Car feels unstable at high speeds

hi all,

I think i've got a problem with my K11...

When I'm doing anything over about 60mph, sometimes my car feels like its being blown about in high winds, a bit like it feels when you overtake a big lorry on the motorway on a windy day if you get me. Also when I'm going round some sharp corners at lower speeds the car just doesn't feel stable like it used to.

I wonder if anyone might know what's wrong with it?
 

scottish-sr

Ex. Club Member
Probably just the shape of the car that causes it to be blown about in the wind, the K11 isn't the most aerodynamic.

Maybe something to do with bushes being perished that could be causing the car to roll more.
 
scottish-sr said:
Probably just the shape of the car that causes it to be blown about in the wind, the K11 isn't the most aerodynamic.

Maybe something to do with bushes being perished that could be causing the car to roll more.

its only just started to feel like this though sr, I used to come back from Cheltenham at a steady 90 and it'd feel rock solid. I get worried going over 60 now!
 

scottish-sr

Ex. Club Member
Hmm, could be something as simple as tyre pressures. Make sure they are checked and fine. Think its 30PSI front, 28 Rear.

Wheels might be out of balance aswell.
 

NeX

You're after my robot bee
Club Member
yea check the tracking and anti rollbars and that the wheels are at equal pressure.

mine starts to wobble at 117mph :p
 
NeX said:
yea check the tracking and anti rollbars and that the wheels are at equal pressure.

mine starts to wobble at 117mph :p

whats the anti rollbar?

got a picture please?

I'll go to my tyre place and ask about the tracking. I think my back right tyre is losing air through the rim or something tbh, as its always dead low pressure when I come to check.
 

Type-R

Ex. Club Member
as cg13's are limited to 112mph i fail to see how you pulled out 117mph, unless you are talking about the 1.6 micra you have.
 

NeX

You're after my robot bee
Club Member
Type-R said:
as cg13's are limited to 112mph i fail to see how you pulled out 117mph, unless you are talking about the 1.6 micra you have.

nope this is the 1.3 and ask Detox cos he was in the car too lol we nearly hit a ford KA when it pulled infront of us :) the 1.6 does 140 :D:D:D

i got a pic on my phone but its too blury. i've done 120 down hill with a tail wind :D oh and its a stock engine apart from the induction kit :D



the anti roll bar is a bit of metal attached to the rear axel and the front swing arms, if it's buckled like mine was when a motorcyle hit it then the car drifts. sorry i don't have a pic... just take it to a nissan garage and say its drifting :)
 

NeX

You're after my robot bee
Club Member
detox said:
117 is 100% true....but the car was not just wobbling but shaking (thourt it was just about to fall apart)

lol it wasn't that bad hehe
 

Layla

Deactivated Account
1lt dont have anti roll bars as far as i remember. cuz i recall it being a big issue with my last k11 after the 1.3 transplant
 

Alienfish360

Awesome Dawson
Layla said:
1lt dont have anti roll bars as far as i remember. cuz i recall it being a big issue with my last k11 after the 1.3 transplant

the one I have at the moment has none my old 1.0L had anti roll bars

5ilver Micra said:
maby sports cars dont because the suspension is stiff and theres not gonna be any body roll anyway?

The Micra is a sports car?

Also have you had your wheels balanced?
 

ollie240585

Ex. Club Member
WHeels balancing
Tyre pressure
Uneven tread on tyres
Long shot - shocks/springs
Worn wishbones

Appologies if these have been mentioned above - 2 much 2 read n i'm half asleep
 
The micra's rear suspension setup is a budget setup. It doesnt need a rear swaybar/antiroll bar. However thats not saying that adding one doesn't help handling performance or high speed stability!
 

JayY

Owner of The Black Beauty
Yom said:
The micra's rear suspension setup is a budget setup. It doesnt need a rear swaybar/antiroll bar. However thats not saying that adding one doesn't help handling performance or high speed stability!

I think it does need one, as the suspension is a budget set-up. NeX is that speed through your speedo? If so, its probably wrong, my speedo can get up to 10 mph out when it reaches high speed, its normally out by about 5mph at normal speeds. I found this out through my Sat Nav. I tested it in my dads 3-series and it was bang on...
 
Its definately not *required*. Nissan identified this with the lower models by using stiffer springs instead of adding a swaybar. N15 almera/pulsar also have a similar rear beam setup (just instead of a panhard rod they use an auto-adjusting linkage, i think its called a Watts linkage?) and nissan just whacked some stiffer springs into them instead of putting a swaybar on them. Cheaper to make! The latest C11 Tiida is the same arrangement. So was the N16.
 
ollie240585 said:
WHeels balancing
Tyre pressure
Uneven tread on tyres
Long shot - shocks/springs
Worn wishbones

Appologies if these have been mentioned above - 2 much 2 read n i'm half asleep

cheers, no that's very useful thanks a lot.
 

wilsonian

Ex. Club Member
Also check for tyer bulges - i had one on my old 1ltr which gave me hell at 60+ - after seeing it and slapping the spare on it went a treat.

