RE: Help with '83 Spider Handling

["Brian Shorey" <bshorey@domain.elided>]

<snip>
> Then, I was told the tires might be the problem and one of the wheels were
> bent.  So, I just replaced the stock wheels with aftermarket wheels (15 X
7)
> and the tires with 205/50VR15.  The problem's still there.
>
> HELPPPP!  It's driving me nuts.  I feel as if I'm always fighting to keep
> the car in the middle of the lane (which is unnerving at 70 mph between
two
> transport trucks).

the pull to one side almost certainly would be an alignment problem.  the
slop could be a number of things.

one thing i'll mention that you probably don't want to hear is that wider
wheels and tires will cause a car to 'float' more at highway speeds.  i
think this has to do with catching more inperfections in the road, or
driving over the sometimes imperceivable truck ruts.

other than that, how many miles are on the car?  sometimes replacing a
bushing or two as maintenance items is not sufficient.  we completely
rebushed a spider last year that on the surface looked like it needed one or
two items addressed, and the difference in tightness was huge.  it was like
driving a new car.  a lot of your suspension bushings could be worn to a
point that individually they're not that bad but collectively there's a lot
of slop.

fwiw,

bs

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