The situation is, in my 97 Z28, if I turn the steering wheel to the left or to the right just a little bit, the car won't respond. It is like a little dead spot right off the center, and it gets annoying during transition cornering since it makes it very hard to drive the car smoothly. Just wanted to ask if this typical of our cars, or is there a problem with the car? If so, is there any way of solving this problem? Thanks in advance.

 

What are your alignment settings?

 

I couldn't tell you because I don't know..... By the way, I don't autocross the car. I thought I would ask this question here since you autocross guys would know more about stuff like this.

 

First, how many miles are on the suspension??

 

I'm just wondering if he's running 0 toe by some chance. As we've all heard this can create a "dead" spot in the suspension until all the slack is taken up.

 

bruecksteve - The car has 95000 miles on it, but I just upgraded the sway bars, the springs, and the shocks along with all the bushings a couple months ago (plus new tires) so I don't think it is because of that.
94bird - could you explain a little bit about the "0 toe" ? How do I fix it if that is the problem?
Thanks in advance.

 

0 toe is when both front tires point straight ahead. If you have toe-in your left front tire is slightly turning right and your right front tire is slightly turning left. Toe-out is the opposite. I usually run 1/16" toe in total on my car, but I haven't done too much experimenting with settings. That's for next year. Other people on this forum may have other favorite alignment settings.

The point is with zero toe the slack in your steering is there when you're going straight ahead. If you have either toe-in or toe-out the tires are slightly preloading your steering so it may reduce that "dead" spot on-center.

You should have your alignment checked if you don't know your settings anyway. When you do I'd recommend using a little bit of toe-in on the front if you want a little more stability at high speeds in turns and a tendency for understeer. Toe-out gives you a little more turn-in response but the car will tend to follow ruts in the road easier and will promote oversteer. Both of the last results might not be good for a lot of street car owners.

 

I currently run 0 toe, I have basically the same kind of feeling. I'm going to be running a little toe out soon, but I autocross mine (my back and forth to work car too). Mike (94bird) runs toe in because he runs at higher speeds. Toe in improves high speed stability where toe out will cause the car to turn in quicker, not something you need to happen at high speeds!!!!

 

Good info. I will experiment with a little toe-in and see how it works out. Thanks a lot to both of you guys.

 

What about a worn rag joint? This is a distinct possibility.

 

Hmmm, never thought about that either. The car is getting a new engine in a couple weeks, so I will check everything at that time. Plus an alignment when it is done... and I will see how it works out. Thanks, and if anyone else has any suggestions, let me know please.

 

While you have things apart get a rag joint eliminator from Unbalanced Engineering . After installing that piece you will not have to worry about replacing rag joints again! Great tips for the question here guys. If alignment and rag joint replacement do not work then your steering gear may be toast. I send my steering boxes to Larry Whitlow (lwhit@manznet.com) at Circle Track Steering (530) 846-3487. He has done some great work for us CMCers at very reasonable prices.

 

You steering problem sounds like how mine was.
I replaced the rag joing with the one for unbalanced engineering as they guy stated above, and tightend the bearing preload on the rack and pinion(very easy, great results) The instructions to do this are on shoebox's or one of the moderorators web sites. takes like 5 mins and helps tremendously.

My steering is very smooth, very responsive, i can now keep it in mine lane when there are ruts in the road and its a 1000 times better then stock

 

Thanks guys, I have actually been reading about that rag joint eliminator for a while now, and I think I will give it a shot.