I’m back driving the Integra at the moment, after a period of running the MG because of its kart lugging tow bar. Jumping between the two cars is always an eye opener because despite both being front drivers, they go about ride and handling in such different ways. In some aspects this goes without saying. One is a thinly veiled race car, the other a sporting saloon. However, when the road car starts out performing the track biased car in disciplines you know it shouldn’t, something is quite clearly not right.

Everyone has one, a route which they take on a regular, if not daily basis that gives their car a work out and sets a benchmark in their own mind as to how a car should perform over a certain stretch of road. For me it is my journey to work and from every day. It isn’t a particularly long or high speed trip, but what it does incorporate are some testing twists and turns - points where full acceleration can be used and some uneven road surfaces, ideal for checking the performance of the cars chassis.

Even before I did this journey, things on the Teg didn’t feel quite right. It has never been the sharpest car on turn in, instead its party piece is medium to high speed corners, where it monsters sweeping bends with a complete sense of stability and security. Today however, even a moderate speed roundabout was causing tyre squeal of monumental proportions.

After checking tyre condition (worn, but still a couple of thousand miles left), and pressure (spot on the recommended 30psi), I was left scratching my head. Prior to purchasing the Goodyear GSD3’s the car was wearing, I had run a set of budget Cheng Seng Deathmasters (it was supplied on these by the UK import centre!). These tyres, due to their wooden construction, needed to be run at low pressures to work, so I figured it was worth trying it again and dropped the pressure by 4psi per corner.

Aside from making the ride a little softer, grip was marginally better but the squeal was still there – comically so. A brief net search suggested that aside from the tyres themselves, my problem could be related to a loose or moving suspension component. Whilst a driveway and jack inspection revealed nothing, I figured it would be best to get the car booked in at my local suspension and tyre specialists – Elite – to have a proper look.

Elite’s equipment is probably not unique, but it is one of the best places I know to get anything tyre related sorted. If you ask for a full check, you are presented with a printout showing the current set up of the car including caster camber and toe settings, both for front and rear axles. Their system also references factory settings so it can give you an idea by how much the geometry is out. My printout showed that whilst everything was there or thereabouts, I was toeing out quite a lot, which could explain why the turn in wasn’t as good as expected. A tweak of the tracking and a new set of Toyo T1R boots later, I was a couple of hundred quid lighter and on my way.

Yet again though, Elite had done their job. The front of the car now seemed a lot keener to turn and the annoying squeal had gone, and that’s before the tyres had even been scrubbed in. I now look forward to several more thousand miles of happy high speed driving.

It never ceases to amaze me, every time I visit Elite, how much better something so simple can make the car feel. So, if your car is feeling a little off colour in the handling department, before you do anything else, get your geometry properly checked. Not only may it save you several hundreds of pounds, but you too may have a new found love of your car.