I have a ’98 coupe that I bought in ‘02 that is having a really strange handling issue and I’m hoping someone will recognize the symptoms and be able to help out with some information. First, the issue: The car’s handling feels loose, floaty, drifty, as in it can and will drift 1-2 feet to the left or right while I’m driving straight with both hands on the wheel. Probably the best way I can describe it would be that it feels exactly like I’m driving in a gusty 30-50mph crosswind.

To make matters worse, I took my nephew out for a cruise a few weeks ago (his first time riding in my car) and I wanted to show him a little speed, so we’re approaching a long left-hand sweeper at about 90mph and when I begin the ever-so-slight turn, the car violently grabs and yanks left. I let off, correct, and it grabs the other way! This happened three times in about 2 seconds until I got the speed down to about 50 and then I was back to the ‘regular’ drifty floaty all over the road handling. Needless to say we quickly returned and now he is not all that thrilled with Corvettes.

Now here’s the back story:

I parked the car in November and didn’t drive it again until last month. I did not disconnect the battery during this down time, and it died. I tried charging it with a regular old 2 amp trickle charger with the battery still in the car, and as soon as I connected the cables a lot of the cars electrical equipment began buzzing, whirring and clicking. This did not sound good to me, so I then disconnected the battery from the car, and let it charge overnight. Well it turns out that the battery was bad, so I bought a new one.

My first order of business once I got the car all cleaned up and ready for action was to change the oil and replace the rear tires. I had a local tire shop replace them with the OEM Eagle F1 run flats. Now I’m not sure if the car was having the handling problem before the new tires, but I certainly noticed it afterwards. This may have been because I really did not drive the car until after the tires/oil change. Not sure.

Anyway, after initially experiencing the drifty/floaty feeling, I brought the car back to the tire shop for a full four-wheel alignment, and so they brought everything back in to factory tolerances. I just KNEW this was the problem, so I drove off happy, but cautious. While driving home I noticed the same floaty feeling, but was hoping it was just my imagination as it seemed lesser than before the alignment.

That same afternoon the ‘nephew’ episode occurred. I have not driven the car much since. After speaking with the shop, they said they had a contact at the local Chevy dealer who may know what’s up. Well, they called back and said that the only thing he knew of that showed those kind of symptoms was when the active handling module goes bad. They recommended turning off the TCS and driving it. I did. It didn’t make any difference.

I have had some bad experiences with the dealer (horrible customer service) and I do not want to take it to them.

So now I am depending on the wealth of knowledge of all of you to hopefully give me some direction on this. Also, if anyone knows of a competent vette wrencher in the Central California (Fresno) area I would love to hear about it.

Thanks in advance!

 

Hey dan, You didnt mention any previous work done to your car.. i had one come in that would almost change lanes and very skaty or slipperry in the back... Seems alignment shop had left rear tie rods for toe adjustment loose and that was the problem... Hairy to drive......Joey

 

Hi Joey. Thanks for replying. Besides Intake and Exhaust, the car is stock. Intake and Exhaust was done maybe three years ago and we've been up to 150+mph a few times with no problems since then so the mods are definitely not contributing to the problem.

This problem feels like it's in the front wheels, but who knows. I've never experienced anything like this before.

 

Well, you might get it up on jack-stands and get under there and start shaking things like the wheels, steering and etc... How old/miles are your shocks? They do wear out.

 

Has someone gone under the car and checked out all the suspension and steering components for something going bad?

Mine will sometimes pull on roads with bad tire grooves with the CCW's on it but they are wider than stock rubber and the stock rubber is better behaved. It doesn't just change direction though and try to crash itself.

I'm pretty sure that 98's did not have the option of active handling so that's not the problem.

Peter

 

Since your car is a 98 it may not even have the Active Handling option. Check the option sheet in the glove compartment or on the left rear compartment cover for option JL4. If you don't have that you don't have active handling. If your ABS electronics are mounted back by the diff you don't have active handling.

Check the tie rods to see if they are loose and check the wheel bearings as well. Is the car lowered? If it is too low it will bottom out on the bump stops in the shock absorbers and you will get really weird handling as the spring rate approaches infinity when you hit the stop.

You really need to know what the alignment settings are. Within tolerances is a meaningless statement as the tolerances are extremely wide. If you have front toe out the EMT tires will follow every pavement seam and rut and tram line back and forth across the road. This can happen if you have too much camber as well.

You need the alignment set at service preferred with no tolerance and just a little toe in on the front to correct the tram lining.

When setup properly the tram lining will be minimized and the car will drive like it is on rails.

One thing about C5 handling you should know. If you are floating the car into the turns it will feel like the back end is coming around or tightening into the turn too much. They do not like nuetral/trailing throttle going in turns and a little maintenance throttle goes a long way into settling the car down. I found this out when I took delivery of my 97 and went to the track with it. It had much less understeer than my 86 and could not be driven the same way. I was driving it through corners at speeds up to 20 mph slower than the 86 and feeling nervous about it. Then I added some throttle and the car became a corner carver extraordinare and I was taking the corners faster than I had in the 86.

Bill

 

Dear Dan,

I have a 95 Coupe & a 99 Vert.

I do my own alignments because mosy shops just screw them up on our Vettes, dealerships included.

Usually a drfiting vette can be attributed to one or a mix of the following:

Bad front end alignment if generally squirely

Bad rear end alignment if pulls to one side during acceleration

Bad tie rod ends

Bad ball joints

Actually, one of the biggest factors in keeping the car going in a straight line is caster. That's the front/rear tilt of the vertical turning axis of the wheel. Works just like a supermarket carts front caster wheels....those wheels are set way behind the vertical axis the wheels are mounted on which makes the cart track straight.

Sounds to me like your alignment is out

I'd get that looked at by a shop that all the local Vette Owner's trust for an alignment.

Good luck

 

The a-arm cam adjusting bolts must be tight, if one of these is loose then the wheel can toe in or out as you drive. You can also place a long board on the wheel to check that it isn't toed in or out a lot.

 

Guys thanks for all the replies. I really thought it was the alignment as well. It sounds like a trusted corvette shop is in my future. I just have to find one around here!

This is my first problem with the car, and for one that's 11 years old I guess I don't have too much to complain about.

There are a couple of guys at work who have C3's - I am going to see if they know of any corvette friendly shops anywhere around here.

Thanks again!

 

If the tire pressure is lower on one side in the front, my car does axactly the same thing. Even if it is just 5psi difference. When the tires are the same psi, it drives perfectly!

 

Try A&A Corvettes in Oxnard Ca.
Andy could help you out and he's very good.

6-speeder

 

I feel your pain- excellent advice so far. My own experiences was the same, my car would feel very darty and uncertain.

Some of this will be a repeat of previous posters:
Even if your alignment is in check, if you have worn suspension parts
Make sure your tie rods, bushings AND ball joints are tight. I've had worn tie rods and this caused the car to steer all over the place. The ball joints were also loose after 140k miles. Replaced all of these, got a good alignment and all is well now.

 

New tires???? Mmmmmm, check the pressures.

 

damn, with all these idea's i bet the op is confused as all heck at this point...