superjimbo

PROBLEM: When going over bumps (at any speed) suspension (seems to be coming from the rear more than the front) wobbles side to side creating an unstable sensation. Rear suspension doesn't seem to soak up the bumps very well and crashes pretty hard over rough bits of pavement (big or small).

CAR'S HISTORY: Car is a stock 2005 AP2. I was in an accident about 1.5 years ago and had to have the front and rear subframes replaced as well, as the rear passenger side control arm. Shortly after my car was repaired I had it aligned at Westend Alignment here in socal. Darin Nishimura, the westend tech, is known in socal as being one of the best alignment guys for the s2000.

WHAT I THINK: The problem could be one or any combination of the following:

1.) Car was repaired incorrectly. Perhaps I'm missing a minor part like bushings. I don't know much about suspensions so I can't really tell if the car was put back together properly. However, I don't remember the suspension being this bad when I first got the car back. The problem seems to have gotten worse over time.

2.) My alignment is out of whack. However, my car has been driven rather mildly. I don't track it and I don't go on aggressive canyon runs very often. Is this possible? The alignment was done about a year ago. Would a misaligned car create this sensation?

3.) Some other components are just getting old...shocks, etc. I really don't think it's this. My car is an 05 with about 12k miles and is treated very nicely and driven in decent conditions.

WHAT SHOULD I DO: So what do you guys think the problem is and how can I correct it? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks guys.

Jim

jyeung528

maybe you have BLOWN shocks...

have you gotten under the car to inspect things down there?

superjimbo

yeah, that's what I thought could be one of the problems, but my car is an 05 with only 12k relatively easy miles. It couldn't be possible to blow out shocks THAT quick. I've looked under the car and everything looks normal to me, but I really don't know much so that's not saying much. I can say that there aren't any obvious parts disconnected etc. What about missing bushings? Someone mentioned that to me when I was discussing my problem.

james2ki

hmm im interested to see the replies on this one.
my car started having suspension problem right after i got the
aligment job done, my car have the same symptom as yours. my car
wiggles left and right on high way, feels like i have no control over my car at high speed. specialy right after i run over small or big bumps.
by anychance it started after the aligment job?

robert112

I can't answer this but as for question 2) 'can misalignment create this sensation'

in short, hell yes.

if you have excessive toe out on your rear tyres you wouldn't believe how dangerous the car would feel switching weight distribution side to side. every turn of the wheel makes the car feel like its about to spin out (which it is)

good luck on this one

superjimbo

Thanks for the replies, everyone. I'm very curious to figure out what's going on.

The alignment felt nice when I first got it, but perhaps it has gotten wacked out of alignment since then. It HAS been a year which is a decent amount of time.

I'll probably get the car realigned just to see if that fixes the problem, but in case it doesn't, any suggestions as to what else may be the problem? If it's not an alignment problem, but a mechanical one (ie. the body shop that fixed my car didn't properly put my car back together or a suspension component like a bushing is missing) what could it be? I don't know that much about suspensions so I don't even know where to start.

TugaS2k

Same problem here please help!!

RED MX5

I'd get the car on an alignment rack and while it was there I'd inspect everything thoroughly. A good alignment man is likely to be able to find the problem even if it's not alignment related. If a trip to your alignment shop doesn't turn anything up let us know.

Oh yea, be sure to get before and after alignment printouts if possible.

RED MX5

Yea. If it was an AP1 people would be screaming about bump steer.

TugaS2k

I have this for along time now... i already did several alignments, it started with the OEM wheels and it maintains with the CE28N's, also with stock coils and with bilstein PSS9 ones... looking under the car, every place that i go to check the problem everybody tell me that its all ok... the strangest part is that my wife's car an Mercedes class C does the same thing... my guess is the "bumps" for reducing speed near my place. I just don't figure out what to fix!! I'm getting mad with this!

Thanks for the help