On a 55+ mph highway, that is not flat, is your car really hard to keep straight? I mean, I know that the wide tires track all over the bumps in the road, but sometimes it seems frustratingly out of hand. Just wondering if anyone else feels like this at times too on a bumpy road where you are going fast.

 

rebuild your front suspension , I have 275/40/17 tires all around and had the same problem , new inner/outer tierods helped a lot , new idler arm helped tons after that too and the wandering is almost gone. (it still needs an alignment).

 

I can't keep my car in my lane anymore... I've owned for 9 years, and just rebuilt the suspension- and lowered it an inch. Now I just can't get used to sitting lower to the ground; I'll either be hugging the center line or riding on the shoulder...

 

all over the place also, i have to keep the wheel at an angle to keep straight most of the time i might try an alignment soon.

 

man i could let go for a long time and the car will got strate and not go to any direction othere then strate and it nice a smooth. something no right with your ride man.

 

theres quite a few causes for this.

1. worn steering linkage: tie rods, ball joints, inner tie rods...etc...

2. Out of alignment. any reputable shop should be able to align it for $50.

3. worn out rag-joint: one of the most overlooked pieces on an automobile.

4. steering box out of adjustment. Very simple to correct. In fact i'd say this is the number 1 cause of loose steering in older cars.

5. Braking problem. Yes, a sticking caliper can cause a definate pull to one side of the car.

 

my cars all over the place on the highway, i have anew idler arm and thats it in the front end, my steering does seem loose. How would i go about tightening the steeringbox up on my 89??

 

mine drives nice and strait barely have to move the wheel at all. Of course all most all the front end parts r new

 

I have 275/40/17 KDWs on all four. New idler and ball joints plus alignment. Steering box was repalced a few years ago. It wanders quite a bit now and the steering seems less precise.

With the 235/16s on it I can take my hands off the wheel and it tracks straight.

As for adjusting the steering box, I saw a post some time ago on the procedure for doing this or maybe it was in the tech section - anyway it's easy to do but you want to be sure that 's problem first so the you don't over do it with the steering box.

 

Front end is not rebuilt until the steering box is rebuilt or replaced. The over the center adjustment does not help tighten the box. When the wheel is turned the play will still be there.

AGR box will solve the problem once and for all.

 

AGR box?

My car tracks fairly straight, but I need to replace the ball joints, and I probably need to replace a few of the steering peices.

 

its difficult to get a thirdgen straight. i rebuilt all of my suspension and it still wonders. someone pointed out somethin bout the steering box. its not something everyone recognizes but somethin you should look into. i was gunna say maybe you need a bump steer kit but you have stock suspension.

 

my steering box is a lil sloppy but it doesnt wonder

 

I'm seeing a lot of these replies, and I must reitterate.

On a flat road.... my car drives straight as an arrow.... nice and smooth as well. On a BUMPY road, in particular, a bumpy road where you are going fast, my car is all over the place. By bumpy I mean, a highway that has nooks and crannies in the road.... not necessarily pot holes.... just not smooth pavement across.

My father says that this is because the wide tires are trying to track all over those bumps and doesnt know which direction to go. While that makes total sense if you think about it, that doesn't relive the frustration of trying to drive straight on a bumpy 55+mph highway.

 

That's fairly standard on wide tires. Alignments also affect that. An aggressive alignment will track. Try a toe-in of 0, and very little negative camber (-0.5), but try to get it with you sitting in the car. Get the numbers matched left and right. That should minimize tracking of grooves and ruts.

 

get new shocks and struts.



even if you only get the $9.99 replacement rear shocks, its better then what you probly have now.

 

wanna see suspension movement on bumps?? heh, check out my vid about halfway thru....



btw, this is just a test vid.. nothin special.

http://www.lastgen.com/videos/VideoTest001.wmv

 

well my 84 Z28 straight, nice and smooth but my truck not straight onroad or offroad and hurts my arms to keep it straight on freeway

 

umm sounds like bump steer if no1 said that lol

 

I know i'm late, but the same situation here as well, it seems a little more difficult to keep in the lanes on bumpy roads.....

Also i keep the steering wheel turned just a little to keep the car going staight on some roads, it's actually in the shop getting an alignment as i'm writing this.....

I'll see if it fixes the problem....

 

rag-joint???

 

whats a rag-joint??

 

I think by ragjoint they mean idler arm/pitman arm , but I Could be wrong as I'm just guessing , lol

btw, all of you that are trying to rationalize the fact that your car is all over the road , remember that 4th gens came with 17" wheels / 275/40 tires , go ask on their boards if they get the same problems ;-) they don't (or at least didn't when their cars were new)

something is wrong with your setup , it should not do that.

 

the rag joint is the joint on the steering shaft.... it has layers of stuff on it that look kinda like cloth (or rags).....

look on the steering shaft in the engine compartment before it enters the steering box... there may be a cover over it, but you can slide the cover out of the way and see the joint..

 

makes sense

never even came to my mind that they could mean that , I always heard it called something else. lol

 

Well, did it? I'm having the same problem.

 

Hey MrDude_1 im glad to see your e brake works. I can't say much for any of mine. Any wayz I have a similar problem with my IROC, now I know it needs a full suspension rebuild because it has 250000 miles on it, it is all over the road, now there is not any slop on any of the steering componets BUT the steering is VERY easy to turn left or right, i mean I could be sitting still engine running and pull down on the wheel and it will freely turn to fully right. There is no resistance at all, My GTA has resistance and is very easy to drive. where as the camaro is not. I have to concentrate to keep it in my lane. Sometimes it looks like I am drunk. Is this most likely the steering box???

 

lol, pay no attention to my silly antics on the vid... thoes are just test shots so we could see how each action looks from diff camera angles for a film we're making.... people online were buggin me for a minicam preview, so i clipped that together...

anyhoo on your car... does the wheel have alot of slack before the wheels actually start turning the car?

 

I know you were talking to someone else, but I thought I'd reply too.

I HAD slack/play in my wheel until I tightened the nut/hex thing on the top of the box. Now the wheel itself feels tight when turning.

My problem still remains though. When just driving down the road, my car wanders all over. Not really dependent on speed or road surface.

I did notice my brand new tires are showing signs of poor alignment, but I don't want to JUST do an alignment.

What all needs to be replaced specifically when doing a complete rebuild to the front end? Is it alright to go with stock parts and expect a decent life out of them?

 

no slack at all just very easy to turn

 

yeah don't do the alignment because that won't fix it all and you'll have to get another done after replacing the bad parts.

my guess is both inner/outer tierods along with the stupid sleeves and idler arm. then you might as well put a new centerlink in there and call it a day for about $200 in parts.

 

and yes stock parts are just fine... heck the ones you have on there are probably original and got the car this far for 15 years (more or less , lol) I would get better tierod sleeves though , hotchkis and edelbrock make them for our cars, your alignment shop will love you for it.