floodofnoise

I've had this car for a couple years and its always done this. If there are any ruts in the pavement or whatnot, you can feel the car follow them and have to hang on to the wheel to stay safe. I've became somewhat accustomed to dealing with it but should I be concerned? I love the car but I'd be lying if I said it was a comfortable ride or really easy to drive.

Guitar

iTrader: (9)

I don't really notice the ruts I guess, but my tires do that in the rain when I go through a puddle and I know the feeling. Though I guess those are ruts. Either way, yes, it is scary, especially when I'm switching a song on my radio and look down real quick or only have one hand on the wheel.

BKsNHRA

iTrader: (4)

My car does the same. I don't think the 18 inch wheels help. But I'm the same way. I got used to it.

ldbranda

Mine follows them like crazy. Damn near takes me off the road sometimes. It was worse with my F1's.

Stippy17

iTrader: (5)

All depends on the wheels/tires your running but yes it's very normal. Especially with wide wheels/tires.

LS-ONE_DAY

Yeah my car has the 16" factory wheels with 245's. It doesn't follow the ruts that badly most times. I tried a buddies set of 17" wheels with 275's for a couple weeks and they following ruts a lot more.

babbage1109

iTrader: (11)

The wider your tires the more it will follow the ruts.

TransAmWS.6

Exactly, a lot of it is just the nature of having wide tires. It definitely gets me at times when I'm not really paying close attention and the car violently snatches itself around when the road gets grooves in it. I've gotten used to it though since I've had it.

joecar

This happens if bushings are worn out and/or if the front is toeing-out.

2002ss335

There is one stretch of road that semi's loaded to the max have rutted and it feels like my car is almost out of control. So I am going to take to a shop next week and check to see if any of the bushings have dried out or worn. The car will be 11 years old in a few months so I expect to replace some.

I am also going to have them check the alignment.

The wide tires don't help but I think this is something more than that.

Todd

SparkyJJO

iTrader: (11)

I've noticed that my 99 with 245s follows the ruts and grooves in the road more than my old 98 that had some stupid skinny tires on it. But my Trailblazer has 245 tires also, just taller, and it doesn't follow ruts unless they are really bad. I've gotten used to it but I do wonder about its alignment. Of course my plan is to get some new wheels and 275s when these wear out. Oh yeah, let's follow those ruts some more!

therabidweasel

iTrader: (5)

In my experience stock alignment follows ruts badly and has a very heavy feel. it seems weird that it does both, heavy AND follows ruts. Exact same wheels and tires with toe even or just a tiny bit out, max positive caster, max negative camber and it doesn't follow ruts (275s)...but it is more darty and requires more attention to drive...but it does not follow ruts/features. Never ran a quarter in it, but autox is limited by me, not the car. My .02, YMMV.

dabest09

iTrader: (1)

This is where I notice it the most, and it feels VERY unstable. I'm constantly fighting these types of roads and it's kind of annoying. The rain makes it 5 times worse. I think the 275s in the front are the reason for this.

trans_am7935

iTrader: (15)

i agree, mine does this too, what is the smallest size tires can you run on 17x9.5 rims and still look normal?

2QuikTA

Yeah, my 275/30/19 could be better...lol

Latch

iTrader: (8)

My car did it HORRIBLY with worn out BFGs up front and it was out of alignment. New Nitto NT555s (same size as the BFGs, 275/40R17) and a good alignment made the problem go away 90%. On heavily rutted highways you can still feel it trying to wander, but it's no where near as violently out of control as the car was before.

z28bryan

iTrader: (7)

Try 315/35/17s up front. Rut city!

SladeX

Funny, I found it to be worse when I had my winter tires on, 225 vs my 275 out front. Also noted it because I had to switch that day due to a freak cold snap a month or 2 ago.

LS1TA385

iTrader: (1)

Wide tires and positive toe does not help any. I have also heard that sub-frame connectors help out a lot for some reason

99Bluz28

iTrader: (35)

It could just be the contributing factors of the tires construction, I had a set of pirelli p-zero rosso tires that were really bad!