Gearhead Jim

Our 2009 Z51 has over 98k miles. The steering now feels rather loose and sloppy, as if there is too much play in the system somewhere.
It used to be that when the wide tires would tramline, the steering wheel would twist in my hands. Now, the steering wheel almost stays centered but the front tires independently tramline on their own.
If I'm going around a wide curve on the interstate that changes from a wide left to a wide right, there seems to be a dead spot near the center when transitioning left to right, moving the wheel doesn't do much for a few degrees.

Tires have over 1/2 tread remaining and are wearing evenly.
Properly inflated.
Shocks (Bilstein HD) have less than 30k miles.
Ride height is even on both sides.
Car was given a 4 wheel alignment last month after replacing the steering wheel position sensor, numbers are good but it only helped a little.
Car has never been in an accident, and I don't do curb jumping.

The car is still under GMEPP extended warranty, so I don't worry about the cost of repairs. But is there anything unusual for the tech to look for in diagnosing the problem? It's not severe enough to seem dangerous, but it's annoying.

wayback

Check the tie rod ends and ball joints. Tie rods by rocking tire at 3 and 9 oclock (front to back). Balljoints 12 and 6. Tire off the ground of course.

I use a pry bar to check the balljoints.

Wonder if sloppy endlinks might cause this? I changed mine because of noise everytime.

Gearhead Jim

The endlinks were changed because of noise within the first 20k miles, and have been silent since then. Not sure how much they could effect the situation.

weathermaker

Steering Rack?

extrapilot

and the tie rod ends.
The steering knuckle to the rack should be checked, making sure the pinch bolt is tight.

buckmeister2

Most shops will do a free inspection, and I would certainly NOT take it to a dealer if it could be avoided. With an inspection, you will pretty much know what is wrong, and what will be needed. Very unlikely the end links would cause this. Thinking ball joints first...

ben dover

Check ball joints first.

AORoads

Not to dispute my fellow Corvette-eers (read: peers) above, but I remember front ball joints having a different effect on the car. So, I looked it up. The first description I found reminded me of what I'd experienced. See what you think about it. https://www.yourmechanic.com/article...ll-joint-front

Gearhead Jim

All good food for thought. I do have something like symptom #3 in AORoads' link above, but that's not definitive.

This will have to wait a few days, the windshield place is dragging their feet abut replacing the windshield they scratched (see my other thread for details).

HOXXOH

I'd lean more toward wheel bearings. It only takes one going away on the front to cause what you described.
Strangely, I had one that I could tell was bad around 88K miles. However, neither dealer I went to believed it to be bad. Since I was still well short of the 100K, I waited until 98K and took it back to the last dealer. After I convinced the service manager to take a drive with me, he understood the problem and they replaced both front bearings.

A rear bearing can also make the car feel unstable, especially when pavement has been changed in one lane and not the adjacent one or when going around curves. If your ears are tuned in to car sounds, you can tell the difference on right vs left turns.

Check play like Wayback said at 6 and 12 o'clock.

rkj427

Jim,

HOXXOH and wayback have you on the right path.

Bearing noise may be a light growl/hum/droan noise heard, more prevalent on turning the wheel while in motion.

IF a noise would be heard on turns, it would indicate the opposite side may be the concern. Example noise on right, look at left side, etc.

Bearings may also allow you to check by having movement around the whole diameter of the tire.

PAULEB07

wayback

If it is the hub bearings they are not too hard to change. There are some good you tubes to walk you through it. I changed all 4 of mine in 3 hrs. Amazon has a good assortment of hub bearings for our cars. I went with SK as they were held in high regard amongst enthusiasts.

Swapping a tie rod would be even easier. Just be sure to get it aligned after.

rkj427

If it was an issue with the steering rack, you would more likely feel a "binding" while turning first, as the internal seals typically are the first things to go on the rack...................shouldn't be too difficult to pinpoint and find, seems you just needed to know where to start out and what to look for.

Gearhead Jim

I'll be talking to the local dealer this week.
Remember that the car is under GM extended warranty, so I need to go with a dealer but don't care about the cost. If they happen to replace more parts than really necessary, that's not a concern to me.

HOXXOH

Just to be a step ahead of the dealer, jack it up and check each wheel for play. You'll know when you hear the diagnosis if the dealer is chasing the right problem or just padding the bill.

Just for reference, the wife took her Caddy to the local dealer for an oil change special. They did their multi-point inspection (?) and found the left front tire worn to the cord on the inside edge. The repair estimate and other "needed" maintenance items came to $4447 + tax. She knew the prices were out of line when they wanted $650 for spark plugs. I checked out the car and replaced a wheel bearing for $52 in less than an hour, since that was the real cause of the tire wear and it wasn't even on the dealer's list of needed items. They saw the "older woman with car problems" and $$$$. I wonder how they would have explained the same tire problem happening about 1,000 miles later, had she not known better.
Then they wonder why people call them stealerships.

JacksAO

You might want to check with Joe at CPR. If I remember he was/is an authorized GM extended warranty repair shop.

Gearhead Jim

For us out-of-town folks, what is CPR?

JacksAO

Sorry about that. Here's his website. http://racingperformancepartsaz.com He's also an ACE Forum vendor.
He's located over in Mesa AZ. They do a lot of work on Corvettes and a lot of hipo work on C7's. You can also check him out on our local website, ACE Corvette Forum.

CPR= Cordes Performance Racing

Gearhead Jim

Thanks for the info, I'll check that out.
BTW, nice to meet you at the Black Bear, will try to get back again.