above 100 mph my car sways like a boat...

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SPEEDFREAK0920

Senior Member
i got a 92 hatch with a 1.8 and tokico blues with ground control coilovers. that's the only suspension work i have done to the car. when i go above 100 mph my car pulls left and right really hard. then when i get on the brakes it pulls even more. what's the best way to eliminate this problem? sway bars? front rear strut bars? i'm trying to spend the least amount of money as possible. thanks
 
Tie rod ends maybe? Check your alignment, then check everything in your steering system. It sounds to me like something is loose.
 
Originally posted by micah@Oct 8 2004, 02:14 AM
stay below 100 mph? :p
[post=399968]Quoted post[/post]​



baaaaaaaaaahahahhaha.


this works. i've heard other people speak of the car getting really floaty around 120ish. maybe its an aerodynamic thing? but i'd probably do like the others aer sayin and have it looked at up front.
 
its the coilovers. when i had the fodo on gc's and tokico blues, at the strip it wobbled a li'l bit above 80ish(since i ONLY went over 70 at the strip)...on the hatch, when i went 14.88@92, above around 60 or so it was really floaty, and thats with ground controls on stock struts.

however, when i had the Tein S-Tech's on the fodo, it didnt float at all.

sleeve coilovers suck.
 
Originally posted by nismogod@Oct 9 2004, 09:52 AM
this works. i've heard other people speak of the car getting really floaty around 120ish. maybe its an aerodynamic thing? but i'd probably do like the others aer sayin and have it looked at up front.
[post=400483]Quoted post[/post]​


Mine's dead on stable at 150mph. No swaying. All stock bodywork.
 
Originally posted by Calesta+Oct 9 2004, 12:14 PM-->
@Oct 9 2004, 09:52 AM
this works. i've heard other people speak of the car getting really floaty around 120ish.  maybe its an aerodynamic thing? but i'd probably do like the others aer sayin and have it looked at up front.
[post=400483]Quoted post[/post]​


Mine's dead on stable at 150mph. No swaying. All stock bodywork.
[post=400506]Quoted post[/post]​



sorry, the person that had said it before was in an EG so maybe that had some thin to do with it.
 
Originally posted by nismogod+Oct 9 2004, 01:53 PM-->
Originally posted by Calesta@Oct 9 2004, 12:14 PM
nismogod
@Oct 9 2004, 09:52 AM
this works. i've heard other people speak of the car getting really floaty around 120ish. maybe its an aerodynamic thing? but i'd probably do like the others aer sayin and have it looked at up front.
[post=400483]Quoted post[/post]​

Mine's dead on stable at 150mph. No swaying. All stock bodywork.
[post=400506]Quoted post[/post]​

sorry, the person that had said it before was in an EG so maybe that had some thin to do with it.
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My sedan is an EG8. It's definitely not the aerodynamic packaging of the car- it's most likely something loose in the suspension.
 
yeah there has to be something off, my 4 door gsr with stock suspension feels fine at 100.
 
you have a wing/spoiler?

theoritically if your providing enough downforce to the rear end it could be lifting your front tires off the ground enough to cause you to float, would also prevent you from going much faster.

of course that wouldnt explain the swaying while you decelerated
 
Originally posted by micah@Oct 9 2004, 11:25 PM
theoritically if your providing enough downforce to the rear end it could be lifting your front tires off the ground enough to cause you to float, would also prevent you from going much faster.
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:lmao: :blink: :lmao: :lmao:

I seriously doubt it, especially with any of the OEM or aftermarket wings out there that bolt onto a Civic. You would have to be generating a LOT of force at the very rear of the car to have enough leverage to pull the front end up enough to start losing traction.

If the wing is about oh, 36 inches behind rear hub (pivot point) and the rear wheels are about 103 inches behind the front (pivot point), assuming we have no lift or downforce at the front to worry about at speed, and assuming that the weight distribution is 65% up front (pretty good estimate I think) on a 2500 pound car, this is what comes up:

1625 pounds on front axle, simple calculation (at rest)

Assuming I have a pretty close estimate of the rear overhang (dunno) and the wheelbase (pretty damn sure), then the leverage multiplier for force at the rear of the car to overcome force at the front wheels would be 2.86.

You would need 4649 pounds of force generated by the rear spoiler in order to lift the front wheels off the ground. Of course, significantly less force would be required to cause the front wheels to start losing traction, but then you assume that your car is actually stiff enough to allow small amounts of force in the rear to lift the front tires. If you've ever put the front end of your car on jack stands, supporting it from the jack points, you've seen how much the flex the Civic chassis has from front to rear.

Even if you were able to generate even 100 pounds of lift at the front of the car, assuming perfect force transfer from the spoiler to the front, the flex of the car from front to rear would pretty much negate any significant lift at the front from the spoiler pressing down on the trunk. If you were able to generate enough force to really do something up front, you'd probably punch the spoiler straight through the trunk lid.

:)
 
all those numbers make my head hurt. long story short...its not because of your mad tyte 2 fats 2 furious wing.
 
There are only eight numbers in all that mess. It's easy math. :p :lol:
 
lol well was just a guess, i know a buddy put a wing on his sol and ever since then he cant break 120 ( its a built b16 )

and another friend had an iroc that just after 100 mph, the back wheels started hovering ( something about him not having enough downforce on the rear ) and he would lose traction

:D
 
Yeah- that would be the entire car acting as a lifting body, not just a wing. The wing on the Sol could easily generate enough drag to limit top speed though.
 
check to make sure one of your calipers isn't sticking. That could be causing a constant uneven force, and maybe it's amplified by a loose tie rod or something similar.
 
yea, get an alignment(you may need tie rod ends, and or brakes), then:
sway bars
strut tower bars
rear lower tie bar
ive done 160 in a 93 civic hatch with a type R and it held steady with this stuff and neuspeed springs and koni shocks.

my brother had my car to 145 and it is steady


The only thing I have problems with on my car is:
going over 100mph the windshield wipers slide up the windshield. I have yet to figure this one out.
 
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