Hey all, my first tech post. Bought my 2000 coupe 2 weeks ago and the darn thing wanders or seems to wander around within it's lane above 60mph. It lurches about 6 inches to the left and I'll straighten her up. Then it lurches 6" to the right and I'll straighten her up. This sequence is repeated over and over again. I've tried switching lanes thinking it could be grooves in the road but it doesn't help.
I know when I accellerate it wants to dart to the right slightly.

 

That doesn’t sound good. I would check under car and look at tie rods for excessive play or worn or damaged suspension parts. I would get alignment checked out as well. How many miles are on your car? If your tires are borderline I think I would replace them as well. It sounds like it would be very dangerous driving your car like it is right now. I have noticed mine is wander more than usual but I am in need of new tires and alignment but its nothing like yours and mine is at any speed on rutted roads only. I know when I put new tires on the bmw it eliminated the wandering in the deep grooves so Im sure my c5 will improve with new tires as well.

Good luck.

 

Thanks Jeep. The dealer put on new rear tires before I bought it but the front tires are not new. It has 45,000 miles on it.

 

The OEM run flats are well known for tram lining.

Did he replace the OEMs with new OEMs? I know it sucks but I'd be tempted to go for new tires all round. that will almost certainly improve things.

 

I also notice when the tires are wider than normal, they feel that way. My G6 has 195s and the vettes has 275s, so the "drifting" is alot different. Plus most roads are slightly dipped off to the side to allow water to run off to the gutters. Just an observation.

 

I just checked and:
New rear tires = Continental ContiExtremeContact 275-40-ZR18
Not new front tires = Goodyear Eagle F1 245-45-ZR17

Not liking the fact that they mismatched the brands

 

Are the F1s also EMT tires (run flats)? That will make it worse as the EMT tires are much stiffer than non-EMT F1s. You need to talk to the dealer about the mismatched tires. Was this a Chevy Dealer or a run of the mill used car dealer? Dealers (even Chevy Dealers) that don't deal a lot with C5s may have no clue about the run flats and they went with the cheap tires on the back. To them its just another used car like an Impala or Camry.

Most of the tram lining can be avoided by having the alignment set with just a slight amount of toe in at the front. The normal C5 spec is toleranced toward toe out so a slight tweak of the toe may help a lot. However, the run flats really like to follow road grooves. If you get the alignment set make sure you give them specific instructions as the tolerances are wide and they can just about do anything and say the car is aligned correctly.

Bill

 

That's NOT GOOD having mis-matched the tires like that. That can affect your handling in turns creating either oversteer or understeer as the tires will perform differently. Also .... the Continentals ARE NOT runflats ... assuming your car is not a Z06 it came with runflats on it. Do the Goodyear tires say "EMT" on them ?? If yes, they are runflats.

I'd look into the following .....

As JEEP/C5 recommends, have the tie rods and other front (and rear) suspension parts checked ASAP for play/wear. Also have the wheel bearings checked. If all is OK, have an alignment performed.

You probably should go and work something out with the dealer on the tires ... especially if you have EMT's on the front and not the rear. Maybe you can work something out where they put 4 new Goodyear EMT tires on and you pay a part of the cost, and they pay part.

Runflats have MUCH stiffer sidewalls than a "standard" tire, and handle quite differently, you really should get this looked at soon.

Hope this helps,

 

This is common with vetts because tires are wide as well as wheel base and you get caught in the truck ruts on the highways.Try this on a concrete roadway and you will have no issue asphalt roadways have mild rut marks from cars and trucks.

 

You may need an allignment and/or need to have worn tie rod ends replaced. Or maybe you might just have something loose under there.

More than likely it's your tires. The stock EMT's, as previously mentioned, are notorious for making your front end wander, lurch to one side ect when you hit bumps, grooves ect. Upgrading your tires will make your car feel like new again.

I'm sure you will have it running great in no time!
Bob

 

That's the problem. Your dealer was an idiot for doing that.

 

I would get alignment checked first the fact the rear tires dont match will matter around a conrner but not much going straight, I would suspect your toe in is not correct and the car is wandering. Go Amercian muscle!

 

Well, for those "idiot" dealers, will someone please explain how having different tire brands between the front and rear tires (correctly matched side to side) will cause problems?

To the OP, my experience has been that you will find that older tires will have more of a tendency to tramline; having newer tires on the rear will make little or no difference.

Also, I agree on checking the alignment, but the combination of wide tires, a responsive suspension, and an agressive alignment will always make the car "hunt". It also makes the car handle in the corners phenomenally.

HTH, and have a good one,
Mike

 

 

When I bought my '98 it had the Goodyear EMTs with about 35% tread left and on the highway, whether concrete or blacktop, the car always wanted to follow the ruts, no matter how small. It was a constant battle. I bought 4 Michelin Pilot Sport ZPs (run flats), had it aligned and, since then, no more wandering all over the road. As others have said, having runflat and non-runflats or mixed tread designs on the car can cause some notable handling problems especially on wet pavement. Improper alignment can also exagerate those problems.

Cheers

 

Big thanks to everyone!!!

 

The big issue here is the vast difference in sidewall flex between the emt's and the non emt rears............nothing to do with mixing brands in this case. It's all in the sidewall flex...............

 

Diffferent brands can have different sidewall flex.

 

Precisely

 

Listen to Black Z06s advice

You have a dumb dealer whos fitted new non runflat Continentals on the rear which have a soft sidewall. You have worn OEMs on the front with a stiff sidewall rated for 200 miles flat. The Active Handling must be having a field day.

This "expert dealer" has set you up with a handling problem which may catch you out at the extremes of performance or in bad weather.