MG-Cars.net

Welcome to our resource for MG Car Information.

Recommendations

Parts

MG parts spares and accessories are available for MG T Series (TA, MG TB, MG TC, MG TD, MG TF), Magnette, MGA, Twin cam, MGB, MGBGT, MGC, MGC GT, MG Midget, Sprite and other MG models from British car spares company LBCarCo.

MG MGA - Steering

Hi,
I wonder if anyone can help on this please. My car is not self-centreing properly on the steering. The problem has been there for some time and seemed to start when I changed from cross ply tyres to radials. I now understand that this alters the castor angle which can't be adjusted. However as 99% of MGAs run on radials there must be something I can do. I have put some more oil in the steering rack (there seemed to be some in there anyway as it poured out when I loosened the fastening on the rubber gaiter). Now it makes a nice squelchy noise when I turn the steering back and forth. I have greased all the points on the suspension and the tie rod ball joints and nothing seems to be amiss there. I have uncoupled the universal joint on the steering column and it seems to be fine. I have introduced some toe-in on the front wheel alignment - it was parallel and I turned the tie rod one revolution in but not sure how much toe-in this equates to, will have it properly checked. i normally run tyre pressures at 30 back 28 front but have upped the front to 30 as well to see if it helped. Anyway after all that it does seem a bit better but not what I would call good. Trouble is I'm not sure how good I should expect it to be.

Cheers,
Phil P
P Parmenter

Phil, I presume that if you jack up the front of the car you can swing from lock to lock easily by turning one of the road wheels?
Lindsay Sampford

Just thought I'd say that with front wheels off the ground I can easily turn steering wheel round with one finger. Also can grip a front wheel and turn steering back and forth.
P Parmenter

You must have read my mind Phil! I posted about a second before you!
Lindsay Sampford

Hello Phil,

You are welcome to visit and compare steering characteristics, if that would help.There are a number of MGAs in North Kent.
Regards

David
D Townshend

>The problem has been there for some time and seemed to
>start when I changed from cross ply tyres to radials. I
>now understand that this alters the castor angle which
>can't be adjusted.

How would changing to radial tires alter the castor angle?
Del Rawlins

PP - Years ago I had this exact problem and solved it by fine tuning.You mention that you've put some toe in from parallel, was the parallel set up by a garage? I would suggest (my personal opinion only) that you keep introducing toe in until you find an improvement but keep an exact record of how much toe in you use so that you can go back if needs be. I found that too much toe in made the car a little 'jumpy' at high speed. It helps if you can use your own toe in measuring equipment (various forms) since you can then express the toe as degrees and avoid large adjustments either way. I found that without this I was loosing track of where I was -excuse the pun. The steering should be reasonable light and 30 psi should help but don't expect the degree of self centering you get from a modern car. I also think it would be helpful to take up Dt's offer of a trial run in his car.
J H Cole

David,
Thanks for the offer - it may be good to compare my car with another one. Shall I email you to make some arrangement?

Phil
P Parmenter

An MGA should have 0 toe. When was the last time the front end was rebuilt? Jack the car up and check for slop (looseness) in the front end. Changing from bias to radials should not cause this problem.
Cheers,
GTF
G T Foster

Your pressures are too high. I run mine at 27 all round. I have heard of some cars running at 25 all round.

Steve
Steve Gyles

Phil,

As you said it is the castor angle that causes the self centering action. While the castor cannot normally be adjusted, your car may have had some front end damage at some time in the life of the car.
The first thing to do is to check if it has the correct 4 degrees of castor (mga twin cam figure, I assume the pushrod car is the same).
See attachment.
The 4 degrees is plenty to make it self center.
If it is not correct an auto crash repair shop can alter it, they do it all the time in collision repairs. A bit of bending here and there.

Do not alter the toe-in from the factory figure of zero. All increasing the toe-in (or toe-out) will do is wear out your tyres and make the car handle badly.


Mick


M F Anderson

This thread was discussed between 01/09/2009 and 02/09/2009

MG MGA index

This thread is from the archive. The Live MG MGA BBS is active now.