First, I gotta say, I love this car!

Two questions I have and hoping someone can provide a little insight:

1) from time to time, when I'm coasting to a stop with the clutch in, I hear some sort of grinding sound. I'm not sure what it is- brakes, clutch, other??? The sound sometimes continues after I've let the clutch out and until I begin to accelerate. I've stabbed my brakes while the noise is occurring and sometimes that causes it to go away and sometimes it doesn't. Any ideas?

2) I've read that "torque steer" is pretty minimal with this car but seems to me that under aggressive (8/10ths) acceleration there is quite a bit. I really have to hold the wheel to keep the car in line. Is that normal?

Thanks for the info!

-Alan

 

Hi, and welcome to the forums!
The grinding noise you're hearing may just be new brake pads on new rotors. Because the car has a lot of power and a fair amount of weight it's also has to have fairly aggressive pads. If it continues after a few hundred miles let your dealer know.

Torque steer: You have to understand that a FWD is being driven by and steered by the front wheels. Those front wheels are also dragging the rest of the car around. The car will naturally want to go straight, or straighten out when being turned. Add all that power, weight then accelerate into, and through a turn, and the car will fight you the whole way, because it wants to go straight. The path of least resistance.
Try this: Power into your turn. As the car begins to yaw, lift the throttle for just a second.You will feel the body settle in a bit and the car will turn in.Then stab it again.
W/a RWD car, you'd normally slow before the turn to induce a little understeer, then about half way through, or at the apex of the turn, you'd power out, reducing understeer/increasing oversteer. That's the difference.
Spirited driving w/a FWD is a bit of a challenge compared to RWD vehicles as every turn is different. You have to learn to feel your way through them.
One other thing you might try: Pump up the front tires. I'm not sure what the factory spec is on the MS, but if it's 32/32 as mine is, try putting 38F/31R for starters and see how that feels to you.Then adjust from there depending on your driving style, tires, overall feel of the car to you. All tires are different too, so what works well for one brand/model of tire on a particularcar may not work as well on the same car w/a different tire. You have to experiment a little.
I have never found factory recommended tires pressure to work well for me. They are usually too low and soft. While most RWD's recommend putting 2-4psi more in the rear, so it is the reverse w/a FWD.I always went one (or two) steps further than that and weremuch happier w/the results See?

 

Thanks for the info.

I'm accustomed to a mid-engine RWD car so this is a bit of a change for me...but I'm enjoying it!

The torque steer question I asked is related to straight line acceleration- when I accelerate fairly hard in a straight line the front end tends to hunt around. I really have to hold her. Is this normal? I've driven other high horsepower FWD cars and they did the same thing so I assume it is but want to make sure.

Thanks again.

-Alan