Feeling of torque steer

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dmbm525i

Feeling of torque steer

Post by dmbm525i »

Hi there,
Hope someone can help, advise etc. I bought a 2003 facelift Roadster in December. While accelerating reasonably hard and liftng off in 3rd, 4th the car feels as though it is torque steering or steering from the rear. Needless to say it is annoying. Anyways I had a look on Google and came up with a post on another MR2 forum. On there there is alot of talk about tyre pressure, different tyres etc. One guy spoke about bushes in the rear hub. He replaced them and it seemed to solve his problem. He did not specify which ones he changed exactly. I have just polybushed the trailing arms but it has made no difference. Before I go changing any more bits does anyone have experience of this problem and did they find a satisfactory solution to the problem?

Changing the bushes on the trailing arm was a good job on the MR2. I took the opportunity to powder coat the trailing arms and the two sub frame components.


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MainerZ

Re: Feeling of torque steer

Post by MainerZ »

Not knowing the Roadster, but in general I find vague or unruly handling is a case of ball joints failing. Have you replaced those?

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Re: Feeling of torque steer

Post by MRHAPPY62 »

4 wheel alignment would be a good place to start.
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dmbm525i

Re: Feeling of torque steer

Post by dmbm525i »

After writing the above post I checked the tyre pressure with a bike track pump that had a gauge (accuracy can't be guaranteed). The rear passenger was about 1/2 a bar below the driver side rear. I pumped the up to 2 bar and did the same on the fronts. This has made some noticeable difference, there is however is still some feeling of the above symptoms. Having spent sometime looking at the rear suspension set up on the Mk3 MR2. I'm wondering if a weak bush on the tie rod will have that much influence on the handling. On visual inspection the ball joint on these components look pretty good. Has anybody experienced this feeling of torque steer and then changed out the tie rods on the rear and if so what was the outcome? Sorry for being long winded.
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Re: Feeling of torque steer

Post by jimi »

Does your car have the standard wheel/tyre combo fitted ?
Pre facelift Tyres: (before 2002)
15” Fronts - 185/55/15 – tyre pressure 28psi
15” Rears - 205/50/15 - tyre pressure 32psi

Facelift Tyres:
15” Fronts - 185/55/15 - tyre pressure 28psi
16” Rears - 215/45/16 - tyre pressure 32psi
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Re: Feeling of torque steer

Post by pbmr2 »

Not sure really about the mk3, but the mk2 suffers quite a lot when the tie rod bush goes.
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dmbm525i

Re: Feeling of torque steer

Post by dmbm525i »

Is there a poly bush kit for the lower arm to hub joint. There is plenty for the inner bush but I can't see anything for the outer joint?
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Re: Feeling of torque steer

Post by Wabbitkilla »

Before you go pulling things like suspension apart check the basics...

1. Tyre pressures
2. Matched makes, models, and sizes of tyres ... remember they're staggered wider on the back of the car.
3. Check for differences in heat in the brakes, warmer brakes usually mean binding and they need stripping, cleaning, and lubricating. MK3's are infamous for rear calipers sticking on the sliders.
4. Full geo check to make sure all wheels are pointing in the right directions.

Note that the MK3 does like to follow the camber of the road a bit even when setup properly, it's less pronounced on a good car than on a bad.

Then you start to consider bushes and bearings
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Re: Feeling of torque steer

Post by pbmr2 »

Very much disagree with the post above, check the bushes and bearings BEFORE an alignment or it'll be money down the tube. All these checks can be done without taking the car apart and an easy DIY job.

There is no point in trying to alingn a worn bush or bearing as it'll move on it's own. Once they are replaced the alignment needs doing again anyway.
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Re: Feeling of torque steer

Post by jimi »

pbmr2 wrote:Very much disagree with the post above, check the bushes and bearings BEFORE an alignment or it'll be money down the tube. All these checks can be done without taking the car apart and an easy DIY job.

