F-Body International

I just got new wheels installed on my '98 Trans Am today and before I got the car back, the Goodyear shop doing the install let me know that my passenger side tie rod is loose. I said that's fine and I'll have to order a tie rod this set this week.

After I left the shop however, the car started a wobble in the steering wheel at speed. Would having a loose/worn tie rod be the cause of having a steering wobble at speed? What other parts should I look at to address? My tires/wheels were literally mounted and balanced today.

Right now, I'm thinking I'm best off chasing down the UMI bumpsteer kit and getting an alignment to start...

http://umiperformance.com/catalog/in...oducts_id=1079

This is my car with the new wheels as of today...
by https://www.flickr.com/photos/156619454@N04/, on Flickr

Necron

iTrader: (11)

Normally if you change a part and a symptom appears it's that new part. The most common area for this a wheel balance issue and that's what changed.

A loose tie rod would induce wander on the road since they control Toe alignment.

I would take it back to them and report the issue. Do they have a road force balancer?

F-Body International

When I was driving the 2nd time this evening, it seemed to stop doing it but then came back. There's something odd about this situation going on.

This weekend, I'm going to try clean up the hub surfaces real good and make sure the wheels are torqued and seating correctly. I have a brand new Strano front brake kit I've been waiting to install for over a month. Hopefully I can bang that out over the weekend. After that, I'm thinking it'll probably be safe to install that bump steer kit just to replace those steering linkages and have an alignment done.

This is how I'm feeling with this car right now...

stp001

Maybe some snow inside the wheel, or if it is real cold where you are, tires flat spot until they warm up. "Summer only" tires are kind of bad about it. Fronts warm up slower than rears.

wssix99

iTrader: (5)

Wheel balance issues will do this. The vibration builds up to 65 or 70 mph and then just goes away at higher speeds. (The more intense vibrations would be between 55-70 mph.)

fst100

iTrader: (5)

like others said, try and see if the shop can re-do and balance the tires. quickest and easiest thing to do. make sure to have a different person do it this time around just in case.

stp001

I hate to chime in here twice, but before you blame the tire balancer, which is a very easy process, jack your car up and spin your wheels while checking for runout. A jack stand with a pencil taped to it works great. Inexpensive wheels, unfortunately, are not the truest wheels. I have learned to check wheels prior to installing tires. If you have lateral runout, a wheel repair shop can have you fixed up in a half hour. Out of round takes longer.

jlangley

iTrader: (8)

I had a vibration issue and only after balancing the wheels twice, changing u-joints and balancing the driveshaft did I find a small amount of play in my right outer tie rod end. Changed the tie rod end and vibration disappeared.

The vibration happened at different speeds and seemed to come and go. The symptoms you describe seem very similar but the timing in your case is quite strange.

handyandy

Also being aftermarket wheels you just bought, I'm assuming they aren't hub-centric, meaning the hub bore on the wheels is larger than your hub. By design the weight of the car is supposed to sit on the hub and that self-centers the wheel, rather than just sitting on the studs. If you have non-hub centered wheels, it can cause vibrations. You can get hub rings that are plastic rings that take up the space between your aftermarket wheel hub and the car's hub.

I'd also look at the type of seat on your lug nuts versus the seat in the wheel to make sure they're both the same type.

Nathan C

What part of Ohio are you from?

blackbyrd

iTrader: (14)

Had this exact issue on the GTO installed some hub rings went away

F-Body International

Thank you for those of you who have responded thus far! I for, some reason, wasn't getting notices on my phone so I didn't think anyone was responding up until last night.

Since I've been driving the car more this week, it's been a lot less noticeable and I probably have become a lot less sensitive. I still however feel a little shimmy in wide sweeping turns sometimes.

In my rush to get an order placed today, I ended up forgoing the UMI bump steer kit. I instead, went with a bump steer kit from Midwest Chassis. At $149 and says it works with the stock power rack, I figured I'd give it a try.
https://midwestchassis.com/products/...-steering-rack

For the inner rods, I was in debate between Moog and Proforged brand. Moog has a greasable setup while the Proforged inner assembly is a non-greaseable setup. I ended up giving the Proforged piece a try.
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/p...model/trans-am

Hopefully I get this setup installed next week so we can see where we're at up front. First part of my plan, however, is to install my Strano (UMI/Wilwood) brake kit over this weekend. I've been waiting to install this kit for almost two months due to my ordeals with trying to place an order with wheels. While in there, I'm going to clean up my hub surfaces extra well and make sure my hub rings and wheels are seating correctly...this is my #1 check at this point.

5.7stroker

iTrader: (36)

Anyone driving an F-body in Ohio in these winter conditions that we've had as of late is a boss!

F-Body International

Ok, an update from me is that I just complete the install of my new Strano break package. While I had everything apart, I made sure to clean all the surfaces really good and everything was seating properly. After taking the car out for a test drive, I noticed it did smooth out some and breaking is much smoother by comparison to the Chinese eBay pads/rotors I had on before. I'm still waiting for my bump steer kit and inner rods though.