Twitchy Subaru Forester handling - is it just me?

[KookeeKaroakee]

I am encountering some handling issues and trying to figure out if its
normal? Its a 2002 Sub Forester S, has abt 27M miles - running
Geolanders - they appear to have worn fairly evenly. (I bought the car
at about 22M miles).
I had an alignment done last month and alignment was indeed out
some(mainly toed out too much). After that, it seemed to handle fine -
we had some winter storms couple of weeks ago and I swapped out the
wheels/tired for some Kuhmo izens mounted on wheels (from tirerack)
and it handled fine with those. But now since I have put the
Geolanders back on its back to handling squirrely. The car will track
straight on the highway for the most part but encountering any
unevenness in the road (patches, ruts worn form studded tires etc)
seems to want to pull the steering off to one side or the other. I
have a suspicion that its toed out again too much - but maybe I am
just being too sensitive, and this is normal? Can the process of
swapping tires/wheels can throw alignment out?

 

[H. Whelply]

To my knowledge, swapping tires/wheels shouldn't throw alignment off. May be
wrong. May be possible.

How much air pressure are you running?

HW

 

[KookeeKaroakee]

You know, I checked the air pressure and it seemed in spec - about 32
front and 30 rear - I think Sub recommends 32/29 - the Geolanders are
not new by any means - I think they must be the original tires, they
still have tread left but are probably due for replacement next
spring. Not sure if lower tread depths (not bald) can make make for
nervous handling?

 

[ed]

Tire type will defenitely affect handling. Have some Yokos on one vehicle
which have a solid rubber strip down the middle, and this strip finds every
little crack in the road, especially at lower speeds. Nothing serious, but
noticeable. If your tires are worn, it could cause this as well. Switching
tires doesn't affect alignment, but do check your rims to see if they are
crooked or out of true.

Ed B.

 

[H. Whelply]

My new '04 Forester XT has Geolanders, of course, and one of my first
impressions of the car was being a bit twitchy on freeways that had been
grooved to help avoid hydroplaning--it wanted to follow the grooves. I guess
I'm just used to the car/tires now, because I don't notice it.

I'll have to look to check: do Geolanders have that "solid rubber strip down
the middle"?

HW

 

[Clive]

I am encountering some handling issues and trying to figure out if its
normal? Its a 2002 Sub Forester S, has abt 27M miles - running
Geolanders - they appear to have worn fairly evenly. (I bought the car
at about 22M miles).
I had an alignment done last month and alignment was indeed out
some(mainly toed out too much). After that, it seemed to handle fine -
we had some winter storms couple of weeks ago and I swapped out the
wheels/tired for some Kuhmo izens mounted on wheels (from tirerack)
and it handled fine with those. But now since I have put the
Geolanders back on its back to handling squirrely. The car will track
straight on the highway for the most part but encountering any
unevenness in the road (patches, ruts worn form studded tires etc)
seems to want to pull the steering off to one side or the other. I
have a suspicion that its toed out again too much - but maybe I am
just being too sensitive, and this is normal? Can the process of
swapping tires/wheels can throw alignment out?

From what I've read somewhere and speaking to a friend
who builds super fast kit cars for road and track, the amount of
toe-in is a factor in this situation.
I'm told that adding a little extra helps overcome
'tram-lining' and can improve steering feel.
This will be at the expense of tire wear regrettably.
My Forester S was skittish on white lines, road seams
etc with the correct alignment on Geolanders which
I hated and wore out at 17K.
My current WRX was also prone to the same problem
on the factory-fitted Bridgestones (buggered at 10K!)
but the new Michelin Sports have made a big improvement
using the recommended alignment.

-
Clive Norris
Selectron (UK) Ltd
Musical Equipment Distribution
www.espguitars.co.uk
www.espshop.co.uk
www.emgpickups.co.uk
www.tube-shop.com
www.whirlwindusa.com
www.mightymite.com
www.deanmarkley.com

 

[KookeeKaroakee]

THanks Clive - I was about to just chalk it up to the Geolanders but
this morning we had snow so I put the winter wheels with relatively
new Kuhmos on, and I am still getting some of that twitchy handling on
the road - I cthe alignment tomorrow so we'll see what the deal is.