[Guest]

Got my evo II a couple of weeks ago and have noticed that it really doesn't like going around roundabouts.
I guess it could possibly be the greasy / icy road conditions at present but its pretty regular on many different roundabouts.

At any other than a very sedate pace you can feel the car not gripping and sliding forwards somewhat rather than following the line of the wheels.

Any ideas if this is unusual? The car has 17inch wheels and very good condition Falken tyres. i don't have all the wheel info but the way they are pretty flush with the bodywork, but at the same time not too wide (7 inch) makes me think they may have more than standard offset. Could this be a contrbuting factor? It doesn't fill me with the confidence to give it some serious welly down the lanes!

cheers
Jon

 

[Guest]

Two things:

1) Tyres - even though the Falkens look OK I've found real differences in brands as far as initial understeer goes. Maybe they just aren't suited to the greasy roads of late but their dry weather performance is good...

...but 'The Biggie' surely is...

2) Geometry - After fitting my new wheels the steering was all over the place and understeered like a supertanker. Get yourself along to a decent 4 wheel alignment centre and get your wheels camber and toe checked. IIRC figures can be found on the MLR website, under 'The Cars' bit i think.

 

[Guest]

I find a bit of understeer on mine on greasy roundabouts also. If you want to stop this problem, Mitsi have fitted a special pedal - it's to the right of the brake http://www.ltregister.f9.co.uk/graphics/wink1.gif border|EQU| 0 align|EQU| absmiddle >. You can dial in as much oversteer as you want with this pedal [img]http://www.ltregister.f9.co.uk/graphics/biggrin1.gif border|EQU| 0 align|EQU| absmiddle > .

I find this pedal isn't fussy, you can use it through corners also and it'll send the back end round to meet you on request.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the replies fellas.

I see you use the phrase 'initial understeer' Chunky. That interests me because I have since found that if i keep going round and put my foot down more the tyres seems to bite and turn nicely after the initial slide forwards. Obviously this is not acceptable long term cos its all too unpredictable and i wouldn't want to chance it with cars inside or outside me, plus it just doesn't feel right at all.
Just wondered whether you initial understeer phrase was referring to this phenomenon?
(My old RWD Sierra was more predictable and controllable in the wet and surely thats saying something?)

Anyway, got a service coming up and might go to ralliart so presume they could check the alignment etc. for me at the same time.

Regarding the 'special pedal' Mark, have been using this more lately. While it does work somewhat I obviously need more practice to perfect the technique. But I'd still like the car to turn when I turn the wheel really! http://www.ltregister.f9.co.uk/graphics/Wilk.gif border|EQU| 0 align|EQU| middle >

cheers
Jon

 

[Guest]

This Mitsubishi's way of giving the car a safe handling balance , as you have discovered it makes u back off !!
Due to the traction and grip the car can achieve if it were set up from the factory without understeer many drivers wud find themselves in trouble at the speeds the car cud corner at.
I'm not sure how adjustable the suspension is on a II , but the VI is setup with understeer but can be adjusted too how the driver prefers http://www.ltregister.f9.co.uk/graphics/wink1.gif border|EQU| 0 align|EQU| absmiddle >
So , have a rally prep company set up your preferred handling balance and enjoy!!

 

[Guest]

hmm! not sure about that.
You may be right but I can't believe its set up to handle the way mine does.
I would describe the car's handling as 'dangerous' and 'unpredictable' at present, unless just cruising at low speed!

Don't get me wrong tho. Still think the car's a cracker. However it will be much more fun after its sorted out!

cheers
jon

 

[Guest]

Definatly sounds like geometry, when I got my freshly imported 1 it understeered rather alarmingly. When I got all four corners checked at demon tweeks we discovered not a single wheel pointing where it should !

70 quid later and NEARLY everything was ok. Still too much understeer, but this is mainly becuase at the time we couldn't figure out how to adjust the front camber. Mine is currently set at 0 degree camber. Which is balls, it needs to be 2 degree negative.

Mitsubish dealers can do it, but when I spoke to a local one it was 50 quid an hour !
I'm currently looking for an alternative before my first track day at Ty Croes.

The loud pedal can be used to balance it out quite neatly, but as you say you need a bit of space around you to gain confidence in the technique. You can help it by lifting sharply as you turn in and then get on the loud pedal quickly. Or you can use the Jackie stewart technique of driving real smooth and feeding the car out to the side as you feed the power in. (This technique can be shockingly quick when you come out of a greasy open roundabout http://www.ltregister.f9.co.uk/graphics/Happy.gif border|EQU| 0 align|EQU| middle > Jackie Stewart
loved cars that understeered apparently)

Hope this helps a bit.

 

[Guest]

Yeh , if yr car is that bad it probably has a fault (bent suspension , duff damper etc) or previously incorrect geometry setup.S'pose u've checked tyre pressures?

 

[Guest]

Had the geometry reset on my E4 a little while ago,on a really tight turn in and some good throttle at round abouts the car will drift nicely, just got to be sure no one is on the inside of you,I have found that a tight lock and heavy throttle wey hey hey !!! .

 

[Guest]

tyre pressure is fine. Will post the reason for the problem after getting it checked out.