Skipping while turning.

[audiwop]

So I've searched till I'm blue in the face and can't find an answer that points me in the right direction.

2 weeks ago I installed 034 adjustable UCA's on my Rs4. The car has Ohlins Motorsport C/O that were just rebuilt less than 3k miles ago. Since the shock rebuild I have done two track days. One with stock UCA'S and the last with my new 034 UCA'S. The one other change I have made is track tires. I now have BFG G-Force R1 slicks. The car has the alignment specs where I wanted them and felt great on the the street before the last track-day. That's when it all went to shit.

At my track day (Chuckwalla Raceway) I was pushing the car hard. After my 2nd lap of the day, the car began to skip the front end really bad. It literally felt like the front outside tires were skipping across the pavement. It did it both through mid corner and corner exit when back hard on the gas. I played with different tire pressure and nothing worked. It did it all day and continues to do so now even with my normal street tires back on the car.

When I was hitting expansion joints on the freeway driving home from the track, the cars steering wheel literally felt like it wanted to jump all over the place. It felt like the car was skipping across the road with the tires leaving the ground.

I guess what I'm asking is has anyone experienced the same thing after an adjustable UCA install or any experienced in general with this issue? The car was not doing this before the UCA install.

On a side note the arms sound like someone is hitting the footwell with a rubber mallet on sharp bumps.

I'm going to check the shocks this week to see if they are blown again. But with less them 3k on them since rebuild, I would be surprised if they were.

Any and all advice is appreciated.

Thanks

[ven0m]

Why do you continue to drive the car without the issue being addressed? Driving around like that (worse even, on the track) with tyres and steering doing random things. That isn't really safe.

Which UCA's did you get, the rubber or the spherical?

To me this sounds like:
- your UCA's bolts went loose and vibrated themselves out of alignment
- the shocks as you said
- (long shot) wheel bearing when you put load on it

[jakeoboy67]

Why do you continue to drive the car without the issue being addressed? Driving around like that (worse even, on the track) with tyres and steering doing random things. That isn't really safe.

x2
please inspect your suspension ASAP
there has to be something wrong in there, based on what happened at the track

[audiwop]

Thanks for the feedback.

The reason I drove the car home from the track like I did and continued to do laps at the track was because I pulled the wheels off at the track and checked everything over. Every bolt was tight and torqued. That's what's tripping me out about this, nothing is visibly damaged or loose.

You guys could be right about the wheel bearing. It does sound like I am starting to get a bit of a howling sound from the right front.

Edit: forgot to answer. I have the spherical UCA

[ven0m]

I was asking because I also got the spherical UCA's recently. Haven't yet installed them. Now that the howling started, do your rims get hot due to the friction inside the bearing? (Drive it a bit, let it howl and after you stop, touch the rim)

No problem, just the way you wrote in the initial post it sounded like "you don't mind" the skipping and continued to drive. If you took the wheel off and checked everything that's another story, that shows a bit more responsibility from your side. :)

[Dirtracer603]

I once had the upper strut shaft nuts loosen up on where they secure to the rubber pillow block and the car would make a knock sound over certain bumps.

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[Velox]

Wow another thread where 034 upper control arms seem to give problems. Was about to buy them but going for meyle instead.

[ven0m]

Wow another thread where 034 upper control arms seem to give problems. Was about to buy them but going for meyle instead.

How about your read the thread discussion first and not state things out of the blue? Just a friendly suggestion.

[Velox]

How about your read the thread discussion first and not state things out of the blue? Just a friendly suggestion.

What do you mean? I've read the discussion, he has clunking control arm sounds after install of the 034 adjustables, excact same problem as as many others after in stalling those arms. Not to mention handling problems that could be related to those arms
what am I stating out of the blue?

[ven0m]

Just for the sake of it...

It literally felt like the front outside tires were skipping across the pavement.

I'm going to check the shocks this week to see if they are blown again.

You guys could be right about the wheel bearing. It does sound like I am starting to get a bit of a howling sound from the right front.

OP still hasn't isolated the problem. Multiple factors are possible. Crystal clear now?

[Dirtracer603]

I don't have a dog in the fight but it sure did look like an excuse to take a jab at 034.

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[audiwop]

Here's and update. I brought the car down to my shop on Friday and put the stock arms back on. While I was under there I loosened all the subframe bolts and re-torqued. I also noticed something else while I was under the car. One of the fittings that is coming from my power steering rack to the PSR cooler is leaking pretty bad and spitting fluid all over the driver shock. I don't think this would be causing the skipping effect because I was still getting wheel hop on the way home from the track in a straight line on freeway expansion joints.

