oh i see. But honestly the rod that holds all the tension on the head has brass fittings that will get stripped out much quicker than any wheel can get bent, but thats how the new ones are, i dont know much about any older style alignment heads so i'm not calling you crazy or anything.

Is the toe at .07 and -.01? Thats far from perfect but not bad. Probably not affecting your handling that much. I think the caster is whats really causing your issues. It is what keeps the wheels wanting to self-center and stable. Its probably that causing your loose feeling.

 

I got a new rack and pinion and outer tie rods ends today and still have a shimmy in the steering wheel at highway speeds. I even put my original Z28 wheels with some newly mounted tires on a week ago to see how they do. After all of these steps still have the problem.

 

Wheel hub bearings? You can jack up the front wheels off the ground and see if there is play.

 

I will check that again to see but I have no wheel bearing noise and I had checked it and found no play before several months ago. This has been going on since March.

Will you always have noise when the wheel bearings hubs need replacing?

 

you wont necessarily get a noise, but if you do it is always there and it changes with MPH.

I guess you ruled out wheel balancing and all the steering ****. I' m still leaning towards caster a lil bit. It has to be realigned after new rack and tierods btw. How are all the bushings? Including rack bushings and control arm bushings. Since you switched the wheels i guess that rules out broken belts in the tires.

 

I had him check the bushings on the lca's and wheel bearings. He had been doing alignment work for 25 years and says everything is tight. Front end alignment was done again yesterday also. Ended up with .1 camber both sides, and 0 toe.
Now he says that I have to take it back to where I got the second set of tires and have them figure out what is wrong with the tires because he said it is the tires even though this is a whole different set of wheels and tires and I have the exact same steering wheel shimmy. Mostly noticeable on the highway where the roads are not perfectly smooth. It cost 840.00 yesterday for the rack and pinion, outer tie rod ends and labor with alignment. Actually the steering wheel is shaking worse now.

 

Have you gotten a road force balance?

 

On the first set I had them road force balanced on Hunter and Coats Sonar road force machines. I have spent over 200.00 just on all the balancing and swaped out to my old wheels and new tires came from a place that doesn't have a road force machine but they did a set of 19 and 20 inch wheels for my friends corvette and they came out smooth. Same tech did them. Front end still doesn't feel right to me.

 

I think that is wrong, I got a buddy thats into cars and he says theres plenty of stuff in memphis for performance, Ill see if he has any suggestions.

 

I hate to be a repetitive old fool, but I can't believe that you can't get a decent front end alignment! Just as an FYI, "zero" toe at rest, on the alignment rack, equates to a "toe out" position at speed, when the road force against the suspension components kicks in. Although it sounds like you still have a few issues, having a front end with a toe out condition doesn't help..... What is your caster currently set at?


BTW, how many miles on the car?

 

The caster I am not sure about because his machine did not have a printer and he did not write that one down for me. He said it was in the green on the Hunter machine.

Everyone on here said they were running 0 toe so I went with that since I have had problems with scrubbing on the outside of the tires.

This place had a pit that he worked out of and did not have to lift the car into the air to work on it. I am not sure about the process on the alignment because I left the car all day while I was at work.

My car is just a well maintained and well cared for 99 Z28 daily driver with 78,000 highway miles mostly. I pretty much dodge all the bumps in the roads and try to take care of my car.

The shaking in the steering wheel is worse since the new rack and pinion was put on with new GM outer tie rod ends.

 

By the way you guys that sent me the money order I thank you very much and appreciate that you care so much for people. You have helped me out alot.
Thank you.
chevygirl

 

^^^^^XXXXXXXX on the

"I hate to be a repetitive old fool," (will be 70 in Oct. ) as I also have been following several of your post on this problem , I do not wish to leave out any of the pro s who are also following this, several have given great advice
SPY520, LEADFOOT4,JUSTOUT4U, SEVERAL OTHERS and myself I am sure can cure your problems. After the time and money and headacks I suggest you pick out one of us who is close to you and come see one of us.
I am retired but I would come out of retirement, back to my old job and correct your problems.
aligment (fromt/rear thrust line/ pienon angle)$99.99
rotate/balance/road force 49.99
any extra work needing to be did would be at going rate

all with money back guanarty ( my work is a lot better than my spelling)
I am about 750 miles away
I only hope the board does not kick me off the board as I AM NOT a sponser

BUT I am NOT silisiting work, as I stated I am retired and want to stay that way, so please try the other pros.

good luck ,Johnny

 

Sounds like a good idea. I wish I could drive it that far. It is pretty much a total pain just getting back and forth to work now. I guess I will head back to the place I got the tires and start there again. I appreciate the ideas and help since this is my first alignment problems I have ever had before.

