"floaty" when going over bumps/drains

[revatron]

Hello all,

I've been chasing a rattle from the front of the car. In the process of this I have changed everything on the front suspension. Struts, springs, mounts, drop links, inner and outer tie rods, lower control arms. Rear shocks and springs changed too.

Still no joy on the rattle so further investigations needed.

However, today I got in the car to drive to work and it felt very "floaty" all of a sudden. When driving over drains or bumps the car got very unsettled. I have had the wheels off for a check today, nothing loose or any movement/play (only finished fitting new parts on Wednesday and everyhting torqued to spec and no strange feelings when driving since then until today). Tyre pressures fine. No leaks visibe from the new struts.
It did feel like this a little bit before changing the struts and the "floaty" feeling did go away but it is back and a lot worse, so maybe the struts weren't the issue in the first place?

Does anyone have any ideas? I'm at my wits end with this car.

 

[Chad E. Mo]

I'd get it aligned. I always do, after putting is a trove of suspension parts. Plus, my cars always behaved strangely on bumps when the alignment was out.

 

[revatron]

it's booked in for alignment, but interesting to hear you had similar expereinces. I measured the tie rods to the mm when replacing so I'm very close but I guess even if out a small amount it will make a difference.
What is puzzling me is that after refitting everything it drove fine with no "floating" or strange feelings when driving until this morning.

 

[Drew21]

Couple wild/unlikely thoughts on your float:
1) Proper tire pressure?
2) Some suspension parts can be torqued unloaded (i.e., car in the air), but some need to be torqued under load.

As for the rattle, I assume that you checked around the front end of the car for loose bolts, that 10 mm socket we've all lost, etc? Your noise might not be suspension related at all, but could be something loose under the hood, something sitting on top of one of the plastic undertrays, or even something bouncing around in the glove box.

When we first took our Leaf for a test drive it made a weird "clunk" on each left or right turn. Once we got off the highway I looked around for a minute and found the locking lug nut key rolling back and forth in the center console bin under the arm rest.

 

[revatron]

Hi Drew, thanks for the input.

All of your suggestions have been checked extensively. And I do mean extensively! I torqued everything as per the service manuals for loaded/unloaded.

I'm hoping it is just an aligntment issue but it has certainly stumped me why it has come on so suddenly after driving fine for 3 days post all the work I did.