Hey everyone I recently had an alignment and tire balance done to my 1984 camaro z28, in hopes that it will smooth out the ride, especially around 100-110km/h (62-64mph) it would vibrate quite bad (mirrors would noticably shake), and it always pulled a bit to the right.

Anyways while doing the alignment we found the DS front toe was a bit off (0.25) but other than that everything was a-ok, as for the tire balance (88-90 16" iroc rims) all 4 were off by a lot (1.00-1.75).

After balancing it still vibrates at 100km/h and it still pulls to the right although not nearly as much as before.

Anybody have any insight at to what might cause the rough ride?

 

I never really had a balance problem with my truck but it always pulled even after a wheel alignment. I finally changed the front tires and the pull went away. I suspect at least one tire had a bad belt.

 

I know the alignment shop told the steering parts looked ok, but if they are qriginal its time for replacement. These are the parts you need plus ball joints.

 

Go back and have them double check run out, I had to go back twice once after getting 4 new tires installed to find out the rims were bent. Their not suppose to be able to balance a bent rim but did or ignored it.

 

thanks for the replies, I forgot to mention we checked the rims and they didn't look bent, like AlkylIROC suggested I'm leaning towards the possibility that maybe it might be a bad tire causing the pull as the mechanic suggested the same thing, I should have the original z rims balanced so I try them and rule that one out (unless those tires are bad too lol).

For the vibration part, it feels like it goes through the whole car, you don't really feel it in ther steering wheel, I wonder if the drive shaft is imabalanced? once and a while putting into 1st gear from neutral during a stop you can hear a bit of a thunk, although I remember checking the driveshaft for play in the u joints while it was up in the air, and they seemed pretty tight.

As far as the suspension and stuff goes, the springs don't sag, and all 4 shocks seem to be good still, also all the steering bushings are nice and tight and there are no wierd front end noises. I doubt it has anything to do with worn suspension parts. The only bushing that i know that has a little bit of play is the torque arm bushing on the transmission tail, is it possible that bushing could cause the vibrations?

 

I have dealt with lots of vib problems on many car and new rims have always fixed me up.

20+ yer old rims are never straight, and even a brand new rim can be done for with 1 good pothole.

 

Mine do exactly the same, it pulls to the right, alignement several times and nothing, i replace the caliper of front wheel, it was stucked,and was stopping the car all the time, it works, for the vibration, i am considering subframe connectors

 

A few things to note. If you suspect a problem with your wheels or tires try rotating them around if it is a problem the symptoms should change. You could even try rotating the spare in. The other thing is just because you take your car in for an alignment you need to see what it is they actually align. On these cars caster, camber, and toe are all adjustable however some shops only do certain adjustments. For example I ran into a shop that was only going to adjust the toe and not the camber or the caster which for obvious reasons is no good. Thats where I would start.

 

i replaced all the sway bar bushing and it cut down some of the vibes. then had new rims and tires put on. cut down a little more. just to find out the tie rods were shot. replaced with full steering kit from spohn minus the ball joints as i plan on tubular a arms with the ball joints there later on. all vibes are gone now. no more pulling after alignment either. now my 88 makes my wifes 86 seem like a slushbox . every little thing helps. i was told by my alignment guy that the spohn kit is the most impressive he has ever seen on an old street car. he builds and races dirt modifieds locally. i recommend the spohn kits if your stuff is original can only help later on.

 

thanks for all the replies, I do know that all the suspension is still original, so most likely a good replacement of the entire front end will help since after 26 years they are probably not so good anymore. On another note I wanted to post the alignment specs we got from the machine here they are. Note all we adjusted was front toe, all other changes likely happened because of small errors due to the sensitivity of the machine.

FRONT

Caster:
-Left: 2.9° Unchanged
-Right: 2.8° Unchanged

Camber
-Left: 0.3° Unchanged
-Right: 0.2° Changed to 0.3°

Toe
-Left: 0.25° Changed to 0.00°
-Right: 0.10° Changed to 0.00°
-Total: 0.35° Changed to 0.00°


REAR (all unchanged)

Camber
-Left: 0.3°
-Right: -0.3°

Toe
-Left: -0.45°
-Right: -0.75°
-Total: -1.20°

Thrust Angle
-0.2°

SECONDARY ANGLES

SAI
-Left: 13.4°
-Right: 13.6°

Included Angle
-Left: 13.7°
-Right: 13.8° Changed to 13.9°

 

Two things I've run across in the past. 1) Loose belt in a tire (if you have belted radials.. they are still out there) can cause the tire to balance "okay" on a static balancer, but not really be balanced when it's rotating.

2) Power steering box.. if the high side pressure is off, or the box isn't set up right, it can actually "force" the car to one side slightly.

(these issues were, respectively, on an AMC, and a Suburban, but parts is parts.)

 

What parts would you recommend changing?

 

under what context???

 

Some of the stock steel drive shafts vibrate at a certain speed.... check universal joints while you're at it too...