 

for good info read the "" caster and wheel experts""" thing at the bottom

read the following:::::::::


Wheel Alignment A Short Course
The second type is a full 4-wheel alignment where the adjustments are first made to true ...
www.familycar.com/alignment.htm
•
FIXING WHEEL ALIGNMENT PROBLEMS
If rear toe is off the mark, it can create a rear axle steer condition that a simple fron...
www.aa1car.com/library/tr295.htm
•
Rear Tire Alignment
We're the automobile experts. Find rear tire alignment.
Sponsored by:AutomobileXperts.com/
•
Wheel Alignment and Wheel Balancing
A wheel alignment cannot be done on a car with


good info, Johnny

 

I found a place here in town that does front end alignment mechanically with old machines and no computers. Has anyone ever heard of that? They say the computers are not accurate especially in the hands of someone not knowing what they are doing. They said the calibration could be off as well on the computer machines. They take appointments only one day ahead so they must be a busy place. They were listed on the corvette of Memphis website as a sponser.

 

In case you mised it, "PM" sent..............

 

you mean with fishing lines and boards and weights? LOL.

I wish you knew the caster, it could possibly cause wheel shimmy/instability (like a shopping cart) because it is creates the force that makes the wheel want to stay straight.

Camber is a wearing angle (cross camber is really the pulling angle).
Cross caster is a pulling angle, but if both sides are too low cross caster will be fine but the wheel will do weird ****.
Toe is pretty much just a "steering wheel isnt straight"/excessive tire wearing issue.

I'm thinking after a different set of tires, a new rack and all new tierods, and everything is still "tight" that it might still be in the angle.

I've seen new tires do this even though they balanced fine, but not two different sets.

Whatever it is, its not rocket science so eventually it will dawn on one of us.

 

I may have missed it - did you get a roadforce balance? Static and dynamic? You can balance a 2x4 statically, but the roadforce is what you'll feel. If your tires are losing air, you need to address that. If you lost half your air pressure in a day or three, there may be a nail/screw/piece of shrapnel in a tire. That could affect what you feel also.

You did the right thing replacing the rack, it's a common failure and with a bad rack, you won't hold an alignment. It gets more common as the replacement parts aren't as good as original.

Many of these cars will only give you so much caster. If you get 4 out of both sides, you're lucky. Ask Sam Strano about the relative rarity of factory high caster cars. Sounds like the best you will get out of yours will be 3.5 or so on each side, this was the case with mine. My next move will be adjustable A-arms, which will solve this. You only have so much alignment play possible in a factory car without drilling out A arm mounting holes or replacing them with adjustable. Short of this, you may have to settle for close to what you want/better than factory vs. the preferred alignment specs on LS1tech.

What tranny and rear gear do you have? If you have an A4 and 2.73 rear, you have a steel drive shaft, which could be contributing. Do you feel the vibration in the wheel or the seat/floorboard. Have you replaced your tranny mount? When did you last have a front brake job? Bad rotors can cause the exact same shimmy as a front end/tire/wheel problem, as can unevenly torqued lug nuts. Make sure they used a torque wrench to put the wheels back on.

Often it's the simple things. The fact that you keep switching shops is costing you time and money also. You need to find a capable one that you TRUST and stick with them.

 

It is a steering wheel shimmy back and forth.

Let me ask this guys when I jacked my car up in the front and left the key out of the car so the steering wheel should be locked and then I placed my hands at 9 and 3 0'clock and rocked it back and forth with not a lot of effort it will move a little bit and on the drivers side it makes a clicking noise. Passenger side is quiet but moves the exact amount of distance. Is this a bad thing that it moves some? How much movement is not right? At 12 and 6 it does not move at all with little effort only at 9 and 3.