Omega Owners Forum
Omega Help Area => Omega General Help => Topic started by: manny on 23 October 2009, 22:07:25
-
over the last coupe of months ive fitted new wishbones,drop links,track rod ends (inner and outer),idler arm and im still getting random steering direction. Happens mostly when i go over road markings and the trough lines that that lorries cause. Any idears what to do?
-
What are your tyres like?
If low, could be an issue.
some tread patterns can also cause it.
have you had geometry properly set up?
-
fresh tyres? I have noticed an increase in tram lining with the new falkins on the rear.
-
Hi
I had the same problem, it was down to unsuitable new tyres. Changed the tyres, problem went away.
Alan
over the last coupe of months ive fitted new wishbones,drop links,track rod ends (inner and outer),idler arm and im still getting random steering direction. Happens mostly when i go over road markings and the trough lines that that lorries cause. Any idears what to do?
-
Have not had camber checked but had toe in checked.Ive got B F Goodrich all round but low on tread and inside edge worn due to old wishbones. In haynes is says camber is 1 deg 50" which in my view is dam near vertical. Am i right?
-
wind the tyre pressures up slightly, 1psi at a time and try it for a few weeks between increases
-
fresh tyres? I have noticed an increase in tram lining with the new falkins on the rear.
Dont want to say i told you so, but....
Worst tyres i have ever encountered for tramlining and directional stability on the omega, appalling, esp the 912s, ask Kevin. Jamie also drove my car with them fitted at the Ashridge meet and i quote"horrible....horrible car, awfull, you just dont know what its going to do next" constant correction needed to keep the car straight. He was a bit(alot) more confident at Newent, and was suprised i think, that all i had changed on the car was the tyres, to sports contact 3s.
I likened it to driving on 4 water balloons. 452s or what ever they are called, are less affected, but i still spent most of the life of my old 2.5 with those fitted, replacing suspension parts to no avail. Couldn't beleive tyres could cause such symptoms in a car.
Only thing i will say for them is they are very quiet.
To the op, if you have good tyres fitted, not cheapo crap, or worse, falkens, and they are not waring unevenly then your probably looking at failed wishbone bushes. Lemforder (£110 ish) make the originals for vx who just add a gm sticker and double the price. Also check stearing idler, track rod ends, springs with the ends snapped off, and anything else while your there then get the car set up. Full Geometic for camber caster and toe.
Hth
-
Hi
I had the same problem, it was down to unsuitable new tyres. Changed the tyres, problem went away.
Alan
Me too - changed the tyres, all good :y
-
Have not had camber checked but had toe in checked.Ive got B F Goodrich all round but low on tread and inside edge worn due to old wishbones. In haynes is says camber is 1 deg 50" which in my view is dam near vertical. Am i right?
I'd say that's why you still have steering issues.
-
fresh tyres? I have noticed an increase in tram lining with the new falkins on the rear.
Dont want to say i told you so, but....
Worst tyres i have ever encountered for tramlining and directional stability on the omega, appalling, esp the 912s, ask Kevin. Jamie also drove my car with them fitted at the Ashridge meet and i quote"horrible....horrible car, awfull, you just dont know what its going to do next" constant correction needed to keep the car straight. He was a bit(alot) more confident at Newent, and was suprised i think, that all i had changed on the car was the tyres, to sports contact 3s.
I likened it to driving on 4 water balloons. 452s or what ever they are called, are less affected, but i still spent most of the life of my old 2.5 with those fitted, replacing suspension parts to no avail. Couldn't beleive tyres could cause such symptoms in a car.
Only thing i will say for them is they are very quiet.
To the op, if you have good tyres fitted, not cheapo crap, or worse, falkens, and they are not waring unevenly then your probably looking at failed wishbone bushes. Lemforder (£110 ish) make the originals for vx who just add a gm sticker and double the price. Also check stearing idler, track rod ends, springs with the ends snapped off, and anything else while your there then get the car set up. Full Geometic for camber caster and toe.
Hth
I have noticed it, but for a couple of reasons i still got them:
1) Good price
2) I only do motorway miles, so quietness is a bonus
3) Spend most of my time going in a straight line ;D
That said i had falkins on the front for 10k never really noticed it that much, soon as the rears went on, it got worse. The rears too are a slightly different model of falkins.
But main thing i want to get from my tyres is millage, think if i had a big V6 i would choose something more predictable.
-
Take it to WIM for a full geometry
-
For what it's worth, I experience the same problems. Firstly with my 2.6 estate, where I changed the wishbones, tyres, springs, suspension struts, tried different tyre pressures, and had it all set up, but it still tended to move about on anything but nice smooth motorway type roads. The only thing I didn't change was the rear suspension mounting bushes, and that was mainly due to difficulties experienced by some members on here with fitting them, so thought I would give that experience a miss.
I have now changed the car for a 3.2 MV6 estate, with considerably less miles on the clock than the 2.6, and guess what; same problems. This has good quality Michelins fitted, and again, on good quality road surfaces the car is fine, but unfortunately the rural roads around here are not in the best of condition.
I try to convince myself that it's ok, but I am quickly shaken back to reality when I drive the wife's eight year old Focus, as that tracks beautifully on whatever road surface you care to drive it on.
So I have resigned myself to the fact that it is something I just have to live with. I just wish that someone could come up with, and engineer a viable alternative wishbone setup with better / stiffer bushes to that fitted as standard.
