Steering in the honda jazz

pog it

Just wondering if anyone has any experience of steering in the honda jazz?

I'm finding that mine is prone to understeering. It's hard to take bends even when I am positioning myself for the bend in what should be a sufficient way.
I am forced to take bends more slowly and it's really frustrating on bad roads.

Is this down to my own driving style at all, or is it something to do with the car?

colm_mcm

What tyres are on the car?

kerten

I drove a 2003 jazz after putting new michelin tyres(175/65/14) on front axle.

I found it quite capable of taking bends with its stiff suspension.

coolisin

colm_mcm wrote: »

What tyres are on the car?

This ^^^

I bet you have being either 1 fooled by a tyre garage into paying more for a brand of of tyre you shouldn't put on a child's toy.

Or you 2 bought cheaper tyres thinking they perform the same as expensive ones.

Don't mean to be a d1ck, but some of the tyre brands that are sold are lethal, terrible grip on wet roads.

This is speaking from experience of a cheap set of tyres.

650Ginge

Yes if you have some Chinese tyres then you are likely to have lethal levels of grip.

wildefalcon

650Ginge wrote: »

Yes if you have some Chinese tyres then you are likely to have lethal levels of grip.

I learned this the hard way, new bonnet and wing.

Best description - ditch finders.

Only top brands from now on - Uniroyal, Michelin, Goodyear, Kuhmo (sp?), Avon, etc.

Too much of a risk for €50.

OP - please let us know the brand of your tyre.

Also, check (and double check elsewhere) your tyre pressure!

pog it

Great, thanks all, I'll check the brand of tyres.

I never believed that cheaper tyres are the same quality as expensive ones and I normally go for a mid range tyre, but I changed the back tyres in the UK about 9 months ago and I think they were a no name brand. They were cheap but I thought that tyres were just cheaper in the UK like most things are.

That might be the reason.

The pressure is good on all of them, maybe the front need more pressure if anything, would that make a difference for bends?

colm_mcm

Understeer suggest its the front wheels causing the problem.

Oversteer is when the back steps out.

Greyfoot

^^
This.

The car might just not meet your expectations, matching your driving style. Never driven a Jazz myself, but sure, most small fwd cars will understeer if handled harshly to a certain level, but surprisingly Honda did make the" unofficial" best handling fwd out there

JohnBoy26

Greyfoot wrote: »

^^
This.

The car might just not meet your expectations, matching your driving style. Never driven a Jazz myself, but sure, most small fwd cars will understeer if handled harshly to a certain level, but surprisingly Honda did make the" unofficial" best handling fwd out there

And that car had a completely different suspension setup to a jazz

colm_mcm

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

And that car had a completely different suspension setup to a jazz

There are a fair few differences alright

pog it

Yep. I don't have a harsh driving style anyway!

It's a good car in a lot of ways, I don't want to do it down completely. But taking multiple bends on bad roads I'm unfamiliar with is more effort than it was with even the VW polo I used to drive.

Next car will be an aston martin, I look forward to posting about that!

Thanks all.

colm_mcm

And the tyres? Did you get a chance to see what's on the front?

pog it

Will check tmrw and get back to you.

I had pirellis before I changed them which were really good.

pog it

Sorry to be late back with this info.

The two front tyres are from 'Federal' brand, and the back ones are Pirelli.
They are all in good shape.

Finding it hard to understand how they would impact on the steering so much?

beauf

How are old are they. If they are old they can look fine have loads of tread but have poor grip.

jimgoose

pog it wrote: »

Sorry to be late back with this info.

The two front tyres are from 'Federal' brand, and the back ones are Pirelli.
They are all in good shape.

Finding it hard to understand how they would impact on the steering so much?

Cheng Slime specials. Take them off and set fire to them.

coolisin

Yep its the make of tyre.
Depth of the thread does not mean more grip, it's down to the compounds in the tyre.

Tea 1000

Federals are shít. Change them, and you might get the alignment done too, it'll also make a difference. You should be sound then.

beauf

To quote this guy...

...Federal would be considered a budget tyre, I wouldn't put them on a silage pit....

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=58889879&postcount=3

pog it

Ok then, we have consensus! Thanks all, the tread in them is quite deep but I didn't realise that there is more to it than that.

What tyres should I get? I saw on a tyre review site (tyrereviews.co.uk) that Continental's winter TS 800 range are rated the highest there for honda jazz.

Also I saw another thread here that mentioned going from a 185/55 to a 185/65 in specifications to get more height and therefore a better buffer?

beauf

You should ring around see what models and makes they offer then look up the reviews.

Unless you are going to order them in and just get somewhere to fit them.