handling feels very loose in corners

[johntl]

Ive just bought a 406 hdi 110 01y 70k , the handling on my previous 406 110 HDI was fine , very predictable grip and handled quite well, but this feels loose in the corners as though its going to let go if pushed even slightly, it does not inspire confidence at all!.
the car has just had new front springs by the look and the tyres are all vredestein hitrac on rear + osf and pacek ? on nsf. The rear springs seem to be fitted with uprating springs inside the normal spring ? ,

ANYBODY ANY IDEAS MUCH APPRECIATED

[Gary406]

springs inside the original springs
never heard of that before

have you checked all wheels for play ?

[Woody]

And bushes, and ball joints, even whare on tyres?

[poddack]

this happened to me this week until i pumped up my rear left tyre, a quick trip to mike knight tyres in avonmouth and £15 sorted out my slow puncture

[DRTDVL]

i had that, it turned out to be a loose anti-roll bar in the rear.

[johntl]

update:
just haqd the car tested , no problems, the car handling seems to be improved , could be new front springs setting in , but the car still seems to have the same handling caractoristics the best way I can describe it is when pushed in the corners it seems top heavy? ITS Wierd ANY SUGGESTIONS ?

[Gary406]

thats generally a 406 for you mate ..

there not the best of cars for hadling round corners, mine feels like what you say top heavy..

how hard are you actually putting it into a corner ?

[highlander]

Chuck in a strut brace from a Peugeot 406 Coupe V6. You can pick them up for anywhere between £15 and £40 used, but they make a big difference to how the saloons and estates feel round corners.

The only other thing you can do if the standard suspension parts are all OK is to buy stiffer suspension springs, I guess. The 406 is a big car, and that's not a carbon-fibre roof (a la BMW M3 CSL), so it's going to be heavy up there, and due to the soft suspension (designed for comfortable long-range cruising), will roll about a bit in corners.

The strut brace helped me, and is probably the cheapest and easiest (I fitted mine all by myself! ) upgrade for handling that you can throw on the car.

[Welly]

Just my 2p's worth here........at the moment the roads are very muddy for some reason, I'm not sure if it's national plough-the-fields week or something or whether ploughing was delayed by the freeze in December? I don't know, but what I do know is that the roads are incredibly greasy at the moment making your steering light and hardly any grip.

There's been 2 serious accidents on rural roads near me in the last two weeks and I've had one or two scares myself through lack of grip.

[Gary406]

rural area's are bad. people dont realize actually how bad roads can be.

[TRAVIS BICKLE]

my old d8 saloon handled like a touring car, well not quite but it was pretty awesome, it drove like a RWD car. It was all standard suspension with steel wheels. It was predictable when lifting off precise when turning it. I loved that car. Then i got an executive turbo estate which handles in the way you describe. I think everything needs replacing on mine to bring it somewhere near the old one.

[D9406]

The rear springs seem to be fitted with uprating springs inside the normal spring ? ,

Has the car been used as a tow car?

[jonb]

my old d8 saloon handled like a touring car, well not quite but it was pretty awesome, it drove like a RWD car. It was all standard suspension with steel wheels. It was predictable when lifting off precise when turning it. I loved that car. Then i got an executive turbo estate which handles in the way you describe. I think everything needs replacing on mine to bring it somewhere near the old one.

I've had a d8 and a d9, and both handled great. The d8 feels a bit smaller and nimbler than the d9 for some reason, but in higher-speed corners the 406 is almost as good as my Alfa (156). In the slower stuff I will usually get a lot of understeer if I go in a bit too fast.

[impster]

Holy thread resurection Batman!

Just found this thread, and my 406 handled like a pig until I got rid of cheap budget tyres called 'Event WL905' that were on it.

I got rid of them in pairs, firstly the front 2 were replaced with Pirelli p6000 (as fitted as standard from the factory), and that got rid of the understeer, but I was still left with chronic oversteer.

Now I've replaced the other 2 with all season tyres, and put the pirellis on the back.

Handling is transformed, seems to be a lot less body roll, and above all, safe to drive in the wet.

It seems that the 406 is far more sensitive to tyres than any other car I've owned.

[grasmere59]

A firm called MAD do a "spring in spring" conversion for the rear of 406's as an aid for towing,perhaps it has a set of these fitted which could upset the handling when running solo.