There is no point in trying to alingn a worn bush or bearing as it'll move on it's own. Once they are replaced the alignment needs doing again anyway.
Don't you mean you disagree with part of Nics post? bearing in mind his considerable experience of MK3's and the fact that MK3's are very susceptible to wrong tyre/wheel/combo's & pressures.
These things are even easier to check first, besides he didn't say don't check the bushes, he said don't pull the suspension apart without checking the other things first. ;)
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Re: Feeling of torque steer

Post by Wabbitkilla »

jimi wrote:
pbmr2 wrote:Very much disagree with the post above, check the bushes and bearings BEFORE an alignment or it'll be money down the tube. All these checks can be done without taking the car apart and an easy DIY job.

There is no point in trying to alingn a worn bush or bearing as it'll move on it's own. Once they are replaced the alignment needs doing again anyway.
Don't you mean you disagree with part of Nics post? bearing in mind his considerable experience of MK3's and the fact that MK3's are very susceptible to wrong tyre/wheel/combo's & pressures.
These things are even easier to check first, besides he didn't say don't check the bushes, he said don't pull the suspension apart without checking the other things first. ;)
Indeed, just working through a process of elimination and the easier things to check first along with their probability. Bushes do wear out but the other items are more often the causes of these things and easier to do first.
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Re: Feeling of torque steer

Post by pbmr2 »

jimi wrote:
pbmr2 wrote:Very much disagree with the post above, check the bushes and bearings BEFORE an alignment or it'll be money down the tube. All these checks can be done without taking the car apart and an easy DIY job.

There is no point in trying to alingn a worn bush or bearing as it'll move on it's own. Once they are replaced the alignment needs doing again anyway.
Don't you mean you disagree with part of Nics post? bearing in mind his considerable experience of MK3's and the fact that MK3's are very susceptible to wrong tyre/wheel/combo's & pressures.
These things are even easier to check first, besides he didn't say don't check the bushes, he said don't pull the suspension apart without checking the other things first. ;)
Lol, it's not a personal attack :facepalm:

Maybe should have said: The OP has already done 1 and 2, 3 is a good shout, 4 shouldn't be suggested until the bushes, ball joints, bearings, dampers and fixings have been proven not to move out of range, so test these. If proven solid then spend money on alignment.
Should prob' also have mentioned that buying parts before proving something is worn or broken isn't the right way to problem solve, hold fire on buying the bushes until after testing them.

So only disagreed with 75% of the post, which is about "very much" rather than "totally". :rolleyes:
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Re: Feeling of torque steer

Post by jimi »

pbmr2 wrote: Lol, it's not a personal attack :facepalm:
I wasn't suggesting it was :laughing
The OP still hasn't answered this question (and going by the posts even checked them accurately)
jimi wrote:Does your car have the standard wheel/tyre combo fitted ?
Pre facelift Tyres: (before 2002)
15” Fronts - 185/55/15 – tyre pressure 28psi
15” Rears - 205/50/15 - tyre pressure 32psi

Facelift Tyres:
15” Fronts - 185/55/15 - tyre pressure 28psi
16” Rears - 215/45/16 - tyre pressure 32psi
For me the above would be the very first checks I'd do on a MK3 with wayward handling ;)
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dmbm525i

Re: Feeling of torque steer

Post by dmbm525i »

Hi there,
It's been a while since I have posted. I have changed the bushes in the trailing arm for poly bushes. This is a £60 job and not at all difficult to do. With the arm out use a drill and a 4-4.5mm drill bit to drill into the rubber. It is remarkable how this worked. With the drill gently placed on the rubber it drills in then starts to move around the whole bush while also going through it. It eventually comes out the other side and the inner part of the bush pops out like a cork. Then cut the outer steel part of the bush with a hack say and chisel. This also works for the remaining bush in the rear hub.

That aside I was very skeptical about the whole tire pressure thing. I have played around with them a bit and I'm under the impression that they do in fact make a difference as when I change the bushes I did not do anything with the tires and drove the car and the feeling of torque steer was still there. I subsequently inflated the rear tires to 2bar using a push bike pump (accuracy unknown) and this did indeed make a difference. I am still thinking of changing the rear tie rods as they aren't too much cash and it is a relatively straight forward task. When I do this I will let you all know what if any difference this makes.

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