J

jerry3

Member
My 98 P38 has terrible steering . It has the sport 20" alloys that probably don't help but it seems to follow every tramline in the road and is a right pain.
So was thinking about changing all the suspension bushes and maybe the track rod ends.
Looking at the Rimmer website they do a genuine bush kit for £180 ish or aftermarket for a lot cheaper.
Don't fancy polybush as I want to make the car factory fresh and comfortable.
It also has a coil conversion so that's another job.
What do people recommend for bushes and what other parts would you recommend changing (ball joints ect).
Cheers
 
The coils and the 20" rims will not help....the P38 even on 18" rims is very particular about tyres and pressures...if they are not cock-on they'll handle like a cow
 
Yeah I know but there must be a way of making it better so that what I was thinking about going through the car and replacing bushes etc so was wondering if it's better to fit the Range Rover ones or if the cheaper ones are just as good.
Cheers.
P.s putting it to work today towing our caravan
 
The P38 was not designed to be on coils or run on 20" rims, so there is no way of making it better without a redesign of the suspension system and geometry to accommodate the coils and rims of your choice.

Using OEM is always the best course in your instance as it may mask some of the 'issues' with coils and larger rims, an aftermarket set are 'acceptable' with the correct P38 suspension setup and rims, in your case, you may find aftermarket to be 'atrocious' with coils and 20" rims.
 
Several things can contribute to steering wander. Tracking, steering joint play, steering column joint wear, steering box not centred, axle location bushes worn or a combination of all these. Larger wheels and wrongly inflated or worn tyres will magnify the errors.
 
Bushes-wise I'd stick to OEM but a few have slipped polybushes in places.

Steering damper is cheap and quick. Radius arm bushes seem to fail regularly but can be a bit of a PITA.
 
1996 V8 148k standard wheels and tyres
I have recently changed all the front bushes to the 'Comfort polyurethane " from Island
I haven't changed the big ones on the rear radius arms yet.
She is now unsafe to drive I reckon, When I hit a pothole above 50 mph or just a wee dip in the road she shakes uncontrollably. Seems to set a resonant frequency as the shake gets worse and worse until its uncontrollable unless you slow to below 20 when she settles down again.
Would the mismatch between front and rear cause that?
 
That has horrible echos from somewhere. Was a thread called shake, rattle and roll or similar?
 
Oakey, with all due respect you should start your own thread, that way you can receive help without hijacking and distorting this one.:)
 
i have the 19 inch sport wheels on my P38 (as seen in the pic) i run tyre pressures at 28 all round and get even wear across all tyre faces and i often tow 2.5 tonnes (also make sure alignment is spot on) the Pirelli scorpions I just replaced lasted 6 years and 30k miles

there is some minor tramlining on poor roads but the p38 handling is horrible with incorrect tyre inflation
 
Last edited:
There should be more pressure in the rears to maintain a slight rotational difference front to rear.
 
You are right l322 and I apologise to Jerry
I started typing reply as a helpful comment then got carried away
 
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