Quick background of story: I have been chasing excellent handling for this car over a long time and in the quest for this I have gone through three combo's coilover wise as I felt all of them just didnt handle Sydney roads well enough. 1st in - Ohlins - found to harsh and car rattled 2nd Bilsteins - Good but a little harsh and car rattled 3rd - Zeals came up at a steal, had to have them so sold the billes. Still have these in however found the car skittish and a little unstable over bumps, car rattled + I was always reluctant to push hard through bumpy corners as it felt like it would come off at speed. 4th - Bought a set of GTR billy coilovers that are sitting at home and were about to be sent for a revalve by Baker bro's in Vic. Now to what happened today, car went to UAS for a new aluminium 1piece driveshaft and solid diff bush on the front of the diff (BTW these are awesome, no vibrations, no noise.. i love them, maybe putting them in the back of the diff makes all the problems, however the ones I replaced are a easy and worthwhile mod) Result, car handles and feels completely different. No longer feeling vague over bumps or unsettled, planted, no more rattles inside.....um why have rattles dissapeared handeling is quite amazing atm actually...my mate turned to me and said WTF did they do to your car Now the question is why would a driveshaft change and solid diff bushes change things so much... especially the rattles and the car feels far less harsh and more compliant. Would a screwed driveshaft cause so many probs or maybe old diff bushes? Anyways it seems my time and $$$ spent on different coilover combo's has been a waste and not where the issue was. Any help to explain this?? Thanks again Ben & John @ UAS solid job. Happy customer
Did you have a 2pc shaft? If so was the center bearing in good condition ? If not I'd say there is a good part of your question answered worn bushings would also leave a ride like you described earlier
Disregard my previous post I misread what you wrote. In short if there was play in the bushes then yes that would have lead to the car feeling sloppy.
Yes it was a 2 piece and yes the centre bearing was ripped in 2..... No the subframe was not rebushed. What I am keen to understand is can a shit driveshaft really impact handeling that much??
Not so much handling but the vibration can be nasty. If the bushes were so sloppy then best do the subframe bushes as well (twenty plus yrs)? JC
nope, not touching it now..... might get the locking rings as Ben suggested for Subframe but things are very nice now... really keen to get to bottom of this though. There does not seem to be a solid explanation for it yet....
It must really sting in the wallet that it cost so much and took so long to get your car where it is now. I hope you can just enjoy her and not spin your brain around too much. Be grateful for the apparent miracle and belief in a Zed God (even if he took his sweet time to help you). Good on you for posting and potentially letting others find clues that might help their own situations.
Sometimes sound, rattles, or vibration can send us hunting in the wrong direction. Crapped out centre bearings and rear bushes can cause vibrations and rattles leading us to chase the wrong area. Exibit; I had a trans tunnel banging/vibration when tramping it in first gear and suspected a broken rear gearbox mount. Turns out it was an exhaust pipe mount out of place. Nothing related to the driveline. Similar problem you had, the handling sent you chasing suspension components yet the sloppyness was the diff bushes and rattles ws related to the centre bearing. As Rob said you replaced to worn out parts and now your car feels so much better for it. Both John and Ben know these cars extreemly well and that is an asset to the Zed community.
I also noticed an immediate and very tangible difference in nimbleness off the line, and in quick on/off-throttle situations when I went from the stock 2-piece driveshaft to the 1-piece aluminium one as well. I don't think it actually affects handling per say, but it does help you feel more connected to the engine and in that sense I suppose gives you a better indication of when to push and when to back off... thus providing that sense of improved handling? Can't think of any other reason aside from maybe weight savings through shaving 20kg off from swapping shafts. As for rattles & vibrations, that's a massive can of worms. Unless we know exactly what kind of rattles and where from, anything commented on this is most likely speculative. For instance, you didn't specify if rattles seemed internal, or external, at the front of car, or the rear, seemingly interior pieces rattling, or vibrations (again, location, location, location...), whilst moving, or at idle, consistent to specific RPM range, etc. Cheers, Emile
