Handling - Floaty front end

Looking for a bit of advice here from those more used to going fast and doing track days than me. Recently got to open the car up on a private road, (C4 Cab Tip). Apart from the fact that I know the front gets lights under acceleration, much of the weight being at the rear, the front end did feel unduly light around 100 - 110, so much so that I back off down to 80ish rather than push it more. Also felt 'squirmy' (yes, sorry, not very technical) at high speed, round the bends, not planted in the way, say, my front wheel drive Golf GTi does when cornering at high speed. It basically didn't feel like it was going where I wanted it to. I've recently had the brakes changed and we had a good look at the suspension. Everything seems in order and the indy doesn't reckon the tracking is out. I'm open to opinions to see if this is just my driving, something else, or do I fork out for a full alignment check somewhere like 9M? Sorry if this is not too clear but I think some of you will know what I mean about the handling...it is quite alarming when you expect it to be planted and rocksolid at speed round a bend but it floats and wanders.

Never driven a cab, but it sounds like an aerodynamics issue to me? Have you perhaps got an additional rear spoiler, but maybe no front splitter / air-dam to compensate at the front end?

All I can offer up is to check you are running correct tyre pressures? Can make a big difference to overall feel. If an indy has looked into it then I am assuming this has been done.

This is exactly the same as my car. At 110mph it's all over the road, darting, wandering. I hate it. The car will not follow a line at all. I find I have to slow down where an Astra sails off into the distance...... Supposedly my alignment is a fast road setup but I'm not convinced its as good as it could be. So while I totally understand your experience, I can't offer a solution, or whether it is just how a Porsche would feel. The previous owner of mine said he never felt what I do so obviously I am more sensitive to it.

how much tread have you got on the front tyres? Ive found worn tyres increase tramlining and general unstability.

my 996 turbo coupe was like this, but as i have driven it i have found i have got used to it, i have relaxed my grip on the steering, and let her move around a wee bit, she seem to like that, however, i have a gt2 front end coming along with a misha gt2 rear spoiler (fixed wing) and that should give me a lot more down force!

Tim, I'd recommend getting a full geo done. Even without the aerokit, the standard aero with a correct geo will allow the car to feel planted and steady at speed. An aggressive track geo with lots of negative camber and [unsuitable] toe can make a car feel nervous and overly pointy at speed especially over heavily crowned/grooved roads. It would be worth getting the geo reset and seeing how it performs over the same roads.

Do 996s have the damper in the track rod end (like the 993)? Sounds a bit like the problem that I was having with my 993, but I always found that my 996 was extremely well planted and the steering became reassuringly heavy at speeds. With acknowledgements to Stella Artois.... :wink:

I'm looking forward to getting Sean in my car at Brands to tell me I'm not imagining the crap floating handling. JZ say the geo is fine so assuming I trust them in that regard then it's me. I'll let Sean be the judge if I'm mad. I mean it sort of makes sense to be light, with not that much weight over the front wheels and at speed the lift at the front would be worse but.....

Jeff, if you've thad a JZM Geo then it would be somewhat wandering at higher speed, if you're feeling brave ask for the Olaf setting and expect a bit of side ways action ! Ditto to that, I've got a very agressive Geo setting on my car and it does do straight lines but knew that anyway on a standard car it should be planted, probably aslo worth them checking the suspension just in case.

My GT3 felt so different after a Geo..

Double check your tyre pressures, I had 10psi less than i should in my front left and it made the car feel very loose and unstable. It was frightening, as soon as I topped it up it felt totally planted again.

I concur......tyre presure issue. Check the tyre guage is correct also.

Thanks for the advice guys - this is the state at the moment.. New tyres all round. No extra spoilers, 'bog' standard C4. Tyre pressures set and checked before I went out. Suspension check by the indy who reckons it's fine. So either my driving technique needs to change for 4WD or the geo needs doing. That's exactly how my car felt, like it was sliding down the sides of the road. Really be surprised though if geo made THAT much difference. Sure some wander or tramlining perhaps, but it pulls straight and the tyres are wearing evenly. Any thoughts?

They are sensitive to geo, and there is a setup and then there is a setup. Ie, to reduce the understeer typical in the car you tweak it, however the tweaks result in side effects. I'm going to get Centre of Gravity to do my car specifically for this issue and see if he can fix it and will let you know.