Unstable Z
08-11-2003, 11:05 AM
#1
Staging Lane
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Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Texas
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Unstable Z Why is my Z so unstable? Low speeds are fine but any speed above 50 the car is real flaky. The steering is super sensitive and the car wants to sway from side to side. Seems like this all started when I replaced my front tires with the stock size. When I kick it up to higher speeds I really need to hold the wheel because the car wants to swing side to side. It really takes effort to keep it straight. I don't have any suspension mods or anything but shouldn't the car be at least somewhat stable even stock? Who would want to buy a car that's feels like a snake slithering through the grass? Anybody feel me knockin'? 
08-11-2003, 11:27 AM
#2
Re: Unstable Z With my 18's and pretty warped rotors on all 4 it make my stopping at 100 pretty weird. But I'm gettin some new rotors and pads soon to stop that. Its basically the shaking from the warped rotors that gives me a slight unstable feeling.
08-12-2003, 05:14 PM
#4
Re: Unstable Z There is either "play" in the front end, or you need to consider shocks and/or an alignment.
Wide, low profile tires will follow groves in the pavement. They do "evil" things on pavement that is not flat and smooth. Ruts from tractor trailers, grooves in the pavement and the general uneven condition of most roadways (they all have "dips" from traffic running on them) can cause F-bodies (most anything with wimilarly sized tires and wheels, Mustangs, 300ZX's, etc) to wander around. Some of it is normal, but it is hard to say about yours. You may have replaced the stock Eagle RSA's (Really slide around?) tires with something with a much stiffer design. Doing so will increase the responsiveness of the steering and may make the car feel nervous, this will be more pronounced over uneven pavement, etc. If there does not appear to be any slop in the steering linkages and it just started since you replaced tires, it may be the tires, or the tires are causing you to notice an alignment that is not "correct" that the other tires didn't seem to show. What tires did you remove and what did you replace them with?
Kevin
Wide, low profile tires will follow groves in the pavement. They do "evil" things on pavement that is not flat and smooth. Ruts from tractor trailers, grooves in the pavement and the general uneven condition of most roadways (they all have "dips" from traffic running on them) can cause F-bodies (most anything with wimilarly sized tires and wheels, Mustangs, 300ZX's, etc) to wander around. Some of it is normal, but it is hard to say about yours. You may have replaced the stock Eagle RSA's (Really slide around?) tires with something with a much stiffer design. Doing so will increase the responsiveness of the steering and may make the car feel nervous, this will be more pronounced over uneven pavement, etc. If there does not appear to be any slop in the steering linkages and it just started since you replaced tires, it may be the tires, or the tires are causing you to notice an alignment that is not "correct" that the other tires didn't seem to show. What tires did you remove and what did you replace them with?
Kevin
08-23-2003, 05:22 PM
#5
Launching!
Join Date: Aug 2002
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Re: Unstable Z I had the same problem. Route 83 has ruts so deep I sometimes think I may bottom out. Some may disagree with me but this is what cured my wandering problem. First, I got an alignment, and had the tires balanced. Go to socal-fbodies.org they have alignment specs on the website. I was set at -.5* camber and zero toe. Then I got a strut tower brace. this took care of about 70% of the problem. Later, I got LG Motorsports welded subframes and that took care of the rest.
