Hi all, out for a bank hol blast in the buggy yesterday and had a pretty alarming experience that I have not experienced before and wondered if anyone here has had similar. Was going at about 35mph down hill into mevagissey in cornwall whenn sunddenly the buggy started bouncing up and down,banging and juddering, my first thought was a puncture or worse a wheel bearing broke up. I can describe it also as if the wheels , not sure if front or back were oval instead of round as the whole buggy was violently going up and down what felt like several inches. I pulled over expecting to find something big broken, my wife said it was the white painted sharks teeth on the road and slow sign. I hadnt taken any notice as the buggy has always handles stuff pretty well, although the steering can be squirrely on rougher roads and does not self centre very well. I had  ditched the steering stabiliser bar as advised on here during the build. These white road markins were much more prominent thean normal painted ones. The buggy drove perfectly again after this. Was I experiencing the Bump steer I have read about or do I need a geometry check.any advice welcome. Thank you guys.

unless the suspension is really soft evenly spaced repetitive lumps will cause problems, the damper is there to reduce steering kick caused by 15" wheels.
Not self centring  is lack of castor angle or something is a bit tight like a ball joint.

With beetle front end I wouldn't of thought you'd get bump steer on the left hand wheel, on the right maybe due to how short the steering rod is, the lower you go with the front the more your going to get bump steer. Bump steer makes the car change direction violently. Bump steer is easy to check block car at height between full compression and full droop remove dampers and bit more difficult with beetle you have to remove torsion springs then reassemble without them.
Trolley jack under bottom arm now jack up from ride height or lower from ride height and measure distance from front or rear of rim with DTI gauge if it's really bad you will see it, nearly all cars have some bump steer I've seen as much as 22mm.
Drive car down a country lane and hit the brakes fairly hard if it tries to throw you into the hedge you have bump steer

Quote from: snoopy on September 01, 2020, 09:10:11 PM
unless the suspension is really soft evenly spaced repetitive lumps will cause problems, the damper is there to reduce steering kick caused by 15" wheels.
Not self centring  is lack of castor angle or something is a bit tight like a ball joint.

thanks snoopy:my new meyle ball joints were very stiff when they were fitted. ,

Quote from: snoopy on September 01, 2020, 09:10:11 PM
unless the suspension is really soft evenly spaced repetitive lumps will cause problems, the damper is there to reduce steering kick caused by 15" wheels.
Not self centring  is lack of castor angle or something is a bit tight like a ball joint.

Quote from: Speedy on September 01, 2020, 09:38:24 PM
With beetle front end I wouldn't of thought you'd get bump steer on the left hand wheel, on the right maybe due to how short the steering rod is, the lower you go with the front the more your going to get bump steer. Bump steer makes the car change direction violently. Bump steer is easy to check block car at height between full compression and full droop remove dampers and bit more difficult with beetle you have to remove torsion springs then reassemble without them.
Trolley jack under bottom arm now jack up from ride height or lower from ride height and measure distance from front or rear of rim with DTI gauge if it's really bad you will see it, nearly all cars have some bump steer I've seen as much as 22mm.
Drive car down a country lane and hit the brakes fairly hard if it tries to throw you into the hedge you have bump steer

hmm prob not b steer then, as brakes straight and handles pretty well apart from stiff steering, will look at it again. Thank you all

That road down into Mevagissey can feel a bit "lively" at times, especially in a lightweight Buggy (worse in wet weather) there is also another patch of road as you escape Mevagissey on the other side onto King Harry ferry that does the same as well.

If the problem also happens on other roads then fair enough, but I wouldn`t panic just from driving down there 

I shared a tip here a week or so ago re tight ball joints. With the arms off put a nut on the thread, put an adapter in your drill that'll take a 1/2" socket, slip a 19mm socket on it and 'run' the joints for a minute or two with your drill, it doesn't take much. It works s treat.

Quote from: Manxdavid on September 02, 2020, 06:52:03 PM
I shared a tip here a week or so ago re tight ball joints. With the arms off put a nut on the thread, put an adapter in your drill that'll take a 1/2" socket, slip a 19mm socket on it and 'run' the joints for a minute or two with your drill, it doesn't take much. It works s treat.

that sounds worth a go,👍 thanxmanx.😁