thanks for posting this.

i was wandering if anyone else's car wonders.

my car wonders too much and i think it has something to do with the 275/40/17 tires taking the car's attention away from the steering input.

 

How long have you been driving an fbody and how are the roads? What brand tires? air epressure? type of shocks and miles?

I been driving fbodies only for 6 years, and never notice anything wondoring anymore. even if I dont' drive it for 3 weeks. If your new to these cars you might be more senstive to them. And i always have quality shocks and tires on my cars so that could help too.

 

my car doesn't wonder anything, it's not a living being.....

just to clear things up a bit:

wander

wonder

but yes, a shorter-sidewall, wider tire is going to wander more than a stock-sized tire, or skinnies

 

I've always had this problem with my SS, 275s on all corners.

I've upgraded the swaybars, front and back, and I've also upgraded to Koni S/As all around. This hasn't helped.

Soon I'll have my new wheels/tires installed, 255s on the front this time. I'll check back in with results when it's done.

If that doesn't do the trick I'll probably look for worn out steering bits, rod ends and the like. Though the car only has 50k miles on it.

I'm under the impression that the wandering is due mostly to: how worn the front tires are, How wide/tall the front tires are, toe-in.

 

Mine wonders why the driver is so slow

 

My dad's SS was having the same problem with 'tracking' and following the grooves in the road. He got a BMR STB and it COMPLETELY elliminated the tracking.

People say that STBs are a waiste of money, but my experience is proof enough for me that they are worth the money.

 

a soft compound, wide tire will read the road like brail

 

That makes no sense what so ever.....

 

my car will all the sudden pull for a split second then stop....kinda weird

 

Mine wanders all the time, 275's on the front.

 

How in the world does my statement not make sense?

 

because linking the shock towers together- which don't really move anyway- doesn't have anything to do with rolling resistance variations between left and right tires... the wider a tire, the more a rut will cause an increase in rolling resistance...

if one side has more rolling resistance than the other, it will obviously slow down that wheel and pull the car in that direction.. in addition to the tire just falling down the slope into the rut

this problem is yes, wandering, with an A... otherwise known as trammeling... its a common problem, and it affects all sorts of vehicles... aspect ratio, overall height and width.. thats all it comes down to

 

Always had 275's, always had the same problem. It was real bad in Missouri... Texas is a little more friendly.

 

yep tramlining, my problem was alleviated a little when i went from the stock kdws tires to gs-d3's but its still shows up now and then.

 

But regardless of the fact that the shock towers do NOT move, the STB did elliminate the car's 'trammeling.'

 

HELL YEAH! my car does this as well, i thought something was wrong, but im glad other people have this problem to.

 

i'm surprised nobody has mentioned caster. caster is the relationship between the balljoint centerline axis and true vertical. positive caster means the upper balljoint is further towards the rear of the car than the lower balljoint. measured in degrees.

Caster uses the weight of the car to help keep the wheels straight. the more positive caster, the more the wheels will want to stay straight, obviously this increases steering effort since the weight will be forcing (a little bit) the wheels to stay in a straight line. it isnt really that big a deal with power steering, but if you got manual steering you dont really wanna go too positive.

Caster effects steering so much, that the side with the least positive caster will tend to pull the car in that direction. so crank up that caster guys, and maybe it'll cut back on the wandering. maybe the factory recommended specs just arent enough.

also i might add, if both wheels are toed in a little it might keep the car straight, but it'll eat the hell out of the tires due to scrubbing...

am i wrong?

 

Reguardless of geometry, if it has wide tires on the front like any Vette, SS, WS6 ect. then it will pull you all over the road on a non uniform surface. Also, a strut tower brace does nothing to correct or aid in correcting this, there an appearance item.

 

 

Both my Lemans and camaro will wander in the ruts coming up to stop lights. I have wide tires on both cars. The worst is when it does it in the rain.