Hello all! Been awhile since i've been on but the car has been going great and had no problems to ask about!
That said i might have guessed the proverbial S**t was going to hit the proverbial fan.
Hogmanay (New Years Eve) went to pick up a few last minute bits of shopping and on my way home crashed through a 3 foot thick dry stone wall and ended up 30 feet out in a ploughed field! (No drinking involved i assure you, just a stonking great patch of black ice in freezing fog) :o
Got out without a scratch just a bump on the top of my head but im afraid the old girl is dead (bent chassis, ripped floor etc) and i started looking for another one. Found a good one exactly the same as my old one 440si but a 96 not 93.
Took it home, toddling along about 50, all seemed well.
Today took it out and noticed a strange trait it seems to have turning right above 50.
Turning left is fine, turn right above 50 and past a certain point in the lock and it suddenly oversteers dramatically, like i've jerked the wheel hard over!!

Checked all the bushes they seem quite new and not perished at all, rack seems quite new too.
Any ideas guys and girls??

Dont want to have to take to a stealership if i can possibly avoid it(already have a 2nd mortgage!)

If the tyre pressures are spot-on and the front & rear tyres are all the same size radial then I'd get Kwik-Fit to look it over for free e.g. tyre condition, shock absorbers etc. If they're OK then wheel alignment would be the next check to have done.

Interested to know how you get on.

BB
:beer:

Sorry to take so long getting back but have been away and didnt have computer access.
All tyre pressures are spot on and all tyres are new and same brand/style, had the suspension and tracking checked and all fine.
Getting a bit bemused now.

Any more ideas guys???

Did you check that the tyres are all the same size & speed rating? I know it sounds crazy, but I did come across an old Humber Sceptre once that some lunatic had fitted Goodyear Grand Prix S tyres on, front & rear. Trouble was, he put a wider pair on the front than on the rear, so when a friend of mine bought it, the steering & handling were all messed up. Only when I gave the tyres a very close inspection did the problem become clear!

So long as directional tyres are not fitted, have you tried swopping the wheels front nearside to front offside & vice versa, plus rear nearside to rear offside, to see whether it then oversteers violently when steering left above 50 mph?

If it's not the tyres/steering/steering geometry/suspension/suspension mounts or security, steering balljoints, the front & rear anti-roll bar bushes or security etc. then it sounds as though above 50mph, when you turn the wheel to the right, something might be making the right front wheel slow down & the car is rotating around it i.e. oversteer.

Have you checked the bearings & the condition of the stub axles? Are the nearside front disks & pads worn to exactly the same extent as the offside set? This seems like a longshot to me. Worth checking that the handbrake cable is properly adjusted & mechanism working properly there it meets the rear drums & not grabbing or seized on one side.

Interested to know whether the tyre swap reverses the problem.

BB
:57:

Hi again guys, been away again,
All tyres are exactly the same pirellis and tyre pressures are spot on.
My copper mate took it in to the police garage to get one of the mechanics there that works on their traffic pursuit Volvos to give it a once over and he couldn't find anything, but test drove it and found the same thing, the only possible thing he could think of was something called torque sheer as it only does it under acceleration????
Anybody heard of this? He said it was a problem with a few of the early s40s but had never heard heard of it in a 440.

Any further help is greatfully received :beer:

I think you mean torque steer, which is a drawback in front wheel drive cars with powerful engines - just one of the reasons that most true sports cars (and racing cars) have rear wheel drive or even AWD.

Torque steer is "feedback" to the steering resulting from heavy applications of engine power.

Improvements to the design of front suspension/driveshafts have removed/minimised the phenomenon in newer cars, but can still be an issue if you're pushing 200 bhp or more.

Far be it for me to question the opinion of a trained police mechanic, but a 1.8i 440 doesn't have the grunt to produce the violent reaction at 50mph that you describe - I drove one for years & if anything, it tended to understeer slightly when being driven enthusiastically, which is no bad thing & certainly preferable to oversteer.

The only conclusion I can now reach is that the problem may lie with the Pirellis & may reduce or disappear once they have been changed for another brand. I always used Goodyears on my 440 & they served me well, their soft compound giving good grip wet or dry and OK (but not fantastic) treadwear.

BB
:)