Alright, lately my suspension has been pissing me off. It rocked when I got my car, because all I could compare it to was my Cavalier - which we all know is a big difference.

This is what I experience - is it normal? Btw, I have a 2002 SS.

When going down a road, if there is a small bump in the road, and I speed over it, I can feel my car's rear end seem to jump left or right, as if my car totally was thrown off by a simple bump.

Taking turns tight seems to be a no-no. Taking a sharp ramp onto a highway, in a low gear to minimize the torque (And me throwing my car's rear end infront of me), the tires seem to squeal way too much. I feel as if the car's handling isnt 'superior'.

It feels bouncy. Speeding at highway speeds, if the road isnt 100% flat and perfect, the rear end seems to bounce around.

Is this normal, is this a flaw of 'the poor man's corvette'?

Also, how can I improve it?

 

Can not remember where I saw it, But recently a guy discribed your exact problem on one of the other boards I visit. His turned out to be a loose LCA. He got the weight off and pryed against the ends to find it. Hope this is of some help. BTW when your rear suspension starts to squeek, unbolt the bushing brackets under your axle and use a good synthetic grease between the bushing and the sway bar. Took me a week to find it after the dealer said it was normal with stiff suspension.

 

Let me know if and when you find it... For a while I thought it was just me, but I don't think so anymore...

David

 

Well, to be honest with you, I dont even know what to do.

I dont want to pay money for a specialized shop to take a look at it, and tell me "Thats what you get for buying a Camaro, here, buy this from us..."

Nor do I want to go to the stealership and complain that my suspension doesnt feel right, and them tell me after eight hours of having my car, that a tech drove it around and he said he didnt feel any problems at all.


Maybe I'm just expecting too much of my car... my $30,000 car.



Afterall, it is only a domestic Sorry to say it, but lately things have been somewhat depressing as far as my all american domestic views on cars. I thought that foreign labor produced poor products, well, maybe us lazy americans do worse. Who knows, sorry, that was a rant/ramble off topic.

 

Hey i know exactly what you mean. My 99 SS was experiencing the same kinds of problems. When i would go over speed bumps, pot holes, dips in the road, anything felt like the rear end was loose and sloppy. Almost jump to the right or left feeling.

Solution: I purchased BMR's Lower Control Arms, Panhard Rod, and Sway bar kit and then got it aligned. Holy Sh*t what a major difference......

Drives like a new car very tight. I am very happy with the results.

Kevin Carnell
FAST Engineering Team
kcarnell@compcams.com

 

My STB made a huge difference in ride quality. Before when you feel the loosness on roads and how your car wants to stay in the grooves... doesn't do that any more. It just goes straight, stays straight. I'm still waiting on getting the SFC's installed, that will be even better. But yeah, as far as the REAR of the car, SFC's will work best for you since they'll connect the front to the rear more solidly. Good luck.

Nate

 

WOW, mine does the exact thing!

I'm glad to har im not the only one. I was starting to think
my car is a POS!

 

How worn are your tires? Before I replaced my F1's my car felt really sloppy. The back seemed to be able to jump left or right at the slightest bump in the road. It's a lot better now with new rubber. It could also be shocks too. I had to have one of my decarbons replaced because it was rattling over bumps.

With my new DMS springs, it's a completely different beast. They aren't too low or too stiff. But BOY does it go around a corner now. 1 degree of negative camber and it drives like the front tires are velcroed to the road.

 

My tires are still as good as new, and I check the tire pressure every 4 to 5 days as well, I'm paranoid about them.

15k miles on 'em.


Rotate every 6k, every other oil change.

 

I noticed one responce said he put new Lower Control Arms on... this may be a stupid question, but is this front A-arms, or rear? Has anyone done the Weld on style sub frame connectors, and if so do you have to worry about burning anything? (on my 5.0 Mustang you have to remove the carpet to prevent a big smokey fire... hee hee

David

 

I don't know if your referring to me or not, but yes i did install new BMR Lower Control Arms. Also i was referring to rear of the car. A-Arms and Lower Control Arms are 2 different things, my guess is that your referring to the lower A-Arm?

I have not installed SFC's, I have talked to several people who have them to get their opinion on them (bolt in and weld in). Seems it really really tightens the car up, but alot of the road "noise" is also transferred throughout the whole car! So i have been reluctant to install these at this point.

Kevin

 

Desolate_Flux, noticed that Kevin97z28 replaced his Lower Control Arms(LCA). You do not have to take your car anywhere to check them and it will not cost you anything either. Use your jack in the normal rear lift point, once the weight is off the tire, put a jack stand (some bricks or large pieces of sturdy wood will work if you do not have jack stands) under your rear subframe. You may have to support both sides at the same time, I do not know for sure. Use a large screw driver to pry against the ends of the LCA to check for play. Zero is the only acceptable amount. I have never checked mine, but I do not have the problem either. If nothing else, this will eliminate the LCAs as a possible cause. Your comment about the "Stealership" is so on point. Oh, one other thing, a while back one of the magazines I subscribe to had a how to on replacing the LCAs. The mechanic noticed that on the car that he was working on, the new high strength bolts would not got through the mount holes in the car at the front of the LCA. It did fit the new and old LCA bushings perfectly. The old bolt fit the mount but left play in the old as well as the new LCA. Maybe sometimes we get the right bolt, sometimes we do not. Good luck and let the rest of us know if you find the source of your problem.

PJ

 

How many miles do you have on the car? Sounds like is not the biggest deal in the world. These cars dont come wtih the greatest suspension. I would definetely start making some mods to it if i were you. I bought lakewood Lower control arms(these are the trailering arms that connect the rear end to the car) for $79 i think, theyre tubular w/poly bushings, and a lakewood adjustable panhard rod for $89 i think. dont go the the cheap way and get a non-adjustable panhard rod. The panhard rod is used to keep the rear end in line. the stock piece is weak and flexes a crap load. I remember when i put on the juice and sprayed 75 for the first time on an entirely stock suspension...the front end nearly hit a street light and my car was pointing at about 11 o'clock while it was rolling towards 12. it literally scared me, i dont want something to break while im going down the track at 121 mph. so id start with the frame ties, theyre usually between $140 and $200 depending on the brand and type. bolt ins are more, but not as strong as if they were welded in. I have bolt in comp engineering sfc's that cost $179 but i welded the in. most weld ins use round tube steel, and i like the increased torsional strength of the box tubes. it handled alright with just the sfc's, lca's, and panhard rod. then i got an eibach pro-kit($229), helped even more, and i put on the KYB AGX 8 way adjustable shocks on last weekend, they cost me about 350 plus shipping. Oh yeah, the strut tower brace and sway bars are from BMR, i think the sawy bars were like 250 or 300 and the STB was 89 bucks. so now everything is polyurethane and tubular except the torque arm(thats next), front A-Arms, and the K-member(this is what the engine mounts to. Handles like a champion now. I love it. sorry for this huge *** reply, but this all together will bring the handling back, back and even better than it started. Hope this helps, so get spendin...

 

Sorry about all that detail, but just wanted to make sure you knew what was goin on under there...no offense. I love the info i get on this board.

 

your rear shocks might be dead somehow.. that might explain why the rear bounces around and you get wierd oversteer in turns.. if the rear shocks are dead, the weight transfer out back will not be controlled or dampened..


I got my shocks replaced by Bilstien HD's revalved by Strano.. much better.... especially with the thicker front sway bar and a front alignment with some neg camber.