Welshguy Posted August 7, 2006 Posted August 7, 2006 Having driven the C4 to work this morning, the ride quality is starting to get to me. The roads in Cardiff aint what you'd call perfect (i.e. they are crap) and the car seems to "travel" in the direction of any bumps I hit. On reasonably "straight" roads the car is pretty much ok (but does seem to follow the chamber of the road), but if I'm cornering as soon as I hit a bump the car's steering wheel reacts quite badly. Are my alloys to blame? When I had my old alloys on the car it did it badly - with the new alloys at first it seems ok, but has recently done this more and more. I dont believe any of the alloys are damaged (like my old set) as they are brand new and I have been taking care over speed humps etc. The bumps are also quite harsh, even though I have a stiffened suspension - I have seen a solution where something related to the car's suspension is modified? Anybody shed some light on this please? Cheers! Quote
evilone Posted August 7, 2006 Posted August 7, 2006 A lot a of the reviews I read on the C4 mentioned the way the steering reacted to bumps and potholes when cornering, so I guess it's normal. Quote
Welshguy Posted August 7, 2006 Author Posted August 7, 2006 Does yours? If this is the case and the steering does react quite badly then im guessing because I have a stiffened suspension and larger alloy wheels (i.e. more surface area on the wider tyres) then the steering is going to react even more? Quote
Stuey Posted August 7, 2006 Posted August 7, 2006 when I go through a set of potholes on the way to work I get some shake through the steering wheel...I assume you have low profiles on?? I cant imagine that bigger wheels and stiffer suspension help to be honest... When I blew my tires up properly the other day that randomly helped. Logic dictates that harder tires should make it worse but the opposite happened. Quote
Welshguy Posted August 7, 2006 Author Posted August 7, 2006 I've had a quick look on the planet citroen .fr site and apparently it is a known problem, but with no current cure. Something to do with bad balancing and possibly linked to the brakes as well? Can anybody recommend a state of the art balancing center? I could try that and see if it sorts it. Quote
wozza Posted August 7, 2006 Posted August 7, 2006 Your 18's and lowered suspension will be causing this to become more noticeable. bigger wheels do generally tramline more. And if it is your suspension you likely wont get it replaced under warranty now because your car has been lowered. Quote
Safety Engineer Posted August 7, 2006 Posted August 7, 2006 Do you find that the same happens on the motorway? Wide low profile alloys are prone to 'tramlining' they are wide enough to touch the sides of ruts from trucks, potholes etc and the cars steering acts like the wheels are in a tramline. Quite common with wide low profile wheels. Also one of the reasons you don't see these size wheels on rally cars. Quote
C4VTS Posted August 7, 2006 Posted August 7, 2006 I have notice that on the motorway inside lane where HGV's have been all day, every day, that my car tries to follow the tramlines that have been left by them. At first I thought my steering was damaged, as it keeps trying to pull one way or the other, but as soon as you drive on a good road surface the car steers perfectly straight on it's own. It's to do with the low profile tyres, and if you fit bigger wheels with lower profile tyres than standard it will make things worse, as the tyre footprint is much flatter and will follow every rut in the road. Quote
Welshguy Posted August 8, 2006 Author Posted August 8, 2006 lol guess I'll have to live with it then - just as long as I know other people suffer this then I'm fine :) Definately prefer tramming a bit and having sweet alloys :D Quote
Welshguy Posted August 8, 2006 Author Posted August 8, 2006 On a side note the car is now booked in (again!) to have the latest work done - something to do with the control box underneath the steering wheel - I think it's been mentioned on here before. Gave the guy another list of little things I'd like looked at while the car is there! :D Quote
Seefour05 Posted August 8, 2006 Posted August 8, 2006 Mine does that as well. Braking when the road isn't flat causes the steering to pull to one side. Queried this with my dealer but they said there wasn't anything wrong as far as they could see! Guess you have to hold on tight if you put your foot on the brakes! Quote
wozza Posted August 9, 2006 Posted August 9, 2006 Its because of the 17" wheels a lot of cars with large wheels do this just one of the pay offs looks versus handling. Quote
Stuey Posted August 9, 2006 Posted August 9, 2006 17 and 18" rims are a marketing mans friend...its amazing that people will be tempted by a car just for the size of the wheels... Seat are famous for fitting massive alloys, the new leon is on 18's on certain models and they are bigging up the fact that they are bigger than the ones fitted to Jason Plato's touring car... Quote
Welshguy Posted August 9, 2006 Author Posted August 9, 2006 Yeah to my alloys make all the difference to a car's styling. Personally I would have loved to have had the VTS alloys (and the engine :D ), but having bought my alloys for the amazing price I got them for, and their effect on the car - I'm well happy :) Quote
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