[alackofspeed]

At the weekend I met up with Limpabit (John) and Merlinman (Ian). We went for a short convoy drive, so Merlinman could get a seat of the pants experience of my car, and John and I could enjoy the novelty of two cars in convoy.

Anyhow, whilst driving along, as Merlinman will no doubt recall, I clobbered a fairly nasty pothole. I realised after saying farewell to John and Ian, that I'd knocked my tracking out, so this evening I had a look to see what I'd done....

Well I'd managed to add quite a bit of toe-in to the front left wheel, and given the step change it got me wondering what I'd bent / displaced. I'm pretty sure I've found the problem, and it's the nearside hub to track-rod arm (steering arm?).

Whatever it's called, it would appear that it was bent slightly by the impact... which led me to wonder about the stiffness of the part....so I put the steering lock on, and pushed / pulled the nearside wheel at the 3 and 9 o clock positions, and noticed the track rod stayed still, but the rim / caliper / hub moved. It was possible to induce 5mm or so of movement at the rim edge, just manually, without getting a sweat on.

I've noticed that the steering feels slightly vague at "higher" speeds, so I'm wondering if the flex is the cause. I'm going to cut some stiffening plates, and weld them on..... another experiment that'll hopefully further enhance the driving experience.