This happened twice in 2 days (1 on one day and the next on the next day).....immediately after hitting 2 bumps in the road (typical Louisiana roads), and doing about 40 mph, my daily driver Vert began to violently shake through the steering wheel and the entire car (for about 5 seconds). Shaking enough that I was concerned that I may lose control. After taking my foot off the accelerator, the shaking began to subside and disappear. It wasn't on the same road or at the same time of day. It didn't happen again...even took it up on the interstate for several miles and she tracked straight and smoothly (65-70 mph) I know that was very risky, but I wanted to find out what the problem may have been... we all do dumb stuff with the one we love (ha ha). The steering also works perfectly. The shocks are about 10 years old. Every year, I have my mechanic (who has worked on my Vette over the past 26 years) give her a complete "physical" checking her fluid levels, the mechanical condition of the brakes, frame, engine, transmission, rear end, and FRONT END. He spends about 2 hours going over everything (best $250 I spend for peace of mind). He's going to look at tis again after all this, but he speculated over the phone, that one or two of the shocks may have failed (locked in the up postion)...again that's speculation over the phone.

I ordered from Summit Racing (4) QA-1 shocks.

Any advice or information will be greatly appreciated

 

Could be a bump steer issue as well. After you install the shocks and make sure your alignment is in spec, you may have to consider bump steer if it happens again
Very nice looking vette!

 

Sounds like a "death wobble" the front suspension has likely worn components and/or out of alignment.

 

Could be caused by any one of a number of things. I once had a similar issue. Turned out the bolts on the half shaft flange to rear spindle had worked loose. Would have sworn the shake came from the front end. Idler arm is also suspect. Bushings worn or perished?
Any one of a number of things.

 

stop speculating
stop driving "testing" it
Next action is to get car into a bona fide frame shop that has a real frame table. They will find ALL areas that need help.

 

Worn out ball joints, on the front end?

 

Check ALL the suspension joints & shocks for looseness at front and rear. That is called death wobble. Something is loose. Low caster on these old cars aggravates it.

 

I went through this same scenario in a 1500 pickup I had in the late 90's. After was all said & done, replace front shocks, etc, it turned out to be the front tires that were a little worn, but enough to throw the tires WAAAAY off balance. After hitting a bump & going around a left curve in the road, it set the condition off so bad I thought there were going to be front suspension parts scattered all over the road. New tires & condition completely went away.

 

Something's loose. Since it's loose enough to set up a resonant vibration it should be easy enough to find at home. Jack each wheel off the ground and do the 12-6 o'clock and 3-9 o'clock check at all of them.

The fix for death wobble on trucks (after all the components have been verified good) is a horizontal steering damper. I've seen these on cars but I always suspect it's a desperate bandaid by someone who couldn't find the root cause.

 

Nice post R R so can you pls expand more about "bump steer"????

JJ78

 

heres an excellent thread with information and a future solution. The smallest version is th ecar darting side to side, major issues contribute to the death shake or death wobble. Jeep Cherokee/XJ guys had this issue with their jeeps in the 90s
https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...ecting-it.html

 

xj guy here…my wife on the highway told me about it..i shrugged..happened to me holy crap!

op
complete suspension inspection as many have posted..

 

Bump steer is basically...hit a bump... with only one front wheel... and the toe changes.... and the car jumps right or left...INSTANTLY.

When it's really bad it can jump half-way into the next lane!
When mild it can be only a couple of inches, just a twitch of the steering wheel.
Then it is over, ... til the next bump.

Old 4 wheel drive trucks were nortorious for a wobble that would start, and then last for many many seconds or even minutes.
They felt like they were going to shake themselves apart.
That is death wobble.