I have a question I thought you all could help me with. I put Bilstein sport shocks and Z06 swaybars on my 98 coupe this past winter. Car handled fantastic when I first got them done. However over the past 5 months the car's ride and steering has diminished (car has a more jarring ride). I originally noticed what I guess would be called bumpsteer (i.e., hit a bump and the steering wheel moves in my hand). Then, I noticed a steering wheel vibration in the car going 75 mph and above. Now, I have noticed when breaking the car seems to want to pull to the side and it follows ruts in the road a whole lot worse than it used to. Then there is what seems to be a more jarring ride. My first thought is that I need an alignment and possibly need to have my wheels balanced. However I am surprised that my car's ride would change this much just due to a need for an alignment/wheel balance. Do you think I could need new tie-rods or any other steering parts? Car is now 7 years old and has almost 50K miles on it. I am planning on taking it into a local shop I go to next week. I always like to have suggestions for my mechanic to look at certain things and I would appreciate your thoughts. I love my car, but the car is getting quite annoying to drive. I want to help get her back to her old self. Thanks for the help!

 

Josh, it would have been a good idea to get an alignment done when you changed your shocks and sways. Being out of alignment will cause irregular tire wear and that could cause your steering wheel vibration, and it could also be causing your pull. You may need new tires now. They can wear out very quickly with the wrong alingment.
How many miles on your tires now, and what brand/type are they. That could contribute a lot to ride quality. I would definitely have it checked asap and if new tires are called for, do an upgrade when doing the alignment.

 

The degradation of ride quality in your car is probably due to something wearing out like tires, tie rod ends, or a bushing or two. However, when you harden your shocks and install Z06 swaybar's you can expect your bump steer and other reactions to the road surface to dramatize. That is to be expected. If it were my car, the alignment would have been done when the new shocks and sways were put in. As a rule, any time I mess with suspension a 4 wheel alignment goes with it.

 

Thanks for the info. I guess I should have done the alignment a few months back, so I guess that is where I will start. I got BFG G-force tires late last year, and still have plenty of tread left on them. I suppose tires could be part of the problem, but I wouldn't think so. I guess after that I can check for tie-rod ends, bushings, make sure suspension parts are tight, etc. Thanks for the info. Hopefully if I do all that, the car will be back to running like new. Thanks!