I believe that the question may have been mistated.
If you have a wheel/tire hop problem (as I do), the worst thing you can do is install bigger antisway bars. This will only aggravate the situation. However, if your car is, in fact, swaying too much, then a beefier sway bar will help. Now, assuming that you have the wheel hop problem, replacing the runflats with non-runflats WILL help. Steering response will suffer slightly, but ride and overall handling will improve significantly. Currently, the best non-runflats out there are the new Goodyears (can't remember the model number).

I will be buying a set next year if my runflats keep wearing at the same rate.

 

A brand new Z06 will do exactly what you are talking about and it:
a) doesnt have runflats
and
b) has Z06 bars.

Its really mostly about alignment and tire width. I have non runflats, and a full z06 suspension and on uneven pavement I swear sometimes the car wants to rip the steering wheel out of my hand, on 99% of other pavement it is perfectly fine. It really depends on the road surface.

If you lower your tire pressure sometimes the effects will be reduced so I could see how going to non-runflats would help as they aren't as stiff.

 

I have to agree with yellow2k4. I just changed my swaybars and all but eliminated what you are talking about. See http://forums.corvetteforum.com/zerothread?id=681855 for details.

When I tested them out (after realizing the problem was gone in town) I headed out to a section of I84 that has a really bad problem with this. As fate would have it, I wound up behind a red C4 form Washington (I believe) with plates that said FAAAST.

I would watch her sway all over the road, and then notice my minor swaying in comparison when hitting the same spot. This was also a HUGE drop in sway over previous runs on this same section of road. :yesnod:

So yes, the sway bar upgrade should do you well. :thumbs:

 

Dave68:
Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3. :D

 

Anybody ever hear of roadwalking? If the pavement is uneven or there is heavy construction making ruts in the road, the wide low centered gravity of the vette and its wide wheels/tires cause this "swaying" feeling. It's NOT your car--it's the road. Thicker sway bars may even make it worse!

 

I'm AMAZED how many differing opinions there are concerning this driving condition. I'm going to try a few of your suggestions and report back my findings. It's not that the car is miserable to drive, but for those few times that the road is uneven..... It takes a little :steering: to keep her on the correct course.

Anyone else have some personal experiences they care to share? Perhaps you've found the cure I'm looking for??

Thanks again to all.

 

Bump steering, rut steering, road walking or swaying.... what ever you want to call it in my experience (former F45 car) is caused primarily by the driving surface and amplified by the fact that our cars have such wide tires. That said... here is what I know for sure.

1. Switching tires from GY runflats to Firestone runflats made a very noticible difference and made me feel more confident in the cars ability to stay pointed in the direction I was steering.
2. Upgrading to Z06 sway bars did not affect the remaining bump steering, rut steering, road walking or swaying...
3. Upgrading to non-runflats BFG G-Force TA/KD actually made the problem a bit more noticeable.. especially after realigning the car to Z06 spec. But the car corners like it's glued to the road.
4. Replaced the F45 shocks with 2004 Z06 shocks a couple of weeks ago...
one of my front shocks was totally dead... rides like a new car... like the F45 in perfect working condition in the Performance setting! OK.. maybe better than the F45. (Really glad I switched... or should I say lost the switch!)

Bottom line is you can lessen the bump steering (bum steering :lol: ) , rut steering, road walking or swaying but unless you only drive on perfect road surfaces... :auto: you're gonna have to live with it.

 

Yes I've heard of it, in fact I was resigned to living with it, due to the wide tires. However, as I stated after noticing a lack of it I went out to where it is really bad here, and it was in fact lessened after the Z06 bars upgrade; something I was not expecting. So the bars did not, in fact, make it worse!

 

:withstupid: all you can do is lessen it.

 

Bill,
I see you are planning on attending Bragg-Smith this spring.... you are absolutly going to love it... it is money well spent especially for a C5 owner!

Enjoy!

Don

 

XmentalPilot: Yup me and my wife are planning on it. :yesnod: We expect to have a blast of a time.

Hey I see you're from Tacoma. I lived there for 9 years as a kid. Hilltop. 23rd and Alaska. That seems like so long ago ... ok, so it has been ~ 15 years. ;)

BTW, nice color. :thumbs:

 

I bought my car in 2001 and it had the original GY runflats on it w/ 19k miles. These tires were so bad that they would actually change lanes. I thought something was wrong w/ the car. But after I changed to the YOKO's and did my suspension mods with an alignment, the car tracks like its on rails now. All the difference in the world :smash:

:cheers: