un-nerving when you're steering round a fast bend in the wet and the car doesn't feel stable!

 

[Nath.]

the sport suspension is pretty well tuned and as a result it can make the car pick up on uneven road surfaces
like the tram lines that Lorry's make in the inside lane of the motorway/duel carriageway

whilst going around bends a bit quick are you sure it isn't the traction control kicking it to stop understeer/front end sliding out
don't forget that your 130 tdi engine still pulls a passat estate along quite well so it is pretty powerful for a small hatchback

BTW 16 inch rims are standard on a sport tdi130

 

[davels]

when you say unstable round tight bends in the wet do you mean it understeers like it's gonna go straight then it steers in almost too much and you have to correct it slightly, if so this is a case of the ol mk4 being a bit tail happy at times "lift off oversteer" is a term you may have heard of before, the diesels suffer from this slightly more than the petrols purely cos the enigine is that bit heavier and the weight is tranfering from the back to the front when your slowing in the bend.
i sure you know how to drive and you confident in your abilities as a driver and the speed your doin and i don't wanna sound preach'y(is that a word ) but try not to go round the bends too quick in the wet
if your problem it purely the fact the car likes to tramline well that too is a trait... er feature of the mk4 , a 4 wheel tracking and alignment can help with this tho

 

[Creatine Phil]

Sorry - bad wording, I meant to say that the wheels are the standard 16" rims.

Definately not traction control but more the tramline effect that you guys mention.

Really more at motorway/duel carriageway speeds, especially with the lorry grooves in the inside lane. My last 2 cars used to do this a lot but that was because I put wheels that were too wide on them. Just a little suprised when the Ibiza did it on standard rims!

Did notice a bit of the lift off oversteer that Davels mentioned too when putting the car through its paces down an empty country lane. I have heard of this before but hadn't made the connection with the diesel engine being heavier. Will bear that in mind next time it's wet and I'm in a hurry .

Good to know that it's not just me though.

I'll look into the 4 wheel tracking and alignment. Might get it done when I upgrade the suspension which will maybe sort out these handling traits a bit. From what I gather fitting spacers might help too.

 

[davels]

yeah upto 15mm i think is best from what peeps have said on here for the spacers, a couple of people hace gone 20mm but it doesn't really make much more differance other than looking nicer.
badger5 in the site sponcers section will sort you out some decent hubcentric spacers for about £80 can't remember if that includes the longer bols you need tho

 

[rashcupra]

spacers definatly are are great modification for the handling tracking could help

 

[Creatine Phil]

Thanks for the info. I think spacers will have to be on the cards with suspension upgrade - bit reluctant though as I was told that they put extra strain on the suspension e.g. - ball joints etc (don't know if this is true).

There is a thread from 2003 that comes up at the bottom of the page under 'similar threads' where a few guys describe the Ibiza high speed handling as edgy. I would agree with what they have said and think that the standard tdi sport is certainly not as planted at higher speeds as longer wheel based cars that I have driven.

Having said that - I'm chuffed with my pd130 and look forward to modding it to improve what is already a very good drive.