Wheels

[Guest webwolfkain]

have an odd one, have a 2b with funny little coils rite by the front wheels, but been hearing a tapping noise under cornering and is now doing it on the strights, only on the driver side front, after looking at it, it has hit the inner wheel weight to bits as it hits the coil spring, but the other side is ok (well about 5 mm between spring and wheel weight)

any ideas guys???

Dan

[Guest chris brown]

have an odd one, have a 2b with funny little coils rite by the front wheels, but been hearing a tapping noise under cornering and is now doing it on the strights, only on the driver side front, after looking at it, it has hit the inner wheel weight to bits as it hits the coil spring, but the other side is ok (well about 5 mm between spring and wheel weight)

any ideas guys???

Dan

It sounds like your car has sliding pillar suspension and unfortunately this is not an uncommon problem. Please don’t risk driving the car until you have cured the problem. I would think the bump stop has given out also has the bottom of the shaft been modified to take a bolt so there is just a bolt head showing below the bottom mount? IMHO the only real answer to the sliding pillar problems is to convert the car to double wishbones. This not only overcomes the problems but improves the cars handling out of all recognition.

[Guest webwolfkain]

It sounds like your car has sliding pillar suspension and unfortunately this is not an uncommon problem. Please don’t risk driving the car until you have cured the problem. I would think the bump stop has given out also has the bottom of the shaft been modified to take a bolt so there is just a bolt head showing below the bottom mount? IMHO the only real answer to the sliding pillar problems is to convert the car to double wishbones. This not only overcomes the problems but improves the cars handling out of all recognition.

 

mite sound silly but is that easy to do??

[agent_zed]

There have been a few threads on here about converting but it seems quite expensive to me. If you dont have the money to convert right now its a case of improving the bump stops, again there is a few threads if you do a search. Also what size wheels are you using as if you increase the size of the rim from say 14inch to 15 inch you will get an extra 1/2 clearance. hth

[Guest webwolfkain]

There have been a few threads on here about converting but it seems quite expensive to me. If you dont have the money to convert right now its a case of improving the bump stops, again there is a few threads if you do a search. Also what size wheels are you using as if you increase the size of the rim from say 14inch to 15 inch you will get an extra 1/2 clearance. hth

 

after taking another look both sides have taken out the wheel weight but tapping on coming from drivers side, have 14" rs wheels on at the mo which are 185 wide and wanted to put 15" on but aint they 195 wide?? wouldnt that make the prob worse??

[agent_zed]

ah ok. I was thinking that the suspension was bottoming out and touching the inside of the rim. From what you have said it is the weight on the side of the wheel that is hitting. In this case you could fit spacers (probably find a set at your local motorfactors) to push the wheel out a bit 5mm or so. I would double check all of the spacers and bushes though and check that nothing has moved. Has this problem just started or been going on for a while.

 

 

oh if you want to come down and have a look at mine sometime feel free, iam only about 18miles away. Although ive got double wishbones on the front so it wont help with your problem.

Edited December 6, 2008 by agent_zed

[Guest webwolfkain]

ah ok. I was thinking that the suspension was bottoming out and touching the inside of the rim. From what you have said it is the weight on the side of the wheel that is hitting. In this case you could fit spacers (probably find a set at your local motorfactors) to push the wheel out a bit 5mm or so. I would double check all of the spacers and bushes though and check that nothing has moved. Has this problem just started or been going on for a while.

 

 

oh if you want to come down and have a look at mine sometime feel free, iam only about 18miles away. Although ive got double wishbones on the front so it wont help with your problem.

 

I got some spacers today but i think there no good as i can only get the nuts on 2 turns with the spacers on,

have only had the car for 4 months the tapping was only there under cornering but last weekend i got the spring etc off to weld the wing and since its been back on it hits in a stright line, right hand corners but not left handers. also notice some marks on the inside of the rim but no clue what could have made them.

 

where abouts in the dean are you??? was that you following me up cat's hill afew months ago??

[agent_zed]

have you had a go at twisting the spring round as it may sit differently and bend away from the wheel.

 

If you have a mark on the inside of the wheel all of the way round below the nut holding the suspension it is probably caused by the suspension bottoming out too far and allowing the nut to scrape the wheel. This is a common problem with the sliding pillar from the threads i ve read on here.

 

Afraid it wasnt me out and about as ive not had mine on the road since june when my tax needed renewing and it seemed to just rain and rain all summer. Mine is bright yellow so you may see it around in jan when ive go my doors on. oh iam in lydney.

 

cheers

[ibrooks]

Spacers - in most cases you need to fit longer wheel-studs so that you've still got enough thread sticking through the wheel to get the nut on. You can get a different style (called hubcentric I think) which have replacement studs as part of the spacer at 90deg to the original ones.

 

Alternatively try wheels with the Ford RWD offset (the Sierra used the FWD offset). Get hold of a set of wheels for a Capri, RWD Escort or a Cortina and they will sit further out from the spring with no need for spacers. If you're looking at buyng bigger wheels anyway this could be your easiest solution.

 

Marks inside the wheel. Are the marks on the inside of the wheel on the area that's parallel to the tyre tread? If so then what's happening is that the wheel is coming into contact with the bottom f the bottom "wishbone". As it moves up under load the "wishbone" stays still. If the suspension compresses too far then the wheel can come into contact with the wishbone. The lowest point, and therefore the bit that hits, is where the bottom of the pillar sticks through. Normally there is a nut on the bottom of that. One way to make matters better is to get the pillars drilled and tapped to take a bolt in place of the stud. This leaves just the head of the bolt sticking out below the support which is a lower profile than the original stud.

Decent bump-stops can (and should) also be fitted to limit the suspension travel and stop the two coming into contact. After that it's chop the whole lot off and fit proper wishbones.

 

Iain

[Guest shaggy]

Try fitting 8" 300lb springs. They are tight to fit (need a spring compressor) and will cost around £60 or so for the pair. It raises the car enough to stop the bottoming out in the rims, and will improve the overall handling of the car by around 200%. Did this ti mine a couple of years ago and handled like it was on rails when cornering rather than being a bit vauge with the old red springs on.

Si

[Bob Tucker]

Springs from Rally Design are about £30 per pair depending on size.....postage will be extra, but not £30. Cant get into their site at present but try www.rallydesign.co.uk

 

 

HTH Bob