After changing out all bushings and suspension parts, you would think that I would be loving how it rides ... but I'm hating it. Could be the rack ... could be the tires .... but one thing that I know is that the poly LCAs have got to come out. I ordered some Moog rubber control arm bushings that I'm going to press into my factory control arms and just go back to those. Even though my car is lowered ... I may try moving the LCAs up to the upper holes as well. That is all that is wrong in the rear.

As for the front, it's hard to steer. It wasn't nearly as hard until I replaced my rack and tie rod ends ... and then it got even harder after I swapped ball joints and control arm bushings in the front. I adjusted the rack's pre-load slightly but then put it back because I could feel every bump on the road even more.

The tires are Firestone Firehawk .... Indy. I hate those tires. When I go over some bumps my steering wheel tends to jerk one way or the other. Driving on the highway ... it feels twitchy ... and unstable.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

I have the same twitchy and unstable feeling now. I've got Koni's on the lower perch up front and heater hose mod out back all on stock springs. I'm on 7 year old Kumho Ecstas and they are hard so I know that's contributing.

 

Have you had the alignment checked??

 

Yes. Right after I changed the upper and lower front control arm bushings and ball joints. Here are the specs:

Here are the front end alignment specs:
Anything off?

Left:
Camber: 0.00
Caster:5.9
Toe: -0.01

Right:
Camber: .3
Caster:5.1
Toe: -0.02

 

What bushings did you use in the front?
What tire pressure are you running and what tire size are they?
What else did you change?

 

What brand are your LCA's????

 

The front control arm bushings are Moog. The control arms are stock. As for the rears, those are Founders with poly bushings. The tires are stock - 245x50-16. My pressures are 32psi in the front and 30 in the rear. I lowered the rear and that helped very slightly on cornering but of course still feels loose as hell. I also have Strano springs/Billstiens. The rack came from the rack doctor (South Carolina?)

 

I just redid my entire front end, with MOOG everything, upper and lower control arm bushings, upper and lower ball joints, outer tie rod ends, spring mount insulators, front and rear sway bar mount bushings, and front and rear sway bar end links. And I LOVE the way my car feels on the road now. I'm running the rear Founders 3-piece poly joint rear LCAs, and they are really nice. I have KONI SA's with Hotchkis springs, and 18" wheels running 275/35/18 and 315/35/18 tires, but the stock 120k mile steering rack.. We have pretty similar setups so something is wrong.

 

Don't know what happen but it should feel 100 times better!!
My car after my polyurethane bushing felt solid and actually absorbed bumps and vibration better! I recommend them to everyone who doesn't have them. You might wanna check out what the heck is going on under there... something isn't right.

 

I agree ... and I tend to think that it's alignment and/or/tires/and/or rack. Well that narrows it right down, eh? LOL. What the hell else could it be? All the parts are new. I installed them ... so there's no question in my mind about whether or not the parts were installed correctly. For heaven's sake ... it's a Trans Am!!

I have done everything that you just listed.

 

What's your tire pressure?

 

Any standard poly bushings in the rear LCAs will create bind.

I was somewhat skeptical about the Founders 3 piece poly joint LCAs, but at the price I figured I'd try them. They actually seem to work really well, a good happy medium between rubber and a rod end. I'm liking them so far.

I think the toe out you have is helping make the car darty. And the maxed out caster is going to make the steering heavier.

I've been told that a little negative camber is better on these cars (like -0.5 or so).

x2 on the tire pressure.

 

Tires pressures are 32psi in the front and 30 in the rear. Pre-load is good on the rack ... so nothing to do there. Nothing is dragging as I disconnected the tie rod ends and both sides swivel freely.

Interesting about the alignment numbers. My thought was to get it back in the alignment shop. Those alignment numbers that I have now are very close to what a different alignment shop aligned it at - about a year ago. Should I request some toe in ... and negative camber? I've got a pretty good relationsip with that shop so it shouldn't be a problem; they may not warranty it ... but who cares .... I just want it to ride like it should.

I'm guessing that the caster numbers are what they are due to lowering? Both shops said that I will have to take it to the dealership to adjust the caster.

 

I've wondered what swapping rubber bushings in the panhard bar would do for something like this...

 

Simple fix... get some stock LCAs and pop in some solid rubber moog bushings. They are perfect for performance driving unless maybe you are making monster power and/or launching off of drag radials at the strip. Don't buy into all the hype about aftermarket LCAs.

 

That's exactly what I'm going to do as I mentioned in the first post. I ordered the Moog bushings yesterday. I still have the stock LCAs. When I put the stockers back on - I'll evaluate things ... but I'll make changes one at a time. As for the alignment, I may head to another shop where a friend of the family is the alignment guy and have him dial it in .... get some toe in, positive camber and see if he can do anything with the caster.

 

I went Founders 3 piece poly LCAs because it only cost a little bit more than new bushings + the frustration of pressing in the new ones. Otherwise, yeah, the moog solid rubbers are fine.

 

Try increasing your tire pressure. I had an odd, loose sensation in the rear of my car when I first put tires on it, and it was because they put 30psi in it. I put it up to the max of 44psi, mostly as an experiment to see if it would improve, and it felt like a completely new car.

 

I had 40 psi in my tires (not on purpose) for a while and I could feel every pebble on the road. It sucked.

 

I remember trying that after putting the poly lcas in and I hated it ... it over-steered even more. I'm guessing that with the lower pressure in the rear, it's the only thing articulating back there. LOL.
I'll take it up to 36 all the way around and see how it is.