Rant over [smiley=rolleyes.gif] :y
-
For what it's worth, I experience the same problems. Firstly with my 2.6 estate, where I changed the wishbones, tyres, springs, suspension struts, tried different tyre pressures, and had it all set up, but it still tended to move about on anything but nice smooth motorway type roads. The only thing I didn't change was the rear suspension mounting bushes, and that was mainly due to difficulties experienced by some members on here with fitting them, so thought I would give that experience a miss.
I have now changed the car for a 3.2 MV6 estate, with considerably less miles on the clock than the 2.6, and guess what; same problems. This has good quality Michelins fitted, and again, on good quality road surfaces the car is fine, but unfortunately the rural roads around here are not in the best of condition.
I try to convince myself that it's ok, but I am quickly shaken back to reality when I drive the wife's eight year old Focus, as that tracks beautifully on whatever road surface you care to drive it on.
So I have resigned myself to the fact that it is something I just have to live with. I just wish that someone could come up with, and engineer a viable alternative wishbone setup with better / stiffer bushes to that fitted as standard.
Rant over [smiley=rolleyes.gif] :y
what tyres fitted?
I have driven another members mv6 3.2 customer spec car(not plod) with Dunlops fitted (sport max?) and i can assure you it is entirely possible to get an omega to track straight on poor and uneven surfaces, i beleive he had £50 wish bones fitted as well, so nothing special about the chassis other than its mv6 suspension which you now have anyway.
i went for conti sc3 over the Dunlops due to noise, sc3 do tram line a fraction but are quieter so seem a good compromise.
There are firmer bush options, merle do heavy duty wishbone bushes, and the rear donut bush issues you may have seen may well relate to myself and others trying to fit carlton bushes, which are firmer, but have a suttle differance in dimensions making them unsuitable. I am looking at modifying mine as an experiment but as i say, with appropriate tyres fitted, should not need firmer
bushes, trouble is there are phew tyres on the market that track well imho, i beleive the omega left the factory with michelin primacy fitted, so any thing else may very well give issues of some sort.
-
For what it's worth, I experience the same problems. Firstly with my 2.6 estate, where I changed the wishbones, tyres, springs, suspension struts, tried different tyre pressures, and had it all set up, but it still tended to move about on anything but nice smooth motorway type roads. The only thing I didn't change was the rear suspension mounting bushes, and that was mainly due to difficulties experienced by some members on here with fitting them, so thought I would give that experience a miss.
I have now changed the car for a 3.2 MV6 estate, with considerably less miles on the clock than the 2.6, and guess what; same problems. This has good quality Michelins fitted, and again, on good quality road surfaces the car is fine, but unfortunately the rural roads around here are not in the best of condition.
I try to convince myself that it's ok, but I am quickly shaken back to reality when I drive the wife's eight year old Focus, as that tracks beautifully on whatever road surface you care to drive it on.
So I have resigned myself to the fact that it is something I just have to live with. I just wish that someone could come up with, and engineer a viable alternative wishbone setup with better / stiffer bushes to that fitted as standard.
Rant over [smiley=rolleyes.gif] :y
what tyres fitted?
I have driven another members mv6 3.2 customer spec car(not plod) with Dunlops fitted (sport max?) and i can assure you it is entirely possible to get an omega to track straight on poor and uneven surfaces, i beleive he had £50 wish bones fitted as well, so nothing special about the chassis other than its mv6 suspension which you now have anyway.
i went for conti sc3 over the Dunlops due to noise, sc3 do tram line a fraction but are quieter so seem a good compromise.
There are firmer bush options, merle do heavy duty wishbone bushes, and the rear donut bush issues you may have seen may well relate to myself and others trying to fit carlton bushes, which are firmer, but have a suttle differance in dimensions making them unsuitable. I am looking at modifying mine as an experiment but as i say, with appropriate tyres fitted, should not need firmer
bushes, trouble is there are phew tyres on the market that track well imho, i beleive the omega left the factory with michelin primacy fitted, so any thing else may very well give issues of some sort.
Blimey Chris, do you actually go to bed at night? I was looking at one of your other responses posted well into the early hours ;D
Any way, back to the point in hand. The tyres fitted to my car would appear to be the OE fitted as they are Michelin Primacy HP. 235/45/R17.
I just wish I had the facilities to fabricate a wishbone that maybe uses rose joints or something. I know the cushioning effect of the bushes would be lost, but wish I could do it just for the hell of it to prove or disprove the theory.
Don't suppose anyone ever raced one of these in anger, as I'm sure something would have been developed. ::) :question
Paul
-
the misses focus trams like a bugger if you get in the grooves of the road were lorry`s have been reason being that the width of the car cant fit into both sets of tracks it`s either one side or the other, just going to sound thick now but what is WIM
-
the misses focus trams like a bugger if you get in the grooves of the road were lorry`s have been reason being that the width of the car cant fit into both sets of tracks it`s either one side or the other, just going to sound thick now but what is WIM
'Wheels In Motion'
:y
-
the misses focus trams like a bugger if you get in the grooves of the road were lorry`s have been reason being that the width of the car cant fit into both sets of tracks it`s either one side or the other, just going to sound thick now but what is WIM
'Wheels In Motion'
:y
thankyou kind sir did wonder lol