Bump steer????

[pyrojim]

I was thinking about putting an AlterKation in the 66 dart gt I'm working on, but, I'm not convinced that's the way to go for the money. I read a lot of threads and the term bump steer keeps coming up. Can someone explain to me what that is??
Thanks.
Jim

 

[Bad Sport]

If I'm not mistaken when the front of the car rises and falls, like traveling over a wavy road, it tends to make the front tires move inward slightly and returning, causing bump steer.

I believe there are some rod ends that can be had to limit or eliminate bump steer.

 

[SSVDP]

It is simply what it says, when you hit a bump the car turns,typically its noticeable but not severe. In a racecar at max cornering this could be really bad. I've noticed it on the early A-bodies I've had when turning at moderate speeds and when the rear tire hits a bump the back end turns a bit more (oversteer).

 

[moper]

As the suspension travels up and down the toe is affected. If the ride hieght and rack position isn't right, the toe can move enough to make the car feel like it's trying to steer itself. The "bump" "steers" the car off the line you are trying to dirve. Hence the term. GMs suffer a lot from it. IIRC so long as your tie rods and rack are close to parallel to the lower control arms at ride height you're ok.

 

[inkjunkie]

Have you looked into Hemi Dennys front end?? I just sent him a check for one.....

 

[autoxcuda]

The AlterKation front ends are designed and checked for bump steer. I would not worry about that. He has had the tools and design software to figure that out long ago.

The bump steer term is almost allways over used and mis used. Most of the times it's just bad suspension pieces, bad alignment, or something that's broken or bent.

Here's someone (myself) actually checking bump steer with the proper equipment. Bumpsteer is rarely 100% perfect to the 1/32" in all 6" of travel from 3" compression and 3" rebound. Even on our circle track cars.

This bumped a little bit more than 1/32" at a full 3" of compression. That's in the "don't mess with it range". On rebound, I'm a little less than 1/8". That might be a concern for a drag racer that gets the front of his car to raise 3" on takoff, but with my stiff suspension on the street if I'm at 3" of extension the tire has virtually no load on the ground and I'm in some "situation" in which bump steer is my last concern.

 

[pyrojim]

Have you looked into Hemi Dennys front end?? I just sent him a check for one.....

I did, he has nothing for early a bodies until the beginning if the year. The problem with the rms, it adds approximately 5/8" to the width. I bought thus as a basket case, it has ssbc discs on the front, and American racing wheels already with it. The breaks for sure have to be changed, and maybe the wheels because I only have 3 3/4" back space. So long story short, don't want to replace $2k in wheels, tires and breaks

 

[Abodybomber]

Auto X nailed it."How to make your car handle", is a older book. Still has great info. Check it out.