I've had my new 99 for about a month now and I've got a question that hopefully I can get some answers on. When I go into a corner aggressively it feels like the rear is turning as well, it doesn't kicks it's *** end around unless my speed is high, but it feels wierd. It almost feels like it's dog trailing into and through the corner but there's no physicla dog trail look to it when going down the road or into corner's. Is this a normal thing with the C5's or do I have suspension parts wearing. It's only got 45000 miles on it. I do know somebody has installed a complete Borla exhaust system, including shorty headers.

 

You need to explain yourself a little better. Do you mean that it feels like the rear wheels are steering (similar to the GM trucks)?
Bill

 

Is this your first Independant rear suspension rear wheel drive car?

I had similar feelings with my friends 1996 LT4 that I drove frequently while I owned Camaros. My C5 feels the same, I take it as I.R.S. traits.

 

Yep, it's the I.R.Suspension.

 

I have a buddy who was bragging about his 86 monte ss, and how good it handles and how fast it was. Its mostly stock. I went for a ride and we did a few burnouts and went through a few twisties...I was not impressed, my toyota pickup felt faster. He was bragging the whole time. He did not know I bought my vette and I had not told him. I opened up the garage door and said, Hey lets go for a RIDE...he looked at me kinda like oh, wow (which is my license plate for next year) . We lowered the car off the lift and climbed in, I kinda dogged it for a few miles to get it up to temps. we were running about 35 mph and I slyly rolled up the windows, and nailed it, well needless to say, when we hit third gear and the tires hooked up, he just about crapped his pants...all he could say was dammmmm, this thing is quick,,,then we hit the twisties, I could see the look of fear on his face and I hit a curve he had a hard time doing 45 through, I run it all the time at 90,,,he did the white knuckle thing...when we got back to the house he was actually shaking and had goose bumps. I scared the crap outa him and never tried....I said "you ready to race and got no reply" . He said "thats f---king thing is FAST, I never heard a tire squeal in the corners , man that was incredible,,he went on and on....I replied, yea, its only got 500 hp and there are some with 6-7 hundred, could you imagine how good they run...His wife called me later to tell me he told her he wants to sell his perfect monte ss (it is a nice car) and get a vette..That he was realy impressed with the underside of the car, could not get him to shut up about how cool the suspension and how great the car handled. She said she has always wanted a vette, they are looking this weekend....I have converted a soul...

 

I can't say I've felt that in my 99. I definitely doesn't understeer much. Could it be that your active handling is kicking in a little to prevent an understeer condition?

 

Back to the original question, have you had the car aligned? Rear toe out of adjustment can make the car feel really strange going into the corners.

Also, it could be your tires. If you're running stock run-flats, they're so stiff that it screws up the handling when in the corners.

First, I'd check your alignment.

HTH, and have a good one,
Mike

 

No insult intended - but we don't know your driving skills -

What are you doing with the throttle in the turn?
Is the turn flat?
Steady radius? Changing radius?
Are you letting off the gas?
What are your tire pressures?

I'm no expert, but I've found as good as the C5 handles, it can be made to twitch pretty easily. I've found that a little lift can make the car dive into the outside front pretty quickly and the rear 'floats'. I haven't gotten oversteer by lifting, but have gotten some 'wierd feelings' from the rear.

The other thing is the stock runflats are not great, and are sensitive to tire pressures. The sidewall is stiff when travelling straight, but will fold over in high speed turns. It was recommended to me that I run ~35psi for track days in these tires and it does handle/track much better.

 

Alright, I thank everyone who has replied. I know I left out some details so here I go..

This is my Third Vette, 96,94,99 so yes I am used to IRS. My driving skills are in between a moderate to lower expert as I have done timed auto-cross event's, drag racing events and circle track events. My placements have ranged from 1st to 25th over the last several years, so another words I know how to drive, most likely the story of the guy who tooks his friend 90 in the twisty, I'd probably take it at 105-115 with the no fear attitude. So hopefully I've captured a base image of my driving skills.

The thing that does come to mind that I will have to check is my toe settings, I could see this causing the wierd rear fealling. I also need to get the car up in the air to eyeball all my suspension parts, as I just picked the car up about 1.5 months ago, and it was obviously used being that it's a 99.

During the cornering active handeling is disengaged, I do not have runflats on my rear, only the fronts. Tire PSI's were set 32 in the front and 34 in the rear, this is happening at several different corners that all have physical difference's. I think what I need to do is go find a flat parking lot and run a skid pad test to see if I can pin point if it is actually the IRS or if something is out of whack. I still have my 94 which is a 480HP stroker setup and the corning in it gives me much more coinfidence at higher speeds than my 99 at the moment..

 

Ah! You're way above my ability sounds like - sorry for the skills questions - just didn't know!

 

Awww!! you can do it, you're just yella!!

 

My car felt like that when I had old hard run flats. The transaxle being over the rear makes it feel different than a C4 which takes a little getting used to as well. Also, if you have the traction control on it will feel different as well.

 

I think your answer is found in your "I do not have runflats on my rear, only the fronts."

It's not recommended to mix these different handling tires. Run flats give you much sharper response, as the side walls don't flex as much, than regular radials.

Your rear tires are not following the same sharp line as the fronts. Get all of one type of tire on and you will handle better. I would use the same brand and model at all 4 wheels, as even different brands/models will give you different handling.

 

Never experienced what you described in my 2002- Z51. All 4 tires are the same and front and rear recently aligned. Sid.

 

I have found a lil instabiliy in mine at speed in corners but when i got it aligned one of rear corners was out of wack and was the culprit. Since it runs like a charm! Also the upgrading of shocks, springs, & sway bars really stabalized the car it had the base suspension when i got it.

PS upgrades were not done at the time of alignment!