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Going straight / 240 steering "wander"

Tuff240 said:
Go have A N T tire align it.
-.5 to -1 camber, toe 0* would be a good start from where you are at.
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This^

If you're in the Portland area, seriously get to know Garth and the crew at Trackside Motorsports / A-n-T Tire.
I'd suggest just a smidge of toe-in for a DD, and as much camber as you can get with stock sprangs.

Want better handling? Spend the coin to get more caster and a bit more negative camber.
 
KeizerBrickGuy said:
So it drives straight on a decent road(with no need for contact with the steering wheel)? If it doesn't drive straight on it's own on a mostly flat street, the alignment tech needs a toe punch to his sack. When I was getting my bricks aligned I made sure that camber and toe were to spec. The caster doesn't look horrible. I would try getting the camber set to -0.5* with the same current toe setting of -0.15*. My car has the strut mounts that are separating and I was able to get camber set to -0.5* and toe around -0.1 to -0.15* and it doesn't wander unless I'm on I-5.
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Good stuff. Thanks.
 
slammed145 said:
Try just lowering the back a 1/2 coil. It won't hurt your ability to load it up. Unless you plan on sticking like a half a ton of bricks in there or something. And at that point, you'd want overload springs (cut down) with stiffer shocks anyway.
I used to load my Beige Against the Machine wagon to the gills with swap meet parts. Never had a problem. And it started out lower than yours, I believe.

These cars wander like **** without enough caster. If you really want to keep the rake, get aftermarket camber plates so that you can wank a bunch of additional caster into the car.
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Very helpful. Beautiful car. Thank you.
 
Tuff240 said:
Go have A N T tire align it.
-.5 to -1 camber, toe 0* would be a good start from where you are at.

The rake isn't helping at all. As Ken said, you lost caster, but you have a lot of weight riding on the front tires now also. It's probably squirrelly under braking or during hard cornering right now too.

Also what ball joints are you using? Manual or power ones? Should be using power ones with more castor.
Loosen the 3 bj bolts and pull out and forward on the strut assembly while you tighten them.
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Interesting point about the weight transfer. PS ball joints. Please see second post.
 
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These are the settings I was able to get myself.
 
Jack said:
You don't know nothing old man....



We said this would happen from the start

✅ cut sprangs
✅ complain of crap ride/drive ability

Future ✅ s

- worn tires
- put on jackstands
- let 6 months pass
- buy another Volvo
- crush
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Wow. Did you come up with that all on your own? Like a phucking broken record around here.
 
Benjam83 said:
Tie rod ends?
Ball joints?
Bushings?

Adjustable strut mounts aren't going to do crap if the rest of the system isn't in good repair.
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See first post:

The car ('87 245 N/A) has the following mods: 2.5 coils off front, 1.0 off rear, Bilstien Touring shocks, adjustable rear track bar, 16.5 mm rear wheel spacers, upper and lower front braces, Hydras with new 215/55R16 tires (32 psi), 23mm / 19mm swaybars, manual steering rack, new ball joints, tight tie rod ends, original bushings.
 
My caster is more shot to hell than yours and drives fine, just look at my post align specs. I think it has nothing to do with the alignment; I would still push the alignment dude to get it all set to spec and then reassess. Now that I think about it, since I installed wagon overloads on my wife's car; it tends to wander a bit more than it used to, but then of course I haven't realigned it to check the numbers though, either. Her car has a lot of rake to it like your car. Looks good though.
 
LC4CARL said:
Wow. Did you come up with that all on your own? Like a phucking broken record around here.
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I can't take the credit. A group of us got together in OT and greatly discussed why people most often crush their Volvo around here. Extensive research by 17 members discovered that
97% of the time it starts with cut springs
the stats go even higher when car is an 85+ 240 to a 98.7% probability of crushing
99.9876% if belt line trim has been removed



fix your suspension and steering and quit trying to reinvent the wheel
 
It's probably me, but the camaraderie of a shared enthusiasm in Volvo's is nil around here sometimes. I have put hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars into my ride. I have been supportive and respectful of others on the forum. I need to take a break from this place.
 
Jack said:
I can't take the credit. A group of us got together in OT and greatly discussed why people most often crush their Volvo around here. Extensive research by 17 members discovered that
97% of the time it starts with cut springs
the stats go even higher when car is an 85+ 240 to a 98.7% probability of crushing
99.9876% if belt line trim has been removed



fix your suspension and steering and quit trying to reinvent the wheel
Click to expand...

Reinvent the wheel? Doing what 1000's have done before me? I am trying to fix it. God!
 
LC4CARL said:
It's probably me, but the camaraderie of a shared enthusiasm in Volvo's is nil around here sometimes. I have put hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars into my ride. I have been supportive and respectful of others on the forum. I need to take a break from this place.
Click to expand...

stop getting butt hurt raise the front end of your car and start checking stuff
I had bjs go bad after 6 months and I get my car aligned everytime I mess around with suspension stuff

a loose rack with bad alignment can give you a super detached feeling at the wheel
 
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