aqua-planing type road handling issues-MU

[ellabella]

Hello all! Im new at this- just bought a 95 MU, love it to pieces! Have one issue though-it appears to have poor road handling-in particular in even mildly wet conditions it skims around on the road, steering wheel twists in my hands and the tail end has spun out on a very slow turn-gives me the willies! my mechanic said the shocks were ok, a reputable tyre place said the shocks were the problem! any suggestions? Basically the car feels very unsafe to drive in wet (dry not so bad)-driving across the harbour bridge is a death sentence.....any suggestions

[pig75]

sounds like bad shocks or tyres to me

[James W]

What tyres are you driving?
The standard 31"x10.5" AT's are quite wide for the size and weight of the vehicle and present quite a large and flat footprint.
Thus aqua planning is quite typical, that and generally less traction compared to any car. You will find in fresh rain after a dry spell you will notice greasy roads more than maybe you are used to. It's easy to get the back to flick out on roundabouts at whim when it's greasy. This is even worse on MT's on greasy wet roads with sometimes slippage and lockup all to easy.

The only thing I can suggest is get a wheel alignment done and check tyre inflation and wheel bearings.
Is there uneven wear patterns on any of the tyres? In particular the front ones. This would suggest bad wheel alignment. Mine got kocked out of aligment 4Wd'ing and white painted lines in the wet was enough for it to 'sidestep'

[justin]

Check your tyre pressures and tread depth too, James is right with the wheel alignment, I recently lifted my MU and driving it to get the wheels aligned in the wet was an experience I don't want to replicate. My MU is pretty good in the wet but its no sports car, if you just sold your Ferrari and changed over to the superior Isuzu be aware that it will be a little different ;D J

[ellabella]

Thank you everyone. My tyres are 245/70/16 Wrangler AP's-had moved the two evenly worn rear tyres re-fitted to the front and balanced/aligned which has not improved the performance. I was prepared for different handling to your average car-thats no worries, but i suspect this is something abnormal. At very slow speeds it has jelly like steering. It was a wise decision to sell the Ferrari, upgrading to a MU has done wonders for my street cred!!! I will investigate the bearings next (the tyres have a lot of thread they dont seem to be the problem). I wear myself out driving it in the wet-it honestly feels like there is no control. I have read other comments on US forums much to the same description, and a few have suggested shock replacement.

[Graham]

Hi there and welcome to 1995 MU owner ship (me too).

My MU was _OK_ in the wet, but it wasn't hard to loose traction. Rear seat passengers were constantly abused by bumps in the road passing straight through the shock to their posterior and spine so I replaced the rear shocks - very easy to do, even more so when you realise I'm a computer programmer with soft hands

It definitely improved handling of the rear end, although it's only slightly more comfortable to any rear passengers.

Also, ppl have said to check your tyre pressures, but what tyre pressure is correct? I've used about 36psi for my cars since I did an advanced driver training course and they recommended this. In fact they didn't let us do the course until we had that air pressure in the tyres.
Manufacturer recommendations are often around 26/27psi.

In the wet, the higher pressure helps a lot. It prevents the tread pattern from closing in on itself. By being kept open, the water channels are able to do a much better job at pumping the water out.

I had a Mitsubishi turbo ute a few years ago, and the first time I drove it in the wet, it was taking off from lights at a 45 degree angle. I bumped the pressure up from 28psi to 36psi and didn't get it sideways again.

Lastly, before I bought my MU I test drove a 96 model. It was so sloppy on the road that I didn't like it. My 95 MU handles much more like a car in that the steering doesn't wander too much and it's just much 'tighter' than the 96 one. Not as tight as our little sports car, but that's to be expected.

Hope this huge spiel helps some.
If you are at all concerned that 36psi might be too high, then check with your tyre expert or manufacturer if its safe to use or just give it a try and see if it cures your problem.

Cheers!
Graham.

[MattMU]

Mate, there are a few things that can make your car handle poorly in the wet. Most have been covered but its just a case of making sure the whole package is in good order.

Get under it and get someone to do a hard and fast rocking with the steering wheel. If there is any wear in the relay box, ball joints or steering box this will show it up.
They do wear the relay box after awile and then your rig will wander badly and would be more evident in the wet.

All the others are tyre pressures, 32-36 should be perfect with a 31 10R15 tyre, any less and your tyre will bulge upwards in the t then again, if you traded in from a Ferrari to a MU, you might just be over estimating the abilities in your vehicle in the wet!! Its 1800kgs on off raod tyres with a high centre of gravity, not ideal on any wet road!

But having said that, I have done 200000km in my MU and apart from numerous times hitting the loud pedal on exiting a roundabout and then enjoying a little opposite lock action, mine has never been anything but predictable in the wet.

Goodluck with the search and let us km\now how you go! The more info the easier it is to help!

Matt.

[ellabella]

hi all- I think I have gotten to the bottom of the issue (still to be mechanically checked this week)-seems that its a excessive amount of play in the steering box/rack- its over steering/steering too loose. Which is fine, a bit of adjustment and we're away! Appreciate all your inputs-and wish you all happy off-roading!!