touchy steering

[paul23122]

Have a strange problem with my 95 gt. The car tracks straight and no worn tires but on the feeway or some roads the car will want to dart left or right. While changing lanes of freeway instead of gradually moving over it just darts over very quickly (scares the hell out of you). Everything appears very tight. Any thought??? Bad caster angle or????

Thanks for the time.
-Paul

 

[narcszm]

That's not your car; that's your front tires coming out of the ruts on the freeway. It is especially noticeable if you have wider front tires.

 

[wythors]

Narcszm is correct. The term for it is "tramlining". A good alignment with the addition of a set of caster/camber plates can probably alleviate a lot of it by adding more caster.

 

[Dino Dino Bambino]

Have a strange problem with my 95 gt. The car tracks straight and no worn tires but on the feeway or some roads the car will want to dart left or right. While changing lanes of freeway instead of gradually moving over it just darts over very quickly (scares the hell out of you). Everything appears very tight. Any thought??? Bad caster angle or????

Caster isn't adjustable and doesn't need to be unless you've lowered the vehicle. If you have lowered it by more than 1-1/4" you'd be well advised to install adjustable CC plates, bumpsteer kit, and get a proper alignment. Check your steering rack bushings for wear and excessive deflection.

 

[wythors]

Caster is adjustable with caster/camber plates, as I suggested.

 

[ttopstang]

that sounds like over steer which is usually caused by worn ball joints. I had a car doing the same thing, alignment didn't really help, changed ball joints, that was it.

 

[paul23122]

That helps alot. I know the previous owner had put eibach springs on it but it doesnt appear to be much lower than stock. the other thing i forgot to mention is that when i hit about 60-70 mph the steering wheel tends to shimmy a little but only in that small mph range, any faster or slower it goes away. Does that help at all in diagnosing this darn thing!

Thanks again to all of you!!!
-Paul

 

[dgollem]

The shimmy is probably cuased by out of balance tires. You can rotate front to rear and see if the shimmy changes or get everything rebalanced if it bothers you. Over time it may cause some cupping and increase wear but only if you drive a lot at the speed where the shimmy is.

 

[ID89GT]

Could check the rag joint on the steering shaft too, but you said it drives straight normally so I wouldn't suspect it as much. My rag joint was completely shot and my car was all over on the freeway