Cambridge205

I just did my steering linkage and the steering gear box in my car because the steering was real lose and the gear box because the toe couldn't be adjusted right. All of that really helped the steering its a lot tighter!
Anyways after driving it back from the place I took it to get aligned the car tends to follow groves in the road or if I hit a pot hole it pulls real hard to the right or left. My old firebird never did that. What can I do so it doesn't look like I'm a drunk driver?
Oh yeah I never did the lower ball joints but I don't think they could cause this and the guy who aligned the car said they looked ok.

CamaroLover09

Have you checked your struts? My car used to do that before I had mine replaced. I used to look like a race car driver when I was trying to hold it in a straight line on the back roads. It's a great way to stop your friends from bumming rides, they're too scared to go anywhere with you again.

Cambridge205

I don't know how check them but to push down on the car and see if it bounces a lot but it doesn't.
Come to think of it the divers side is higher than the passenger side I don't know if that has anything to do with it. Or why one side is higher than the other.

sofakingdom

iTrader: (1)

Sounds like it's set to the factory alignment specs.

Take it back; get them to set it up like this (given as L/R):

Caster: +4/+4.5
Camber: -.5/-1.0
Toe: 1/32" - 1/16" In

The factory specs are goofy; they very little caster (gives a vague center), positive camber (tips the top of the tires outward and wears the outside edge). I have no clue why they're like that; I'm sure there's a reason, but I don't know what it is.

Cambridge205

Heres what they set the front to
Camber -0.06
Caster 0.19
Toe 0.09

But in another section it says left front is set to
Camber 0.36
Caster 4.92
Toe 0.04

and the right is set to
Camber 0.41
Caster 4.73
Toe 0.05

So does that mean its set right or not???

sofakingdom

iTrader: (1)

The "other section" is pretty decent. If that's how it is NOW, then alignment isn't the problem.

What was this car like before you did the steering work? Is it lowered (or sagging) in the front?

Cambridge205

Its not lowered its has about 175,000 miles on the body so the t-tops were loud till I switched to my 92 t-tops I had from my last car. It did the same thing before I worked on the steering it just took a lot more wheel to correct it than it does now.
How much space should be between the wheel well to the wheel?

83Firebird420

the top section is the diference in degrees betweeen the 2 sides. the bottom 2 are self explanitory. camber looks ok...caster looks fine...if there more than .5 of a degree diference there it would pull to the lowest side. and toe looks fine as well... its set to how the factory wanted it set...

Cambridge205

So the alignment is good.

But why is the car following the groves in the road?

83Firebird420

i think its teh 8.5 inch wide tires. mine likes to follow the road grooves more now since i installed the tie new tierod ends. mabey try tightening ur steering gear box a little. to tight and u crush the bearings so be careful...aside from that u may just have to live with it following the road grooves.

Cambridge205

How do I tighten the steering gear box? I never knew I could do that.

They guy who did my aliment said that too. I guess I'm going to have to live with it till I need new front tires. Than I might go with a smaller front tire.

Thanks for your help!

83Firebird420

on the top of the steering box theres a nut with an allen key in the center, undo the nut and turn the allen key. then hold the allen key in that spot and tighten the nut. i dont know which way to turn it, as i have not done it, but have seen it done manytimes. you just have to be careful not to tighten it too much and crush the bearings.

bgood71

Hey Cambridge, are all 4 tires the same?If they are not the same and have very different tread patterns they will have a tendency to follow grooves and wander. As for one side sitting lower than the other, you have a sagging coil spring. Also, I would recommend checking the idler arm and piman arm, as nearly all GM vehicles are prone to these parts wearing out.I hope these tips help you out.

Cambridge205

Yeah the tires in the back have different tread patterns than the ones in the front. thanks for the tips.

enoughtraction

did you replace your centerlink and your idler arm? if your tierod isnt a straight line across from one side of the car bump steer can occur, my 86 v8 sport coupe and my buddies 2.8 we bolth bought last summer bolth had decent tie rods but bolth had horribly loose idler arms(weak point? coincidence?) id chack ball joints again personaly they are a very comon cause also check all your springs and check your rear suspension, if your driveline angle is changing when you hit a bump (due to your rear axel rolling or twisting) that can make serious bump steer also. if you determine its a front end issue you can hide it a little with a steering damper, it WILL NOT FIX the problem but you wont feel like your careening down a huge hill out of control all the time either just my