I am having a new problem that I just can't figure out. My car has started to roam on the road starting at about 65 mph. It feels kind of like I'm driving on ice it's that loose (yeah that's what I'll call it.) I noticed it when I put on my new 245/50ZR16 Falken Ziex tires. So far I have done the following:

"Street Alignment" from 'Third Gen Performance Handbook'
New shocks & struts
New tie rods
New idler arm
New polyurethane sway bar bushings & links (front & rear)
Tire pressure set @ 30 psi (recommended psi on door)
Had the toe checked & re-checked
Ball joints are good (not new but only about 15k on them)

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I don't want to spend a whole $hitload of money just to figure it out. The parts I put in were going to be replaced anyway but I dont want to just throw money at it. The only thing I can think is, the Falkens are too soft for the 3/32" total toe setting I've got in there. Any ideas? Thanks

 

I've had that feeling with new tires before, you expect they will handle great but are initially disappointed. The new tires with deep soft tread are kind of flexable which doesn't feel as responsive as the old tires that were down to 'racing depth'. They'll feel better after you put some miles on them and get used to the new feel. You might double check the pressure.

 

Check the steering coupler. They tend to turn into silly putty.

RBob.

 

Thanks for the help guys. I'll look into it tonight. I've got to get it figured out before I take it to the track and hammer through some corners. I just don't have any confidence in the cars bite anymore. Thanks again.

 

How in the heck do you change that part, and where can yuo get new ones that fit? I bought one from the Help! section of an Auto parts store, but its wayyy too big. Do I have to goto GM to get the part?

 

the first thing i would check is the tie rods, and idler arm and pitman arm. to do this jack the front end of the car, and give the tires a shake from side to side. there should be very little play in the part. any loose parts should be replaced....i would recomend Moog chassis components.

 

All that stuff IS new Moog.

Well I checked that coupler, and it's fine. I even took it off, put one end in the vise and tried to twist and move the joint all around and that sumbitch is nice. After long deliberation, I'm going to take the car over to my brother's alignment guy and have him check it to make sure that my alignment dude set the toe rigth (not to mention all the other stuff). If it's not set right I'm going to have my brother's guy set right and never go back to the other guy again. It's just soooooooo nice to have an alignment shop 4 blocks from my house. oh well, if they can't set the alignment right, then f*ck them. Thanks for the suggestions though guys.

 

It is very possible that you have something going on in the rear suspension. Since you stated that everything is new up front, it sounds to me that you are experiening rear wheel steer from worn bushings in the rear. You would not notice this as much with the old frontend components, but now that everything up front is tight, your feeling the rearend slop. Thats my guess.

 

I had the same problem, I replaced all the steering parts to no avail. I started asking questions and someone told me to look at the frame under the steering box. When I pulled the steering box off the frame was craked in two spots. That was letting the steering box flex just enough to freak the car out. It was the worst if I was on a road with ruts from big trucks.I welded up the cracks and took care of most of the problem.

The other half of the problem is the 17x9.5 with 275-40-17, I put the factory wheels (245-50-16)back on the front and it drove (after fixing the frame) great no hunting at all. I think the lower profile and wider wheel changes the way the car tracks in the ruts. But it's a 100 times better with the fram fixed, you might want to take a look at that. I had to pull my box to get a good look at the damage. good luck

 

Thanks for the ideas guys. I did check my frame for cracks when I bought the car in March, and it wasn't, so I doubt it is now and I'm currently working on building a wonderbar for my car, and that should also help stop frame flex. I can't find a stock one, and I'm not paying $100 for one off e-bay, so my brother and I are building one out to chrome-moly tube. That idea of rear suspension waggle is a pretty good bet since the rear bushings are 15 year old stock rubber. I'm waiting to get new tubular arms & panhard rod, so I don't want to put in new bushings. It turns out though that my g*ddamned alignment guy was wearing an *** hat and had the toe way out to the tune of almost 1/4 inch. That sunofabitch said that he 'lost' the spec sheet when I picked up the car, but he's done it right in the past, so I didn't think much of it. Now that the toe is set right it really doesn't wander much, maybe after I get the rear re-built with poly bushings it won't wander at all. Then when I put on my 275/40/17's I can actually control it on those rutted paved roads that are so common in Colorado. Again thanks for the help on this.