Loose rear end handling !

[pentoman]

Hi,

I've always found the handling of the 190E quite good, on the longer sweeping bends I frequent.
I recently found some good twisties in my area, pretty sharp switchbacks etc, around 30 mph turns (near the limit), which I could really push around. When I did, I found it showed its weakness more than on quicker corners - body was not uncontrolled, but you could feel the weight, and a fair amount of roll.

Most alarmingly though, was a lot of rear-end movement.. it could be called throttle adjustability, and there is plenty of that, but I think it was beyond that - the slightest adjustment of throttle seemed to have the rear of the car pitching on its suspension. It never lost grip at the rear, but still was not tied down well. I wouldn't like to have to back off, or worse, brake mid-corner when near the limit.

There's loads of grip, and it's handling's better than it was, due to fitting of the 15 " alloys from the 16v and new 205/55 Goodyear Eagle NCT3s. The car's an '86 2.0E, possibly the lightest of the 190s, so I don't think an excess of weight is the problem..
It's only done 70,000 miles (in the city, and UK city roads are billiard-table smooth compared to some in the US!), and suspension and ride are otherwise perfect (no knocks, damping good).

Is a 190 ever benign at the limit, or can I expect this slightly worrying behaviour? What may fix it?


thanks

Russ

[per eriksson]

check your thrustarms and tie-rods.
They are items 3 and 5 in the picture.
Common items of failure.

[pentoman]

Excellent, thanks, will do!

How do people with later models, 16v's and Sportline's, who've had the chance to explore the cars' behaviour near the limit find the rear of the car behaves?


Russ