Car is hard to control
Le Mans Master
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 9,420
Likes: 8
From: Southern New Jersey, The wet part at the bottom
St. Jude Donor '08-'09-'10
Aside from the above posts about alignment, loose or failed suspension parts, etc. It's just the nature of wide tires to act in this manner, amplifying any road imperfections. But then I'm assuming that you have watched this become worse over time? It might just be time for some parts replacement and a good alignment. If your road system is anything like here (jersey=one big pothole) any car with rubber as large as a Vette's is going to have less than desirable handling characteristics on rough or uneven high crowned roads.
Thread Starter
Pro
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 731
Likes: 9
From: Ivins, Utah
I crawled around under there a lot just now and there is nothing broken or worn, everything looks good.
I'll just try the alignment and look for non run flats.
Thanks all.
Drifting
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 1,719
Likes: 1
From: Florida
St. Jude Donor '07
The alignment made a world of difference. The NON run craps are next. My car would dart from side to side and would track ruts. We had replaced the front outer tie rod ends. The front end was toed out so that explains alot. Stangkiller helped me replace the A4 transmission. So with the full rear suspension being disrupted many adjustments were necessary. 151,000 might also have something to do with it.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,158
Likes: 6
From: Winter Springs Fla
I did Bilstien shocks all the way around , a new set of Goodyear GS-D3's , swaybar bushings and endlinks and alignment for less than a new set of stock shocks .
The car rides and handles better than it did when it was new .
The car rides and handles better than it did when it was new .
Safety Car
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 4,123
Likes: 0
From: I'm not a doctor, but I play one on TV! Austin, TX
We are having similar problems with our '01 coupe. We do not have run craps on it. Car does not seem to be out of alignment, doesn't pull one direction or another. Running stock size tires, Goodyear Eagles. Rear swaybar looks ok, can't inspect front, don't have a jack. The car has done this for the past 3 years that I know of. Sways in places on roads that my '98 coupe never did so I have a hard time thinking it is simply ruts in the road.
Someone mentioned might be shocks. Shocks have never been replaced, how would we know if they are bad? Approx 73K miles on the car. We are original owners as well.
It's scheduled to go into the shop tomorrow but I don't want to pay a diagnostic fee just for them to tell us our shocks are bad.
Thanks for any suggestions.
Someone mentioned might be shocks. Shocks have never been replaced, how would we know if they are bad? Approx 73K miles on the car. We are original owners as well.
It's scheduled to go into the shop tomorrow but I don't want to pay a diagnostic fee just for them to tell us our shocks are bad.
Thanks for any suggestions.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,158
Likes: 6
From: Winter Springs Fla
We are having similar problems with our '01 coupe. We do not have run craps on it. Car does not seem to be out of alignment, doesn't pull one direction or another. Running stock size tires, Goodyear Eagles. Rear swaybar looks ok, can't inspect front, don't have a jack. The car has done this for the past 3 years that I know of. Sways in places on roads that my '98 coupe never did so I have a hard time thinking it is simply ruts in the road.
Someone mentioned might be shocks. Shocks have never been replaced, how would we know if they are bad? Approx 73K miles on the car. We are original owners as well.
It's scheduled to go into the shop tomorrow but I don't want to pay a diagnostic fee just for them to tell us our shocks are bad.
Thanks for any suggestions.
Someone mentioned might be shocks. Shocks have never been replaced, how would we know if they are bad? Approx 73K miles on the car. We are original owners as well.
It's scheduled to go into the shop tomorrow but I don't want to pay a diagnostic fee just for them to tell us our shocks are bad.
Thanks for any suggestions.
I ran my shocks right up to 110k miles .
And yes : the G/Y GS-D3s rock and you will be happy ,, hehe
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Melting Slicks
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 3,470
Likes: 18
From: Lake Ozark, MO
I asked this question before because my car would pull to the right on hard acceleration. Here's what I found:
My Z06 had the same problem side to side play in the rear wheels. When you would accelerate it would pull one way and decel would shift the other. The car also seemed to wander...my fix was very simple. The rear outer tie rod ends were worn out. I replaced them and had the toe set and completely cured the problem. I would be willing to bet that is the issue.
OR
I put the vette up on the jack and grabbed the rear wheels at 9 and 3 oclock and pulled on them side to side and got about a 1/4" of movement, this can't be good. I noticed the upper A arm bushings moving side to side allowing this, no doubt this is where my torque steer is coming from.
My Z06 had the same problem side to side play in the rear wheels. When you would accelerate it would pull one way and decel would shift the other. The car also seemed to wander...my fix was very simple. The rear outer tie rod ends were worn out. I replaced them and had the toe set and completely cured the problem. I would be willing to bet that is the issue.
OR
I put the vette up on the jack and grabbed the rear wheels at 9 and 3 oclock and pulled on them side to side and got about a 1/4" of movement, this can't be good. I noticed the upper A arm bushings moving side to side allowing this, no doubt this is where my torque steer is coming from.
Safety Car
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 4,123
Likes: 0
From: I'm not a doctor, but I play one on TV! Austin, TX
The rear outer tie rod ends were worn out. I replaced them and had the toe set and completely cured the problem. I would be willing to bet that is the issue.
I noticed the upper A arm bushings moving side to side allowing this, no doubt this is where my torque steer is coming from.
I noticed the upper A arm bushings moving side to side allowing this, no doubt this is where my torque steer is coming from.
Your problem sounds slightly different than ours. Ours is mostly when you let your foot off the gas pedal at highway speeds, it feels like someone shifting the back end of the car back and forth ever so slightly. It's not one way more than the other or even predictible which way it will sway when you let your foot off. I just canceled the dealership appointment tomorrow morning. The hubby and I are going to get a jack this weekend and try wiggling some things and see if anything is loose. Hopefully we can narrow it down from there. I think our future plans for the car involve Z06 swaybars anyway. I'm just concerned that something is wrong/broken on the car and causing this problem.
I did find another thread discussing this a while back and can't find it in the archives now. Someone mentioned that it was some sort of a bolt that had worked its way loose? Anyone heard anything like this?
Drifting
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 1,719
Likes: 1
From: Florida
St. Jude Donor '07
We are having similar problems with our '01 coupe. We do not have run craps on it. Car does not seem to be out of alignment, doesn't pull one direction or another. Running stock size tires, Goodyear Eagles. Rear swaybar looks ok, can't inspect front, don't have a jack. The car has done this for the past 3 years that I know of. Sways in places on roads that my '98 coupe never did so I have a hard time thinking it is simply ruts in the road.
Someone mentioned might be shocks. Shocks have never been replaced, how would we know if they are bad? Approx 73K miles on the car. We are original owners as well.
It's scheduled to go into the shop tomorrow but I don't want to pay a diagnostic fee just for them to tell us our shocks are bad.
Thanks for any suggestions.
Someone mentioned might be shocks. Shocks have never been replaced, how would we know if they are bad? Approx 73K miles on the car. We are original owners as well.
It's scheduled to go into the shop tomorrow but I don't want to pay a diagnostic fee just for them to tell us our shocks are bad.
Thanks for any suggestions.
Le Mans Master
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 5,747
Likes: 224
From: Hillsboro Oregon
For alignments I use Les Schwab shops. They always seem to do quality work.
But most of this is due to :
Goodyear RunFlat tires, I switched to Michelin Pilot Sport ZP and the problem was almost gone
Our crappy roads in the PDX area.........ruts from folks using studs
But most of this is due to :
Goodyear RunFlat tires, I switched to Michelin Pilot Sport ZP and the problem was almost gone
Our crappy roads in the PDX area.........ruts from folks using studs