Handling and steering

I've just bought 'Roxy' - a 2004 135 Sunstorm. She's great to look at, but having now driven a few hundred miles, I think I need some guidance from you, the experts. So, here are some questions...which I can't find definitive answers to within The T Bar - probably because I'm a decrepit old fart.

Handling: Is it normal for TF's to be so sensitive to crosswinds above 70-80mph on motorways? I've read about the aerodynamics causing the front to lift, but am surprised she's quite so flighty. Is there anything that can be done, maybe by adjusting ride heights?

Steering: Again, I'm surprised she's so quick and nervous on the steering. If I hadn't checked tyre pressures I'd have sworn she was running on over inflated tyres. However, they're at the 26/36 F/R recommended levels for 16" wheels. I really want to drop these pressures to something like 26/30 to make her feel more attached to the road. Right route, or should I look at something else like steering geometry? (By the way, tyres are Goodyear F1's at the front and Avon ZZ3's rear - all virtually new.)

All advice and guidance gratefully received,

Winko

I had the same problem with the feeling of high cross winds when in fact there wasn't any cross winds. I read on one of the forums it could be I needed a four wheel laser alignment, once I had it done no more feeling of cross winds

There are a couple of articles in the How To section.

Wandering

Tyres for 16" wheels

Hopefully these may help.

And :welcome: :welcome: :welcome:

It could be the tracking but generally the focus will be on the tyres. The F/TF is very sensitive to tyre choice and anything 'soft walled' on the back will cause problems. The F1s should be fine but I'm not sure about the Avons - hopefully some one will know. Just to emphasis how sensitive the cars are to tyre choice, Toyo proxes are fine provided they are Japanese all round or Malaysian all round - mix the 2 up in anyway and it's horrible!

Do you know another TF owner who will give you a drive to see if their car is less twitchy?

Richard

The TF suffers dramatically from understeer, they call the car a mid engine cabriolet but due to the engine bias the weight distribution is 2/3rds to the rear of the car making it very light at the front.

Tyre make, tyre combinations and pressures make a big difference to the handling and 4 wheel laser tracking will show any misalignment, but bear in mind that the caster and camber are un-adjustable on the front; only the tracking. I had mine laser checked and adjusted because I had taken off both subframes and they never go back on the same place due to the size of the bolt holes in relation to the size of the bolts, it cost £90 but made a noticeable difference to the driving; but had no effect to the understeer.

If you have the tyre repair inflation kit and no spare (as my original Sunstorm did) the light steering will be exacerbated, I threw the kit away and bought a spare wheel to give some extra weight to the front end, others have also fitted a splitter spoiler which will help keep the car going in a straight line at speed.

Not the correct thing to do but I ended up fitting Kumho Ecsta Sport 195’s to both front and rear which gave the best balance for me in my case.

The link below is Tiff Needell's (Fifth Gear 2002) MGTF road test in which he gives the handling some scathing remarks.

Brian.

As above - check the tyres and pressures and go from there.

Hi Richard,
Thank you for your reply.
I've never driven a TF before and don't know anyone with one for a comparative drive. The wilds of Ayrshire are not awash with MG's.
I'll follow up all the suggestions received to date and see if things improve.
Thanks again,
Winko

Hi,
Yes you're right about the understeer. Not too bad on dry roads but in the wet.....interesting to say the least.
Roxy has a spare wheel, so there's some weight over the front. I'll try tracking and tyres before I revert to my times with Ford Capri's when every time I got a new one, Ford's development garage filled the spare wheel pan with concrete, and we bolted the spare onto a spike set into that. Lots of fun...especially with a 3.2 litre test engine.
I'd seen the Tiff review, but had read that TF's had been developed a bit post his test. Seems not too much...
What tyre pressures did you run on your Sunstorm - can you remember?
Winko

:welcome:

Winko wrote: Hi,
Yes you're right about the understeer. Not too bad on dry roads but in the wet.....interesting to say the least.
Roxy has a spare wheel, so there's some weight over the front. I'll try tracking and tyres before I revert to my times with Ford Capri's when every time I got a new one, Ford's development garage filled the spare wheel pan with concrete, and we bolted the spare onto a spike set into that. Lots of fun...especially with a 3.2 litre test engine.
I'd seen the Tiff review, but had read that TF's had been developed a bit post his test. Seems not too much...
What tyre pressures did you run on your Sunstorm - can you remember?
Winko

Can't remember pressures as I sold the Sunstorm over 3 years ago and bought a Stepspeed (15" V Spoke's) there were some changes to the suspension in the MY05's with a sport suspension and comfort pack (larger dia anti-roll bar, longer springs on the coil overs and better quality shocks) I had the comfort pack on the Steppy (which I have just sold) but if you have 16" wheels (less sidewall) you probably wouldn't notice any difference with the later suspension.

Brian.

Thanks Brian. I had a trawl across the net last night and the Avon ZZ3's I have on the back get some good reports. I'm going to have the geometry checked and play with pressures to see how things improve. If that bears no fruit, I'll go the route of matching tyres all round - as soon as 'The She Devil' accepts that the TT exhaust I'm fitting this weekend was essential for Roxy's MOT......
I was tempted to buy a Stepspeed, but was put off by the reviews. Did you enjoy yours?
W

Winko wrote: Thanks Brian. I had a trawl across the net last night and the Avon ZZ3's I have on the back get some good reports. I'm going to have the geometry checked and play with pressures to see how things improve. If that bears no fruit, I'll go the route of matching tyres all round - as soon as 'The She Devil' accepts that the TT exhaust I'm fitting this weekend was essential for Roxy's MOT......
I was tempted to buy a Stepspeed, but was put off by the reviews. Did you enjoy yours?
W

We had the steppy for 3 years and in that time I had done all the rectifications, modifications and non bling upgrades you can to make the car as reliable as a TF can be.

The TF steppy's are becoming quite rare and it's hard to find a low mileage one in good condition. We never had any issues with the gearbox and with the 3 driving modes you can just cruse or have a bit of fun, even with the power limited 120 bhp. The drive take-up gets a bit getting used to as there is no torque converter, plus I fitted the 52mm throttle body which gives a lot of throttle with very little press on the gas pedal, we had some great summer driving with her down here in Cornwall; where a soft to is a must. She has been sold locally to one of our members and I hope they will get as much fun out of her as we did.

I may buy another late model TF (non chinese) unless I found a very cheep LE500 as a project, but in the mean time I have bought a VW Eos, this was also a project as a bit of work was needed, anyway it's now on the road but yet to drive it with the roof down; unless the rain ever stops.

Hope you enjoy the Taylor exhaust, we tried a ToyoSport but I found the noise on a long run very tiring, also on the narrow Cornish roads you get a lot of noise bouncing back from the stone walls when you have the top down.

Brian.