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How Do You Find Your Is200


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Im back on to the subject of handling again, i have to be honest this car is really starting to annoy me the more i drive it. I was in my mates standard vectra the other day and can honestly say it feels much more in touch with the road than my car does and i cant work out why...

-40mm springs, cusco ARB's, 225/45/17 on the back and 215/45/17 on the front, also has been set to WIM specs which Tony confirmed in private messages was a good job.

I find at lower speeds the car is absolutely fine, but coming up for 80mph or anything over the car seems to be all over the place. We have pretty terrible roads around this area and i live out towards the country so i have the sort of roads that fit the surroundings. It just seems, well, actually quite dodgy to be honest - i cant say i feel particularly safe in it anyway...

Passed the MOT only January so all the ball joints must be ok, no funny knocking noises or anything just incredibally poor handling at higher speeds. It almost feels as if at around 80 someone has lifted the car off the ground a few feet and taken all the air out of my front tyres (if you can accept my explanation) I feel as if the front of the car isnt connected to the back, if you can understand what i mean - it seems like the front of the car turns, then the back follows a bit later, its so hard to describe what i mean...

Anybody else have anything similar...? Any suggestions...? Im scared!

My final results from my alignment are below:

gallery_320_510_21859.jpg

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I'd say the shocks too matey, when i fitted springs to mine it used to bounce quite a bit on the front and felt terrible and very unsafe, but was fine with the standard springs fitted :unsure: fitted my springs when the shocks were 7-8 years old and 75k miles approx? but got coilovers fitted now and at any speed it feels great :)

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I'd say the shocks too matey, when i fitted springs to mine it used to bounce quite a bit on the front and felt terrible and very unsafe, but was fine with the standard springs fitted :unsure: fitted my springs when the shocks were 7-8 years old and 75k miles approx? but got coilovers fitted now and at any speed it feels great :)

I see, i've done the same then - it was last year that i stuck the springs on... I swear im trying to save for coilovers, just keep getting swayed away...

What coilovers do you have? I had KW on my old car and they were the nuts but i havent got that sort of money these days...

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What make of springs do you use? TBH at 80 mph i wouldn't do any sudden turnings anyway, just straight, so not really tested my is200. but i have to admit the lexus does put the jibbies on me when at those speeds, but then i don't have a spoiler...maybe that will make a difference once you start going at speeds above 70?

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I'd say the shocks too matey, when i fitted springs to mine it used to bounce quite a bit on the front and felt terrible and very unsafe, but was fine with the standard springs fitted :unsure: fitted my springs when the shocks were 7-8 years old? but got coilovers fitted now and at any speed it feels great :)

I see, i've done the same then - it was last year that i stuck the springs on... I swear im trying to save for coilovers, just keep getting swayed away...

What coilovers do you have? I had KW on my old car and they were the nuts but i havent got that sort of money these days...

I've got the TTE Coilovers and TTE arbs on mine mate, i posted up about the problem on mine a bit back, and as soon as i swapped the shocks the car was fine again :) Bit annoying when you've fitted the lower springs to the old shocks and it does what it does, as on the oem springs it feels fine? :huh:

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Yeah im 88k now and the shocks do feel a bit bouncy but nothing like this has been...

The car went into the garage today and they checked all the ball joints, ARB's and anything steering related and could find nothing - the mechanic test drove it and said how bad it felt, almost as if the car was articulated...

Users may have seen my post about the rear end stepping out all the time? Well the Dunlop's that i was on were pretty worn and getting old so i went for some federals... I know its a cheap tyre but i've used them on my old 406 sri turbo, my uncles had them on his prelude and my other uncle on his merc 230 kompressor which none of us had a single problem with...

Oh how they messed up the handling on the IS200... I have a set of 16" wheels spare so i switched just the rears over, with the old bridgestone turanza or turenza...? tyres and its gone back to normal!

I never took into consideration that it could of been my tyres that i just had put on - i didnt notice this for a few days because i hadnt been anywhere to get up to the speed where it started to feel bad - and well, i've never had an issue like this with tyres.

Is it because i put 225 on the back instead of the original 215? or just because they are wrong for the car...?

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My car is on 61k, it's completely standard, but with WIM alignment, and Vredestien tyres at 38psi (they recommend it for the IS200 and it does work well), it's rock solid at any speed now, even at 100+ on the one occasion I've had chance to try it - on a private road of course :)

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