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  #1  
Old February 29th 2012, 20:24
SilverBullet SilverBullet is offline
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Bump steer kit

Is it very necessary to install a bump steer kit for lowered early supers?
What alignment settings for front and rear for street driving and sometimes weekend warrior? Trying to get the alignment right.
Thanks guys.
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Old February 29th 2012, 21:56
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Depends how low you're running.

I've found anything below a 3" drop definately needs them.
It will stop bump steer and the tie rods hitting the body on bumps
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Old March 1st 2012, 20:49
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Hi

My son has a Nissan R31 drift car, its very low. He bought some tie rod ends to correct bump steer, the concept maybe interesting VW guys.

They are adjustable at the steering knuckle for height to correct bump steer.

Steve

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  #4  
Old March 2nd 2012, 12:38
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Joel View Post
Depends how low you're running.
Yup. My '71 had TopLine MaXX struts lowered to the first notch and never needed them.
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  #5  
Old March 5th 2012, 11:41
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My 2 bolt front with 944 stub axle and steering arm needed the tie rod flipping to clear the anti-roll bar when it was lowered 40mm (1 1/2")
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  #6  
Old March 7th 2012, 12:28
SilverBullet SilverBullet is offline
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Thanks for the replies, I've installed the bump steer kit, with the maxx strut kit with 1 notch down too. Since I have them, might as well.
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  #7  
Old January 17th 2013, 10:37
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It has been about a year since i made this modification to my '74 2 bolt 1303, and a full season later i can say that it works and is roadworthy.

As i lowered my superbeetle with kerscher adjustable coilovers, i had experienced a lot of bump steer and some contact between control arms and rack&pinion; steering rods and chassis aswell. also, as i looked all over the internet people were unable to use steering rod flip-it kits with 2-bolters because of interference between steering rods and sway bar in some positions.

As i was not happy with the minimum height of my vehicle while still maintaining some of the suspension travel, i looked into possible solutions. I came up with custom made, longer ball joints and use of standard flip-it kit, which was now possible. The neck of ball joint is longer by 20mm, which is just enough that keeps the arms from bottoming out, steering rods from touching sway bar in any position and helps to form proper geometry when combined with the flip-it kit.

This is what it looks like, compared to stock ball joint:



Here it is, mounted:



This is the closest possible position of the steering rod and sway bar



The steering rod and control arms are virtually parallel, which eliminates most of the bump steer



Here is the height of the car, could still go lower for shows:




So after a year of everyday usage, i can say that this solution works great; i could also install shorter bumpstops on the coilovers to further extend the suspension travel. Since these modifications has been made, i have never experienced any bottoming out.

If anyone is interested, i could probably arrange manufacturing of some additional sets of these ball joints, the price for a pair would be in the ballpark of 100 eur + p&p; probably a little less when group buy could be organised. Contact me at email: tine.wolf [at] amis.net .

Cheers,

Tine

Last edited by Tine; January 18th 2013 at 04:50. Reason: tie rod - ball joint mixup ;)
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  #8  
Old January 17th 2013, 18:32
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Nice work.

How has your tyre wear been? or does it not do many miles?

Just wondering as a mate of mine experimented with flipped tierods on a 74 1303 and found as the suspension moved up and down the toe in/out was changing noticeably.
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  #9  
Old January 18th 2013, 03:41
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it has been a few thousand kilometers this year, but nothing spectacular in numbers and considering my alignment settings for the front of the car is at -1.5 camber and 0.5 toe-in; the wear was noticable, but not extensive and was fairly even on the sides of the tyre. I might even go a bit more agressive with settings this year.

His toe problems were present because of not having control arms and steering rods parallel. As they are similar length, they tend to 'draw the same arc' and when suspension compresses, these both move up in their own arc. This is actually the same problem as bump steer. - if not parallel, they change the position of the spindle in relation to direction of the car when cornering over a bump.
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  #10  
Old January 18th 2013, 08:12
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Tine, very elegant solution. Good job.

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  #11  
Old January 20th 2013, 02:01
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I agree making the control arm and tie rod parallel significantly reduces the delta between control arm and tie rod left/right position. The fact that the two are different lengths ultimately makes it impossible to completely eliminate bumpsteer and toe changes due to suspension travel, no? Basically, the different lengths travel different arcs during suspension travel, changing the vertical alignment of the spindle.
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  #12  
Old January 21st 2013, 04:02
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Correct, there is some small amount of bump steer present, as is with stock height/configuration. Not so much of a bump steer as road feedback on the steering wheel; the car does not steer unpredictably when going over a bump as it has before modification. A LOT less scary now in the fast, long sweep corners.
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  #13  
Old January 25th 2013, 01:44
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Nice! Good work, I need to take a look at my set-up once I am road worthy... What is the disadvantage of simply using the "Flip it bump steer" bushings? I've put a link below. Do these not have the tie rod and control arm in parallel?

http://www2.cip1.com/ProductDetails....de=C12-6613-11
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  #14  
Old January 26th 2013, 07:15
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There is no disadvantage with them, they work well except on later 2 bolt strut front ends the tierods hit the swaybar which is where Tines mod comes in.
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  #15  
Old January 29th 2013, 04:00
Tine Tine is offline
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Use them ONLY when lowering more than the standard 50mm lowering springs option.
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