The top nut on my strut is tight and I do have the 034 strut mount so no issues there.

When I drove the car back home from my shop, It still felt disconnected with some chatter even with the stock arms back on. I'm really starting to think the shocks are blown again, which pisses me off because I just had them done 3K ago. There is some residual fluid on the shaft and the car does feel like it has lost a lot of front end damping, so that is where I'm going to look next.

With regards to my thoughts on the 034 arms. Here is my take. I like that I was able to adjust the camber caster for a track setup. I ended up going with a -2.2 camber on front and 5degree caster. after I rebuild the C/O's again I'm going to run a -3.0 front camber and 4 degree caster setting + swap my front and rear springs to a heavier rates and make a valving change to the C/O on the slow speed rebound stack to better control the spring.

So far I would give the arms about a 7-10 rating. They are well built, use a good hardware and work as advertised. I don't think 034 can control the thuds that comes from using their arms. It's just a by-product of having adjustable heims. They are loud and translate every bump into the car, especially when the car is already lowered and running really stiff tires. The one change I am going to make is I plan on machining my own arms and just using the supplied Hardware from 034. I feel they can be about .25-.5 inches longer so more of the heims threads are in the arm. I own a company that builds off-road desert racing trucks and pre-runners, plus a full line of suspension systems for Ford Raptors, so I am a bit anal when it comes to how much thread is in an arm. I have personally seen trucks rip front ends off by not having enough threads into the arms and it ain't a fun ride when it does.

But, as a small business owner myself who lives and dies by what is said about my company on the Ford Raptor Forums, I don't want this thread to turn into a bashing on 034. I am totally happy with the product and their service and would highly recommend the UCA's (providing my coilovers possibly being blown or something else is the culprit of my skipping across the road) . I will say this, the turn in with the new alignment setting is unreal and finally makes the car have a neutral feeling vs. a plowing feeling like it normally does.

There has to be some cause and effect to whats going on, I just haven't had a chance to pin point it yet. Next up, C/O rebuild and go from there.

[Dirtracer603]

It sounds like you have very little, if any damping going on in your shocks, whether they are blown, low on oil, or due to valving issues. Your wheel would definitely pogo if your shock failed to control the compression and rebound forces of the suspension.

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[audiwop]

It sounds like you have very little, if any damping going on in your shocks, whether they are blown, low on oil, or due to valving issues. Your wheel would definitely pogo if your shock failed to control the compression and rebound forces of the suspension.

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I'm going to check shocks and steering rack bolts next. I had pm from someone who was having the exact same issue as I am and it turned out his steering rack bolts were a bit loose. Once he tightened them, the problem went away. If thats not it, then I think it has to be a blown shock. I know it's not valving because I haven't changed valving since I've owned the car and this a new occurrence.

thanks for the reply

[ven0m]

audiwop, ever thought about KW Clubsport? I'm going for those for my track setup of the car.

Regarding "bashing" on 034 don't worry; any normal reader on this forum sees that you just mention them as the latest change performed on the suspension and just searching for a probable cause. But you have people who like to take that as an excuse and just jump on the bashing band wagon. You can call it a witch-hunt.

[audiwop]

audiwop, ever thought about KW Clubsport? I'm going for those for my track setup of the car.

Regarding "bashing" on 034 don't worry; any normal reader on this forum sees that you just mention them as the latest change performed on the suspension and just searching for a probable cause. But you have people who like to take that as an excuse and just jump on the bashing band wagon. You can call it a witch-hunt.

I haven't looked at swapping them out yet. The car feels like it could use more spring rate and damping all the way around. When I get time I will post up some pics from my track day and you guys can see how much body roll it still has even with 750front/1200rear springs and 034 Sway-Bar in the rear. I really don't drive the car on the street that much anymore so I think I'm going to take a big swing at her and put 896front/1496rear with a big valving change. With as heavy as the Rs4 is, I need to get as much roll out of the car as possible on the track.

[ven0m]

Please do let us know about your detailed plan! :)

[FastEddie]

What do you mean? I've read the discussion, he has clunking control arm sounds after install of the 034 adjustables, excact same problem as as many others after in stalling those arms. Not to mention handling problems that could be related to those arms
what am I stating out of the blue?

WTF are you talking about. 034 makes outstanding products. Ive been running their UCA (adj) now for over 3 years with ZERO issues.