how bad is three-wheeling?

[not yellow]

the entrance to my garage is very uneven and i three-wheel pretty hard every time in go in/out. which means 2-6 times a day. i broke an endlink tab on my MSP and i'm pretty convinced it was from this same consistent three-wheeling. the MS3 has a bit of a different suspension setup, but i'm worried that this uneven and unnatural stress is going to cause some problem. any thoughts?

 

[kbzon01]

I do this everyday too - and I am on stock suspension!!! My driveway elevation is ridiculous! Subbed...

 

[MikeHTally]

A lot of FWD vehicles do this. Ours are a bit more prone, maybe, but I suspect it's been designed to deal with it. I can feel mine lift the inside rear on some of my regular routes.

 

[mr_mazda329]

This is great for autocrossing on a FWD car. No downsides that would hurt anything.

 

[noobinacan]

your alignment...check the toe and camber on the front.
I know mine has gone off just a tad bit going in and out of the driveway of this place I was renting for a few months.

insides of my front tires are starting to show wear.
they are shot anyways..about to replace them, so don't care.

But if you have new tires, get one of them 'lifetime' alignment check deals.
from firestone or something.

 

[robin2660]

Huh? All it means is you have a stiff chassis. This is a good thing.

 

[not yellow]

your alignment...check the toe and camber on the front.
I know mine has gone off just a tad bit going in and out of the driveway of this place I was renting for a few months.

insides of my front tires are starting to show wear.
they are shot anyways..about to replace them, so don't care.

But if you have new tires, get one of them 'lifetime' alignment check deals.
from firestone or something.

yeah, i guess it's possible my alignment could go off because of this. i actually tried to get a lifetime alignment from firestone but they denied me because i'm lowered!

Huh? All it means is you have a stiff chassis. This is a good thing.

the question is not "why am i three-wheeling?" the question is "will there be negative consequences?"

 

[mr_mazda329]

will there be negative consequences?"

No

 

[not yellow]

^ welp... that sounds pretty definitive!

 

[Design]

yeah, i guess it's possible my alignment could go off because of this. i actually tried to get a lifetime alignment from firestone but they denied me because i'm lowered!

That's weird. I've never had a problem getting lifetime alignments from Firestone. It's probably because your car is too low for the Hunter rack.

 

[sephiroth]

^ welp... that sounds pretty definitive!

it is. Push any FWD vehicle hard enough and it will do it.

 

[not yellow]

That's weird. I've never had a problem getting lifetime alignments from Firestone. It's probably because your car is too low for the Hunter rack.

they gave me a one-time alignment for $80. used ramps to get me on the rack. but gave me some BS excuse about not being able to give me the lifetime alignment because my car was not factory height and they couldn't adjust my camber/etc to factory specs.

i then went down to big-O and asked them if they could align my car. they said it would be a "specialty alignment" because of the ride height and would cost $130!

 

[sephiroth]

Lol what absolute crap. Alignments on factory height and slammed cars is neither different in tine required or difficulty. At least they will align it, most places out here won't even touch you if you are lowered.

 

[justanothermp5]

lol wow must suck living there
i had my car aligned and the place that did it just asked if i lowered the car the right way
i was like right way? huh? then he said, most places dont align lowered cars because so many people torch there springs to lower there car and there is no way to align a car with that

but in my car, i used to 3 wheel all the time when i had my AWR rear sway, one day i was backing out of my GF's driveway and heard a loud pop, the sway bar bracket snapped off from the pressure
so i dont think its that bad, but it puts alot of stress on the endlinks and swaybar brackets

 

[not yellow]

lol wow must suck living there
i had my car aligned and the place that did it just asked if i lowered the car the right way
i was like right way? huh? then he said, most places dont align lowered cars because so many people torch there springs to lower there car and there is no way to align a car with that

but in my car, i used to 3 wheel all the time when i had my AWR rear sway, one day i was backing out of my GF's driveway and heard a loud pop, the sway bar bracket snapped off from the pressure
so i dont think its that bad, but it puts alot of stress on the endlinks and swaybar brackets

this is exactly what happened to my MSP... obviously certain elements of the suspension don't appreciate the uneven stress! i just don't want some thing like this to happen to my MS3 now.

 

[gogogomoveit]

Three wheeling means your rear suspension have too much roll stiffness for that particular situation. Could be good for autocross since now your back end is a lot easier to fling around, but bad news is you just lost a portion of available grip.

Is it bad? probably it will stress the sway bar a little, but hardly anything to worry about. Hitting a bump on one side at 15 mph put a lot more stress on the sway bar and mounting than 3 wheeling.