ZX rear suspesion uneven (more info added, odd things)

oscarloco · Post by **oscarloco** » 06 Jun 2009, 05:01

Hi guys, I ran into some trouble on the good ol' ZX. I feel like one side of the rear suspension is softer than the other. It's not the dampers as I replaced them both on september 2008. But it feels like the passenger side is bouncier.

I also get more oversteer when turning right than when turning left and when braking hard, the passenger side (right side viewing the car from the front) will sink more than the driver side. And when parked on a steep road whith the hand brake on, the passenger side looks a liiiitle bit higher. Where can I start looking for clues? I suspect the rear bushings but I don't know.

Help!

citronut · Post by **citronut** » 06 Jun 2009, 08:30

your drivers side rear bush's have/are seized up then, in the UK the usual fix for ZX rear suspension problems is fit a good second hand rear axle complete, as qutie often when they are striped down to rebuild them the main axle tube is badly damaged

regards malcolm

ps.
if you stand behind your car and look at the angle of both rear wheels you will almost certainly see one is leanning in at the top a lot more than the other

oscarloco · Post by **oscarloco** » 08 Jun 2009, 18:00

Thanks Malcolm. I think that is probably the cause as I used to feel the "rear wheel steering" during hard cornering but not anymore.

As for the wheels leaning, they don't look that way.

Now, I know there are 2 bushings per side, right? One is a big square with two bolts sticking out and the other I don't remember, am I correct?

The replacing the complete rear axle is not an option, there are too few ZX here it would be almost impossible to find a donor

jonathan_dyane · Post by **jonathan_dyane** » 08 Jun 2009, 18:22

If you have access to engineering facilties, the thing to do would be to strip the rear axle, have the bearing surface built up if necessary, then replace with phosphor bronze bearings, it will last forever then!

If you search the UK 205 GTI website there will be some very useful threads there (same suspension set up).

citronut · Post by **citronut** » 08 Jun 2009, 21:18

oscarloco wrote
"Now, I know there are 2 bushings per side, right? One is a big square with two bolts sticking out and the other I don't remember, am I correct?"

no not those bush's im talking about the arm bearings/bush's, not the sub frame mounttings

regards malcolm

oscarloco · Post by **oscarloco** » 09 Jun 2009, 22:00

citronut wrote:oscarloco wrote
"Now, I know there are 2 bushings per side, right? One is a big square with two bolts sticking out and the other I don't remember, am I correct?"

no not those bush's im talking about the arm bearings/bush's, not the sub frame mounttings

regards malcolm

Thanks for clearing that up

It can be tricky translating engish-spanish in specially in technical terms. Now I can see where to aim.

One more question, how difficult is to replace this bushes?

oscarloco · Post by **oscarloco** » 15 Jun 2009, 19:17

I took the ZX on a highway ride on Wednesday night. But the weird thing was that the car felt so good, no trace of the cornering issues

I started driving it harder and harder and harder until I was over the speed limit (70 km/h) and I was doing 120 I think (speedometer is broken

). The car braking was good, cornering was awesome and acceleration (that has never been an issue) was right.

Yesterday I went again on the same road, but this time with my wife. The car felt so differently, not as stable as the previous night.

Very weird. Any ideas?

Post by **Peter.N.** » 15 Jun 2009, 22:31

Dare I say it? Extra weight?

oscarloco · Post by **oscarloco** » 16 Jun 2009, 16:25

Peter.N. wrote:Dare I say it? Extra weight?

Yeah, I tought of that but I prefered not to say anything to my wife. I lack the Matrix-like skills for dodging plates, pans and knifes

Now seriously, I was thinking that maybe there is something loose that when I drive the car hard goes into place again and stops bothering for a while. The thing is I'm puzzled