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KE20 Steering and Suspension HELP


JamesKE20

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Hello all, I need some advice/ideas!

I have a KE20 with standard struts. It has lowered King Springs and alloy rims running Potenza RE003 195/50R15 rubber. It sits a fair bit lower than standard.

Problem 1: Due to being lowered the camber is way out, and my tires wear excessively on the inside. KE20's have no stock camber adjustment.

Problem 2: When driving straight the steering will pull suddenly to one side, like someone is yanking the steering wheel down. It's more noticeable the faster I drive. I don't think there's any worn bushings etc in the steering components (although I'm no mechanic). 

CAMBER  QUESTIONS

- I'm aware you can slot out the bolt holes in the strut tower, but I'm not keen to do that.
- should I get camber tops like the Suspension Concepts ones and keep the springs I have (I'm happy with the height etc) (about AUD$500/pair)
- should I get the T3 ones bearing in mind they require their weld on coil over kit (camber tops and weld on kit about AUD$1000 delivered)
- should I also/instead get roll center adjusters? T3 offer some for the KE20.
- will camber tops ruin comfort, and are they noisy? (some people claim this is an issue as they remove the rubber strut top)

STEERING QUESTION

- does my problem sound like bump steering due to the suspension being changed from stock?
- could it be worn bushes etc in the steering setup, if so, what should I check?
- how can I fix it while maintaining my current ride height?

LINKS:

Suspension concepts camber tops - http://www.suspensionconcepts.com.au/store/p88/TOYOTA_Corolla_KE20%2C_KE25%2C_KE26%2C_TE25_(1970_-_1978)_Camber_Caster_Front_Strut_Mount_|_SC44025S.html

T3 camber tops - https://technotoytuning.com/toyota/ke20/ke20-camber-plates

T3 weld on coil overs - https://technotoytuning.com/toyota/ke20/weld-front-coilover-kit-ke20-corolla-0

T3 roll center adjusters - https://technotoytuning.com/toyota/ke20/roll-center-adjusters-ke20-corolla

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  • 4 weeks later...

Hi James,

                 Have you put the car on a flat concrete floor, & measured the camber that has resulted from the lowering ?

Even if you don't have one of those little electronic inclinometers; with a straight- edge across the rim edges, in a vertical plane, with a spirit level, you should get a good idea.

If you take Colin's advice, & get a wheel alignment, the camber & caster angles will be measured, as part of that service, & will be noted on your report. 

What are all the rubber bushes, ball joints, & steering pivot bushes like on the front end ?

The McPherson strut design was cheap to manufacture, but does have some nasty results, if everything is not just right.  Gets even nastier, if you start changing the geometry dramatically.

Cheers

Banjo

 

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Tyre wear is the cost of lowered geometry... Add more toe-in to spread that inner tread wear across the tyre, it will wear evenly but still faster than normal. 

Grab your spirit level and verniers, as banjo said, and get take readings of the rim top & bottom. This will give you how many mm camber, which you can turn into degrees if you want to with a little pythagoras. Then jack it up, take the nuts off the strut and push the strut top out to the outside to see how many mm you gain before the spring hits the turret, or the strut center hits the edge of the turret hole. If its the spring hitting the turret, then this is the limit of your camber tops.

If the spring hits the turret quite quickly, then its coil-over time, as the small diameter spring give you more camber adjustment. it all depends on how low it is.

RCAs wont help this but will help stop the bump steer. The lower control arms must hang down slightly at rest, so as they go up they first push the strut out, then as they go further they arc it in. The bump steer caused by this gets more extreme the further from horizontal they are, and I expect yours are always aiming upwards.

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