Dutch 928 fan

I my 'new' 1984 euro S2 the speed and acceleration have been amazing. On the straight road that is... Cornering is lousy: the rear tires start squeeling at low speed in corners. Even on dry road. I can do faster corners in my 2000 Range Rover, which I think handles like a large boat floating through a curve and leaning over like crazy.

What's wrong? Alignment? Caster, camber, toe in?
The tires are new Pirelli's which should stick like glue. The wheels are standard 16" telephone dial rims. (by the way: try explaining to young kids why these are called telephone dials rims... haha).

I want to go fast and safely through the curves as well. Can you help?

Leo. Euro S2 1984 manual 87 gearbox.

Jim M.

1. What model of Pirelli's?
2. What tire pressures are you running?
3. How were the old tires wearing?
4. Do you have spacers on the rear?
5. Do you have the front and rear sway bars or have they been removed or disconnected? The rear sway bar drop links are prone to breaking.
6. How are the shock absorbers? And which shocks are on the car?
7. Is the ride heigth set to factory specs?

Answer these questions and we can help you solve your problem.

Herman K

I'll be there after the 23rd and can offer some help I do all my own alignment and suspension work.

Best

Marine Blue

How many miles on the car?

Have the bushings been replaced?

Dutch 928 fan

Oops. A lot of questions. Some answers I have right away. For the others I need to have a closer look in the garage. So, here it goes for now:
-Tire pressure: as per stickered numbers (3.0 and 2,5)
- I have no comparison to other tires (I bought the car with these Pirelli's)
- Shocks: Bilsteins. They look original. Dust caps (plastic bits) and bump stops were bad. Removed them because the plastic material was brittle, but shocks operate in good condition. No bouncing. Solid stiff ride, also on rough surface or across bumps in the highway.
- Bushings look o.k. Steering rods have been replaced. Which is why I suspect the aligment. (perhaps they aligned it after lifting the car of its suspension and not letting it settle in a long drive before aligning). Any chance this might have such a dramatic impact on cornering? I would expect it to have more effect on driving in a straight line and self-centering, but I am a noob on this topic.
-Mileage is unknown as the speedo/odometer is broken. Expect high mileage.

I need to check for the answer on the sway bars and spacers. I will also check the ride height, but expect standard figures. Car looks pretty standard ad solid in all areas though. Did a 235km/h run the other day. No problem on the straight.

Jim M.

Pirelli makes lots of tires for all types of vehicles. What model of Pirelli do you have? It's molded in the sidewall of the tire. Also give us the sizes of the tires. I've seen 928's with super hard long wearing tires that the PO put on just to sell the car. In other words CHEAP tires, completly wrong for a high performance car like the 928. With the stock wheels and tire sizes you are running the correct pressures.

If the car was aligned before the suspension has settled it usually throws the toe off and the tires will be bald on the edges in just 3-500 miles (900KM).

The spacers only widen the rear track, but they add a small amount of handling to an already great handling car.

Re-reading your original post, I'm betting you have the wrong tires on the car for handling.

Dutch 928 fan

The tyres are Pirelli P6000 Powergy 225/50/R16 92 V. Perhaps they are too old (indicator says 0805) and hard? Any experience with these types of tyres? Reviews on the internet look good though.

Go-carter

Not too old. 0805 means week 8, 2005.

RKD in OKC

First, get a good alignment at a shop that doesn't lift the car to align and see if that helps.

Dutch 928 fan

It looks like my front tires are wearing unevenly. The profile depth on the inside is much less now than compared to the outside...
Time for an alignement.
I will report back after that.

Thanks for now.

Leo. 928 S2 1984 euro manual 1987 gearbox.

Dutch 928 fan

I did a quick re-adjustment: some toe-in instead of toe-out by adjusting the rods 2 equal turns. I figured it could not be worse than it was and if i did both sides equal, that it would be ok. And it is!!!
This thing now corners like a train on a track. Amazing grip!! Almost scary.
Has anyone ever taken it to the limit in a corner? Wow, so impressive...
I will put on some new tires later and do an offical alignment, but I will enjoy it and run these tires bald first.
Leo. 928 S2 1984 euro manual 1987 gearbox

bigmac

Good for you!

pcar928fan

Leo, when I am on a race track in ANY of my 928's the goal is to take it to the limit on EVERY CORNER! I am not usually successful even for a full lap of doing that, but I do my best.

jcorenman

2.5 bar for the front and 3.0 for the rear?? Try 2.5 for both front and rear.