SHINER

iTrader: (18)

When Im on the highway feels like my car follows every lil crack/line on the road and if a car drives by it sucks/pushes me from the other passing car. It just feels very unsafe(feels like the car is on ice). Any ideas??


Front Suspension Mods:
Poly sway bar bushings
Poly sway bar endlinks
UMI Strut Tower Brace
Stock Shocks/springs(10K miles on them)

Car used to have 13x K shocks and springs and it actually handled better.

WTF gives?

Sam Strano

iTrader: (41)

You probably replaced you WS6 spec shocks with even more ****-poor Formula/Z28 spec DeCarbon's. While neither is great, the WS6 stuff is better.

You need some real shocks.

SHINER

iTrader: (18)

damn.

thought decarbon=decarbon

Sam Strano

iTrader: (41)

Nope.... there are better ones and worse ones. Sadly, you exchanged better for worse (though the upside is neither are nearly as good as they should be). Not like you threw away a set of Koni's or something!

SHINER

iTrader: (18)

True.

I just dont see how shocks can effect the push/pull effect with passing cars..

ws6pewter

iTrader: (1)

Mine has driven like that since the day it left the show room floor and trust me I have bitched and moaned over since day one. Every dealer would just say it's normal. Sam I will be calling you in the near future!!!.

Sam Strano

iTrader: (41)

You didn't specify what you don't like. Just that the car drives like a turd, and it seems to me it's related to the shocks since it didn't before. And shocks do indeed effect the stability of a car (also the ride and the roll and pitch rate generation).

SHINER

iTrader: (18)

Ahh I see. Well the only probs i have are what are if I go over the lane dividers it will literally turn my steering wheel, and the stability is just horrible...takes the joy outta driving the car

ws6pewter

iTrader: (1)

I feel the same way....I have an 1989 Ranger with 250,000 miles with original springs in the front and shocks that have every bit of 200,000 miles on them. I actually prefer to drive the Ranger sometimes instead of the car if I'm not in the mood to deal with having to be ready if the car decides to quickly follow a groove in the road. Hell the ranger I can drive all day long with little more than 2 fingers on the wheel

Sneakyws6

Tires, the condition of the tires, tread pattern on the tires, width of the tires, and how much tread depth is left can effect this as well.

I bought the Konis off of sam and had them on my Bridgestone Potenza 750's. As the tires wore down the car bad about lane wandering even though the new shocks and alignment had been done.

Once I bought new tires it got rid of it almost immediately, and the shock will take care of the bump steer that the rear end is prone to when go over bumps in the road.

ws6pewter

iTrader: (1)

yep, I had it aligned once and that helped out alot(I can't remeber the # but the guy that aligned it said it was serverly toed in). That as been about 3 years ago. I agree I think alot of it now is that the tires are about worn out(stock f1's) and the shocks are 5 years old.

Got love it, it gives me an exuse to tell the fiancee why I'm spending money on the car.

SHINER

iTrader: (18)

lol well i for got to mention an idiot at the tire place mounted a tire backwards in the front.

02SS#406

iTrader: (1)

DOH!

VIP1

I agree with Sam on the shocks.
After that, get a more performance oriented alignment.
This is what I have now (others run pretty close to it too)
Caster: +4.5* (aim for up to 5*)
Camber: -.7* (aim for up to -1*)
Toe: 0
Thats the closest I could get on my car. Every car is different though. If you want to improve straight line tracking, go with some TOE-IN (1/32).

If you want to go further, you can go more negative in the CAMBER and more positive in the CASTER. Some people are running -1.2* to -1.5* CAMBER and +5.0* to +5.5* CASTER. Thats a bit much for the street and harder to achieve with stock/unmodified parts (and will cause tire wear). Maybe those with more aggressive setups will chime in with their specific setups. TOE IN will improve high speed stability (the car will run straiter and wander less). TOE OUT will improve corner entry ease , but at the expense of high speed stability (the car may wander more).

Here is another thread on alignment:
https://ls1tech.com/forums/suspension-brakes/636138-alignment-specs.html

Spink

iTrader: (1)

My car did that when I first got it and it had shitty $50 Kumho's on it that weren't even worn very much. Got new BFG's and it fixed it. Added Koni's and new sway bar endlinks and it drives flawlessly now.