who can do an alignment for our cars (wandering issues)
 

OK my car wanders all over the place if there is a rut or uneven pavement you bet i hold on and try to keep her steady ( i looks like i am drunk when i am drinvinf in a rut invested place like the nj turnpike) .... even after a full aliment still have not resolved this problem (to stock specs)


The suspention was done plus the rag joint replaced (from unbalanced engineering)

here is a list of all the stuff done... plus new ball joints tie rod ends etc..

SLP-Lowering Springs & BilStein Shocks, SLP-Panhard bar, 1LE Front & Rear Sway Bars, DMS-Sub Frame Connectors, DS Loop, LS1 Front brakes, SS ZR1 Rims w/ 275/40/17 Sumitomo Tires.

my 97 z/28 with the same rim and tire combo was no way near as bad has my 95 t/a so at this pont i am ready to chuck the slp springs and shock and go back to stock ...... rrrr :evil:


so iam looking for a shop in nj that knows what they are doing with lowered cars ........ thx jim

wider tires tend to do that. an alignment wont fix this problem. but definitely check for loose nuts and bolts. i have tthe same problem on roads that are worn down with ruts. its just the uneven contact on different angles the tire wants to go up and down the rut.

hi went trough everything ... and it still likes to wonder ... yes i can understand the wide tires tend to wonder but my 97 z/28 was nowhere near what this car does (even with the same wheel and tire combo)

(I am thinking is the combo of the slp springs (which lowered the car about 3/4 on an inch and shocks that could be adding to the problem)... i am almost ready to pull the system off and return it to stock ......

there is your problem!! lowering the car changes the suspension geometry more than you would imagine

sorry missed that part. and yes lowering the car changes the entire suspension geometry.

so what specs should i tell my friend to dail in to help combat this problem and make this car feel less darty

best you can really do is toe it in a bit. a bit more caster might help. you are fighting the big tires

Yea my tires on my TA drag me all over the highway when I drive on Route 55.

Its a pain.

JW :D

my g/fs car has 275s all the way around and its HORRIBLE, far worse then my LS1 was with 275s up front and 315s in the back believe it or not

what spec should i go with ?

Get youself a "bumpsteer kit", bmr and spohn both make them i believe. Much of it is caused by the improper angle of the tierod going from the rack to the wheels. the bumpsteer kit has "spacers" in a way that allow the tierods to sit at the original angle.

Whatever the vehicle specs are (the alignment machine will have them), go maximum allowable toe-in. Settings are usually a range, so go to the inside of the range.


Paul may be onto something regarding bump steer issues, although bumpsteer does not cause 'rut drift' AFAIK. I forget how to measure bump steer, I'd have to look that up.

My 93 was horrible with 275s up front, concrete roads were the worst! I went down to 245s and it's 100% better!

the problem is called "tramlining". http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete....jsp?techid=47 read up

my car is lowered about 1.5" all around, and with 275's it wandered a bit. hitting bumps and ruts the car would just get pulled so i pretty much always drove with 2 hands on the wheel. surprisingly going from 32/19 swaybars to 35/21 swaybars actually stopped a lot of the pulling and wheel shaking over bumps.

didn't make a lot of sense to me but that was the only thing i changed and since then my car has been immensely more controlled over uneven/bumpy pavement. the guy who welded in my sfc's not too long ago commented on how my straight and controlled my car drove.

i did a search about tramlining and came accross an article from gm high tech when they were upgrading the suspention on a 4th gen they gave the stock aliment specs but explained how they tweeked the cadter and toe in but what sucks is that they did not give the final spec of where they put the settings


http://www.gmhightechperformance.com.../photo_30.html

not sure if this helps any but there's a few recommendations here:

http://www.angelfire.com/my/fastcar/suspension.html

thank you... for all your input will be take this car to the aliment shop and play around with the aliment to see if i can correct this problem... will give you guys an update to what find

UPdate

OK yeasterday after i put the superchager belt and hoses on I replaced the slp stage 1 springs and shocks with stock 2002ss front springs and shocks and stock LT1 T/A rear springs and shocks guess what most of my issues went away Yes the car handled great with the set up and I give up some handling but to tell you the truth it was not much (i do have bigger sway bars (front and rear) and frame connectors etc ) but also car rides much better and have some more headers clearance.... oh yea most of the tramling went away........ still have some but no where near as bad as it was before .... so i am a little puzzled ... (maybe since the car was lowered maybe the sway bar was binding or maybe i was was getting bump streer from the tierod ends.

beats me but the car is a pleasure to drive again ....

lol i remember when u passed me on rt 47 up near me on our way to the roadhouse meet. that road had your car going all over the place lol

to the OP- even if ur suspension is dialed in, the ruts in the road will continue to make ur car go all over the place.

yeah! i noticed that too! im really surprised, my car feels normal with those 275/315 tires on

was I on the throttle? or diving normal?

My 97 z/28 never had a problem with the bigger tire/rim combo so i dont know what the hell it is about this car .... i took the lower springs and shock s out and it made a nice difference but it still wanders more then I want.. not sure what to do .... (everything has been done on the suspension) dumb question is there bushings on the rack... tha could be worn out because i am still scratching my head what it could be ... )

very interesting i was on rt 36 the other day, and i was fighting to keep it in my lane. I might be looking into this soon...