Technical Oversteer 500F

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Technical Oversteer 500F

Brinky

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Dec 2, 2011
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Hi,
Recently purchased a very nice 500F. It is ftted with 125/12R tyres. I note that it oversteers quite badly.
Even a moderate change of direction will cause oversteer. Is this a 500 aft centre of gravity thing with standard tyres/rims and rear camber or should I look further.
Thanks in advance.
 
Hi and welcome to the forum!
A Standard 500 on Radial tyres should be pretty hard to slide in the dry- reasonably possible in the wet if you press on.
My 500 runs a 650CC 126 engine and 125/12 tyres and it is almost impossible to slide in the dry under power.
The rear suspension design however will "Jack up" the rear swing axles at the rear if you back off the "power" (ok accelerator) in the middle of the corner which can cause some unusual roll oversteer characteristics.
Make sure your tyre pressures are correct- tyre pressures quoted are for crossplies- on Radials I tend to run them aroun 18psi front/28psi rear and also check to see how old the tyres are- it is possible you may well have 25yr old tyres on the car which still have tread but no grip!
The other thing to check is the condition of the rear shock absorbers- these need to be in good condition- Konis make a big difference here- when I purchased my 500 it had some very alarming handling characteristics due to a so called 500 'expert' fitting front shock absorbers in the rear which are much longer and caused the rear swing arms to 'tuck under' and lethal roll oversteer- correct shocks made a big difference to safety.
If you get a chance - get an experienced 500 driver to take it out for you and try it out- you might even find a member on here who is close by!
 
Thanks for the tip on the shocks. They are new all around. I shall check the length/part number. The rear wheels are toeing out. I see that the manual calls for a small amount of toe in but I am unable to achieve this as the elongations at the front of the lower control arm are too small.
 
Thanks for the tip on the shocks. They are new all around. I shall check the length/part number. The rear wheels are toeing out. I see that the manual calls for a small amount of toe in but I am unable to achieve this as the elongations at the front of the lower control arm are too small.
m8 would you have the wheel alignment specs by any chance-cheers choppa
 
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