Understeer!

[Ouija]

Hi All

Now that i have had a good play in 'zippy' i am becoming more and more concerned at the lack of oversteer in the car. Every time i go around a roundabout all i get is understeer from the front of the car.

I have seen on here oz's tower bar and also strut braces on his site. Does anyone have any of these fitted to their cars and if so does it make a difference to the understeer problems that i appear to be suffering from?

I have mentioned this to one of my friends and he thought that it might just be the fact that the car doesnt have enough power to kick the back end out?? Anyone any ideas as I cant wait to get the car sideways. (private road of course!)

One other thing that i dont remember anyone having a solution to is the problem that when the car has heated up it wont start again for five mins if you stop (or stall!)?
I was told when i bought the car that this is because the fuel lines are so close to the engine that when you stop the fuel evaporates because of the heat and you then have to wait until gravity does its job before you can start again. Is there no way to insulate these fuel lines or something to stop this happening? As you probably know it is a bit embarassing stopping all the traffic on a one way street for five mins because your fuel has evaporated! Dont laugh too loud it could be one of you next time!!!!!

All help as usual is appretiated.

Cheers

:confused:

[ozsamurai]

Oiuja,

I'm sorry to tell you that there's not a hell of a lot you can do to try and hang the back end of a Beat out! I drive like a nut and still can't manage it. There is an interview on video of a world champion gymkana driver taking the Beat through its paces on a skid pan and he just manages to get the back end out, his comments follow that the center of balance for the car and mid-mount of the engine just isn't suited for it.... The front tower bar does make a great improvement in the steering, tighter control on cornering. The only time I managed to get the back of mine going was on a 90deg right turn on a wet road with semi bald fat tires on the back, it moved but I could hardly call it 'significant'.

[adrianp]

Hi Ouija,

Understeer does seem to be a bit of a problem on some beats,

There was a post a while back with the same sort of question and it ended up being because the front tyres were new and hadn't had time to bed in properly...

How much tread have you got on the front ones and what make are they??? some makes do tend to grip better than others...

If I throw mine in to a corner then I can get the tyres to squeel slightly but unless I'm trying to push it too hard then it seems to go round most corners quite happily..

I've got Pirelli P3000 on the front and P4000 on the rear though so thet might have something to do with it...

The Hot Re-Start problem does seem to be cured with a new Fuel Pump Relay although it has not been confirmed that this is deff. the problem... (but most likely...)

Hope this helps

Adrian.

[Robin]

Hi Ouija,

I would have to agree with adrian, i was having the same problem with my car when it got hot and then I couldnt start it again. I changed the relay on mine and i have never had any further problems. As far as getting the back end out and understeer i cant really help you there. My beat seems to be perfectly happy going round any corners, I think its like adrian said it depends on the tyres. i got dunlops on the front and michelin energy's on the rear.

Hope this helps.
Cheers
Robin

[Dave]

Hi Guys,

I did manage to get the back sliding out - but I wasn't expecting it so I didn't think it was too much fun at the time!!

I had brand new Bridgestones put on the back and was 'Testing them out' on a roundabout *cough* cough*

Once the tyres got some grip I couldnt do it anymore (I keep trying tho:p )

Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Dave

[Paul w]

My old green one used to understeer and over steer, depending on what i was doing!

I could wag the back end quite easily off an egg shaped roundabout near home, but i put this down to having cheap tires on the back and 14" alloys all round. I was assuming this messes with the geometry a bit. (tires all the same size too)

In the wet i had a few 4 wheel drift moments too.....


:eek:

PW

[Ouija]

Hi thanks for all the comments guys.

I have bridgestone tyres all around cant remember exact version.
Wheel sizes on mine are the standard 13 front and 14 rear.

I think i may be being just a bit vague. When i said i was having understeer its only on really tight bends or when doing 30 around tight roundabouts!
Not had any problems with regular road driving (yet!).

As for the fuel pump relay what is the part number and how much are they?

Also are they easy to fit or am i going to have to call in some more favours from my favourite Cousin (Mechanic by the way).

Cheers