Also the pre-96 1ltr models of the micra didn't have a roll bar on them.
 

NeX

You're after my robot bee
Club Member
JayY said:
I think it does need one, as the suspension is a budget set-up. NeX is that speed through your speedo? If so, its probably wrong, my speedo can get up to 10 mph out when it reaches high speed, its normally out by about 5mph at normal speeds. I found this out through my Sat Nav. I tested it in my dads 3-series and it was bang on...

the 1.3 was through the GPS and the speedo was 3 miles slow roughly and the 1.6 is 10 miles out!! maybe the Gx has a better engine :p
 

wilsonian

Ex. Club Member
just noticed something here.....

Most people have reported speeds over the limit, now although I can't find it i'm sure the MSC does not condone any "speeding" topics lol
 

ollie240585

Ex. Club Member
wilsonian said:
just noticed something here.....

Most people have reported speeds over the limit, now although I can't find it i'm sure the MSC does not condone any "speeding" topics lol

Well one can only presume that these speeds were done on private tracks or in germany down the autobarns (probably spelt wrong)

Ich nein spreche sie desutsche !!!!
 

Raceworx

IM BRINGING SEXY BACK
sunny yours will have a jap limiter the same as the facelifts 112mph pre facelifts duno pete recons no speed limitor..

i remember a post from ages ago stating our drag coeficent *spelling was the same as a porker carrera 0.91 springs tomind for sum insane reason!! can someone make sense lol not a areodynamics specialist..

not all cars have anti rollbars! all sports cars have them!! shoping cars like ours tend not to cos there not designed to take corners flat out! we were lucky that nissan fitted a set but there not exactly special..

as for high speed stability sounds like the car was hit by some cross wind that all!! you werent passing a lorry or anything were you?? enviromental factors are what i would look at first before i think theres somthing wrong witrh the car.. 60mph isnt exactly high speed its normal motorway speed.
 

wilsonian

Ex. Club Member
Very true raceworx - the micra is a high light weight car so cross winds are really going to give u trouble. Best is if you can find a national speed limit road with lots of tree cover to break the wind and try it there - making sure u don't hit any pot holes etc.

Another thing you could do if you want to spend a tad of money is get your wheels re-balanced and the pressures correctly levelled. Also get the garage to check your tracking and make sure the steering rack isn't loose or has any rattles etc.
 

Type-R

Ex. Club Member
when i had a k10 about (5years ago o_O ) i managed to cut shorten and fibreglass a RGM calibra front splitter it looked pretty cool and top end kept me much more stable.

Front splitter will provide suffucient amount of downforce, or rear spoiler for downforce.
 

NeX

You're after my robot bee
Club Member
Type-R said:
when i had a k10 about (5years ago o_O ) i managed to cut shorten and fibreglass a RGM calibra front splitter it looked pretty cool and top end kept me much more stable.

Front splitter will provide suffucient amount of downforce, or rear spoiler for downforce.


i think that will be a last resort, a micra shouldn't need spoilers at 60...


lol all my speeding was done privitly and i in no way condone speeding on public roads ;) and i have two SP30's to prove it :p

do the wheel balencing anyway, it will save your tyres and a bit of petrol too ;)
 

NeX

You're after my robot bee
Club Member
Alienfish360 said:
Don't forget sat nav isn't totally accurate as it can only locate to within 10m


i think they come out closer than speedo's and i think the police use them to check your speedo is calibrated correctly ;)

but yep how acurate can you be from space!!! lol :)
 
R

runaway-robot

Guest
NeX said:
i think they come out closer than speedo's and i think the police use them to check your speedo is calibrated correctly ;)

but yep how acurate can you be from space!!! lol :)

lol very!

i checked mine, and my speedo was out by 1mph most the time :)
 

k11 kid

Ex. Club Member
my 51 plate 2002 micra has a rear anti roll bar , also gps cant be up to 5% out aswel so dont take it as more accurat than your speedo to far, gps (navigation) is mesured by cells the system doesnt really know how far in that cell you are so it guesses really, cant explain this to well as im in after a night out but yeh lol :p
 

NeX

You're after my robot bee
Club Member
runaway-robot said:
lol very!

i checked mine, and my speedo was out by 1mph most the time :)

that's not bad going,

i think the speedo gets more out of sync at higher speeds
 
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