Replaced; stearing rack, front a arm bushings, tie rods.
Checked; wheel bearings, rag joint
Symptoms; car is thrown left to right depending upon ruts or creases in the road.

Hi all,

If you have any suggestions I'd love to hear them. As it stands, when I drive down the road it feels like someone jerks my stearing wheel to the left or right. The stearing assembly seems to be tight, but I can't figure out why its doing this. I've replaced many parts. I've driven a different car (ford thunderbird) with 17x9's and it didn't ever track like this.

Could it be my tires (cheap Kuhmos)?
Could it be something in the rear?
Would SFC's completely alleviate this problem?

Thanks

Zack

 

larger tires like the 275s area known to do this when u hit ruts

only thing is if its an excessive pull its most likely ur alighnment, but i c u have new steering components, so u should have had an alighnment

im not gonna say this is absoulutley normal , but wider tires are known to do this

 

Every fbody I've ever driven with 275/40/17s and larger tires has done this. Back in 97 I remember test driving a SS and I almost hit a curb because I wasn't expecting it.

 

I have stock 16 inch rims with 245's.

 

check the balljoints.i'm runing 275-17 and i don't have that problem.

 

You have stock shocks right? Or something that is really cheap as a replacement.

You shocks are worn-out. You've changed about everything else, and I assume had the car aligned after those changes....

The body is moving around way too much and too quickly relative the the wheels (and vice-versa), and things are going to get hairy, if for no other reason (and there are other reasons) that the tie rods are connected to the wheels and the body both via the steering rack. When the suspension moves up and down the length of your tie rods change due to moving through an arc. Slow down the body motions and that active change is nowhere near as dramatic, and often less drastic since a slower movement often results in less overall movement (but not always).

 

I'm surprised Sam didn't mention this, but also check the bushing material, especially the rear ones on the bottom control arms in the front.

 

He mentioned in his original post that he change the front A-arm bushings already.

 

Umm.. I knew that Sam.. Just testing ya!!

 

I have 275/40/17 ES100 tires, and my car does this. Almost all of my suspension is new.

I am considering adding some toe-in. These cars have a factory zero toe setting. That means if a tire grabs a ridge, it pulls the other tire into a turn.

With some toe in, when one tire grabs a ridge, it has to move further to overcome the toe-in, before it starts steering the car.

I have not done this yet, because I don't know if a reasonable amout of toe will correct the problem or not.

The factory specs allow up to .1 degree of toe-in per side. That would be about .04369" per side with a 25.7" tire. 1/16" is .0625". So about a 1/16-1/32" of toe in per side might help.

I have not tried this yet, I think it will help, but it may cause worse tire wear and make the steering feel more dead.

You do get use to the steering doing this, but it is a little bothersome.

Z28