anybody know exactly what the bump steer kits fix?

montgomeryjl

New Member
Jun 12, 2011
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tennessee
my 95 gt is extremely low and the steering is anything but predictable! it seems to have a mind of it own. i installed the c/c plates from BBK and that made a huge difference but i still have to fight it all the time even after an alignment. it feels like the front end is floating (hydroplaning may be a better choice of words). after the c/c plates the alignment is WAY better but the camber is still out enuogh to see. Any advise would be great.
 
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The bump steer kit is to keep the car from making erratic steering changes when the suspension articulates. Essentially, it keeps the car from jumping left or right when you go over a bump. I have one in my car, and it made a slight difference. I guess it depends on how far off it is, or how low your car is.

Kurt
 
Straight from maximum motospsorts site:
Bumpsteer is a term for the situation where the front toe changes as the suspension moves up and down. If the toe changes more than a very small amount it will cause the car to change direction, making the car unstable and unpredictable.

MM Bumpsteer Kits : Maximum Motorsports, the Latemodel Mustang Performance Suspension Leader!

In other words as the wheels travels up and down in its suspension travel the tie rod will cause one wheel to turn more than the other resulting a unwanted change in direction. The main cause for this is large amounts of positive caster and lowering of the car. Since the car uses a single a arm and strut setup as the wheel moves it will actually start to lose camber on a lowered, non-relocated lower control arm car and the tie rod will tend to be at an angle and will pull/push the wheel in an unintended direction.
 
They are actually a little time consuming to install. You have to shim each side to make the tie rod link parallel to the control arm. Of course you can only see if it's parallel if you have a roll on lift, or you keep lowering the car back down and looking underneath.

Kurt
 
I just did a 5lug swap on my wifes notch and planned to get one untill I read this from MM's site

•1994-95 spindle on a Fox chassis will change the vertical location of the steering arm by only 0.060" (1.4mm). Assuming that the suspension geometry is otherwise unaltered, this will not cause a significant enough change in bumpsteer to require a bumpsteer kit for a typical street-driven Mustang. Correcting bumpsteer is recommended for any Mustang driven in competition.


Large front tires like to follow road ruts which I hate also....
 
I have 265's on front now and they track ruts fairly well. Not as bad as the 275's I used to have up front...those were horrible.

I added 03 cobra lower control arms at the same time as the narrower tire and it helped a lot. The roads around me suck that are major roads (some of the worst in the nation). I thought about a bump steer setup but I am only running bullitt springs.
 
I just did a 5lug swap on my wifes notch and planned to get one untill I read this from MM's site

•1994-95 spindle on a Fox chassis will change the vertical location of the steering arm by only 0.060" (1.4mm). Assuming that the suspension geometry is otherwise unaltered, this will not cause a significant enough change in bumpsteer to require a bumpsteer kit for a typical street-driven Mustang. Correcting bumpsteer is recommended for any Mustang driven in competition.

Large front tires like to follow road ruts which I hate also....

I probably wouldn't have bothered on my SN, but my outer tie rod ends were shot, and the bumpsteer kit makes it so easy to make toe adjustments.

Kurt
 
my 95 gt is extremely low and the steering is anything but predictable! it seems to have a mind of it own. i installed the c/c plates from BBK and that made a huge difference but i still have to fight it all the time even after an alignment. it feels like the front end is floating (hydroplaning may be a better choice of words). after the c/c plates the alignment is WAY better but the camber is still out enuogh to see. Any advise would be great.

Did you get a printout from your alignment? What specs did they align to? Factory alignment specs on a lowered car may be causing your problem. If camber is out enough to see, I think you've got issues with alignment, not with bump steer.

My MM c/c kit came with different alignment specs. I make the alignment tech align to those specs, and give me a printout. I've got pretty deep dishes on the front, along with a pretty low car. The right alignment makes the difference, IMHO. I wouldn't put on a bumpsteer kit unless you know that's your problem, which it sounds to me like it's not. You describe "hydroplaning", bumpsteer feels exactly like it sounds--car tries to change direction when you hit bumps.
 
my 95 gt is extremely low and the steering is anything but predictable! it seems to have a mind of it own. i installed the c/c plates from BBK and that made a huge difference but i still have to fight it all the time even after an alignment. it feels like the front end is floating (hydroplaning may be a better choice of words). after the c/c plates the alignment is WAY better but the camber is still out enuogh to see. Any advise would be great.

In a word 'tramlining'. Often accentuated by wide unidirectional front tires that want to follow the ruts in the road.
 
bump steer kit?

after i dropped my 95 gts. then bought caster camber plates. i took it in to get it aligned. the shop did it without using the kit. that was last year. after 5000 miles there is hardly any ware on my 275 nittos. i have 274/40/17 up front and 315/35/17 on the rear.it handles perfectly.it gets raced at road america.