I went to ls1 brakes and tried to drive it for the first time yesterday and noticed that when my wheel turns there is a certain position were the wheel feels like it is going to fall off. When you hit this portion of the rotation the wheel feels like it slides and the steering wheel moves in the direction were it is sliding to. I jacked the car up and spun the tires and they move freely no, nothing. It only when the weight of the car is on the tire that it makes the feeling. I reused my stock hubs, i made sure i didn't bang on the hubs.

What could be wrong. What does a failed bearing feel like? What could be wrong with the hub and where should i start to look?

 

I don't think its the bearing, this will usually gime a humming sound sort of, did you use new rotors? if you didn't I think you have a runnout problem (rotors are not straight) and the only way it can be corrected is by machining.

 

Are you sure something's loose? Or it just "feels like it"? Does it make any clunk noises? How fast are you going when you make these turns? Maybe you just need an alignment?

 

Get an alignment ASAP--you are going to ruin your tires fast.

I had my car aligned after my LS1 brake upgrade, and my alignment guy said I would have ruined my tires in a matter of days to a week--yet it was aligned 2 months earlier.

Replacing the steering knuckles requires this--don't fully understand why if the parts are made to the same specs (maybe not).

Also have your alignment guy check things out to make sure you did everything correctly & ball joints are still ok.

 

Well the wheel turns fine when the car is jacked up so i would think everything is straight. I had the wheel off and spun the rotor and still fine.

I do hear a scraping, clunk noise when the tire make the certain point of rotation and then the steering feels loose as it feels like i slip a little to the left. That is when it fells like the wheel is coming off. After that the rotation fells alright. I have only moved the car by idle power. No more then backing out of the garage. I took it maybe 75 yard all together. So there is no way i can drive it to a shop for alighnment right now.

I'm going to strip the upgrade off and look at everything over again and see WTF is wrong.

 

TTT please, what are the common things that could break while doing the upgrade.

 

I just did this 3 weeks ago, so it's somewhat fresh in my memory:

Things that can go wrong: (in no order)

1) Could mess up your ball joints if you are too rough or use the wrong tools to separate the joints
2) Round off your brake line nuts--one of mine was frozen--should have used a cheap torch
3) Letting your master cylinder run dry while swapping or during the bleeding process
4) Your alignment will be wrong--plan for it
5) that steering knuckle is heavy--don't let it drop on your foot
6) Don't let any brake fluid get on your nice new mechanics gloves--they are now in the trash--Grrr!

Overall it was pretty easy, having done it now.

That's all I can think of right now.

-Rob

 

how much did it cost you all together

 

I bought a "kit" (used parts from a wrecked '99 TA w/18k miles) off of ebay for like ~$180 (rotors, calipers, hubs, steering knuckles, almost new pads which I used), but it was about $80 in ground shipping between NH & AZ (heavy!). Then I had the rotors turned (<$20), & bottle of brake fluid. Then I had a custom alignment (non-factory specs) done for ~$60--as I mentioned this was required.

BTW, I was told I could have re-used my existing hubs, but I chose not to--price was the same, shipping was higher however and besides my hubs had 40K miles--the last 20K pretty hard

End result: *way* better breaking--very happy.

-Rob

 

I almost forgot one important note!

There is a bracket where the brake hose connects to the solid brake lines--it's keyed differently for LT1 vs. LS1. I recommend you buy these brackets for a LS1. I ended up using a dremel to make it work--not the prettiest thing you've seen. I'm going to buy some myself as soon as I get around to it.

-Rob

 

Which wheel is it? Is it both of them? Jack up the wheel that you think it is and shake the hell out of it unmercifully. It should not budge. Also, check to see that all of your lugs are tight! And make sure that the two caliper bolts that connect to the spindle are tight. Mine weren't and they made a weird noise (clunk). Check all these things and then get back to us. Later,

Brian