near death
 

dunno if this is the right place but pretty much when i drive on the freeway and hit one of those stupid lines where they supposedly fixed it my car goes crazy it gets pushed more than it should the other day it was pretty bad almost spun me out with all the pushing. can any1 shed some light??? thanks in advanced. and its a 92 camaro if it makes any difference 3.1

Re: near death
 

Sounds like u might need a wheel alignment, or have worn tie-rod ends etc.

Re: near death
 

i know it pulls slightly to the right but not much. it usually drives fine on the streets. some 1 else had told me it coult be the shocks?? funny how crap happens right when you run out of money lol

Re: near death
 

start simple
1.check air presh in tires

2.check you have the same size tires on car front back is ok
it's the side to side that your looking for.

3.check steering play

Re: near death
 

what "stupid lines" cause it to act up?

Re: near death
 

in california especialy near cities the freeways have been worked on too many times and they do it in lanes so one lane in higher than the other and the seem of it ( the lines i speak of ) is right wher your tire would be so its impossible to avoid. some are really bad like 2-3 inch different.its horrible especially near L.A

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tires in front are same size it is time for some new ones tho.
how would some tighten the steering?? ill check the pressure tommorow thanks for the reply

Re: near death
 

Do not go gentle into that good night.....

Re: near death
 

Check for up and down movement in your steering linkage. Just grab on the idler arm, center link etc. and check for up and down movement. Also check for play in the box and steering shaft. Check wheel bearings (movement left and right) and definitely get alignment and get better stable specs (this helps a TON). What are the width of your tires? Wider tires (like 245 on 16" IROC wheels) follow grooves or uneven roads more. It could be a combination of parts that cause this. Try everything.

Re: near death
 

could worn bushings cause this? i took a look underneath and they look pretty worn. im gonna replace them either way and i also tightened the steering box. helped a bit. i got 255 60 15's in the back and 215's in the front. i guess ill just do one thing at a time and hopefully i can get it figured out

Re: near death
 

I agree. It's always best to start simple.

- Check all your tire pressure.

- Jack the front of the car up and grab the wheel at 9-o-clock and 3. Then try to wiggle back and forth. If it moves, you could have worn outer tie rods. Next, grab the wheel at 12 and 6 and do the same thing. If there is play, you could have worn ball joints. Check this for both sides.

- Also, check all the suspension bushing and make sure they're in working order. You should be able to diagnose any issues that are severe pretty quickly. You can do all of this in your driveway with a floor jack, but some shops will pay to insect while you have it aligned.

Best of luck and let us know what you come up with!
- Kevin

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ok so did the sway bar bushings and one of the rods that hold the bushings was bent and the whole sway bar was off center so i fished that for $9 and it doesnt creek when i turn the wheel all the way anymore but havent tested if it gets all squirrely at freeway speeds yet.

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so after driving it its still squirrely at higher speeds. the front LOOKS to be ok ill start looking for problems in the rear next

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If none of these measures help, you might have too little toe-in on your alignment. Typically, cars will have just a smidge of toe-in to keep it stable. If you get too much toe-out, it will get twitchy and unstable at speed.

Re: near death
 

Did you get an alignment yet? That could very well be the problem. Get an alignment with custom specs, the general good street specs are as follows:

Camber:
Left/Right: -0.5 to -0.75

Caster:
Left (driver): 0.5* less than the right side is (ex: If you can get 5.0* out of right side, then set 4.5* caster on the left side)
Right (passenger): As much positive caster as the plate will get you

Toe: 3/32 total toe (toe in) (in fractions it's 0.09 total toe in)

While it's on the rack, check your SAI reading and it should be more or less equal +- a degree or two max. If it's off by alot then something might be bent.

You can also see the rear camber and toe, even though it's not adjustable on our cars, but you'll see once again if it's way off then you may have a bent axle or something. Also check to see if your rear diff is centered as well (if you have a lowered car you will definitely need this), if not centered you may need an adjustable panhard bar to re-center it.

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We have bad roads here- I know what you are talking about becasue everyone somewhat has the same issue with these screwed up overcrowded freeways in So cal that they keep making the lanes narrower to squeeze another lane in- AND THEN when they do an overnight repair somewhere the lanes arehigher from one to the next by sometimes a few inches. Its amazing that motorcycle riders aren't dying all the time out there its so bad in places when these repairs are going on.

For those that do not know, the lanes when first built 50* years ago where all 12 feet wide and now are only 10feet wide. what happens is the second lane now has the deep groove in it 2 feet intot he lane right where your tire tracks at. THe problen then is the shoulder (now fast lane) is asphaft, and the next is concrete so their is a heght difference and its right where your left tire sits in the lane-frikin nightmare in tight fast traffic especiually with a bus in the carpool/fast lane (they somehow allow that crap here) and another large truck to your right- they can squeeze your lane and combined with this groove it can be some scary sheet.

I will agree on the alignment- and further it by saying you probably have worn strut mounts and worn balljoints that will jiggle your steering play everywhere and multiply the already bad issue.

I run some toe out and -2.6 on my street truck (she's radically built) and at times I will have issues when stuck trying to run straght and calm on these lanes so the toe out will cause havoc ont he grooves alittle- but this is not his issue, I would almost gaurantee he has badly worn suspension pivots as well as the road are in fact crap- both together would be a nightmare

Dean

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Pardon the n00b question, but why do you want to run some toe-out? Does it make it corner better or something?

Re: near death
 

Because its a long vehicle that is doing things normal vehicles of this size usually do not. I run 1/16" toe out on it daily, but I always drive it hard. I go through a set a tires every year in this thing also with very even wear. I should also note that I have owned this truck since new in 1989 (24 years now) and have been through 28 sets of tires....ouch, but its fun.

The longer a vehicle is the harder it is on ackerman and corner turn-in response. I track straight line a lottle better though because I am in fact long whereas a shorter vehicle gets twictchy real quick- especially with that much negative camber as well

Skip to :045 on the video, the first half is boring because its too far away in the video. I just took it out recently to autox with a friend in his Katech vette. Figured I would run it that day and turn some heads which it did- it also landed me an instructor job. I guess the right person was watching and has hired me for an upcoming Ferrari event.