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I have a 1977 coupe with a steering problem. It oversteers and gets "squirrely". As long as I keep the wheel straight and use small movements it is ok. But if I hit a rut in the road or make a sudden steering change it wants to hop all over the road.

The tires are good, the front end alligned well, new steering pump. I don't want to randomly start changing parts such as the gear box unless I have to . Any comments and/or ideas??

Thank you.

Kim Nicholas
Seattle, WA

 

What size tires do you have? The symptoms you describe could very well be caused by wide tires with a low profile, such as 255/45-17.

 

I have that problem with my vette to,
and I run 275/40-17

 

Same problem with my 77. Have 245/60r15 on mine.

 

You need a tad more toe in... When you get the right amount, the car will be steady as a rock (if everything is in good shape).

 

Have a 4 wheel aligment done.

 

I do know that the tires are wider than "standard" but I can't remember the specs. I will check tonight and get back to you. If it is the wide tires, is there a way to compensate? Someone mentioned more "toe in".

 

I assume the suspension is original? If so, there are many factors that cause "darting" Some of this is normal for the car it just gets worse as it ages. It probably isn't steering related - that's just how it feels. I agree that a proper alignment will help - and that means NOT to the factory specs - you want about 0 toe with as much caster as you can get on the front. Do a search on the forum for allignment specs and you'll get some good numbers.

After that you may need to replace bushings and shocks if they are worn. My car did this in a bad way - I did a full resto (body off) with new everything, composite spring and Konis and now it drives like its on rails. I know you don't want to get in this deep but there ain't nothing like a car that handles right!

 

There are several parts that could be causing your problems. Rear wheel bearings, side yoke endplay, bad U-joints in the half shafts along with alignment problems. You probably need to take the car to a competant Corvette repair shop for an inspection.

 

well, we have to determine where the problem really is. do you have 'oversteer'? not trying to sound like a butt, but just want to make sure we're all speaking the same language. oversteer means the back end wants to break loose and come around. you most commonly experience oversteer in high load cornering conditions. if your problem is more that the car doesn't "track" straight (it doesn't want to go straight down the road), the problem is not "oversteer". if the car is darty, there is something wrong in the steering input so the wheels don't track correctly.
first thing, you mentioned the tires are wider than "standard". so does that mean you have wider tires on factory rims? do you have aftermarket rims? improper offset will affect the kingpin inclination and that could cause some strange effects while driving, especially on rutted roads. what kind of condition is your steering system in? you mentioned a new gear box but what about the steering ram? bushings? balljoints, etc?
as the others have mentioned, bad alignment settings. or even something simulating bad alignment. i had an odd handling issue one day at the track. seemed to just happen all of a sudden. the front handling just got all sloppy and i didn't know why. i checked my suspension and found that when the alignment was done last, the tech didn't fully tighten one of the a-arm bolts and all my shims fell out!
pj is right about the alignment too. look on the vette brakes site or give them a call. use their recommendations as a good baseline.
other questions: on good roads, does the car track straight or pull? any pull on braking?