If what is in there now is heavier than what came from the factory, you need to install front coil springs with higher capacity. If you have the rear of the car raised up, that will decrease caster, leading to steering wander, and it will shift more weight onto the front which will aggravate all the things working against you already.įinally, you must look at the weight of the engine and transmission. Normal caster for your car is around 3.0 degrees. There is a point where too much caster can cause problems, but cars like yours don't have enough adjustment range to set it too high. Beyond that, as caster is adjusted higher, high-speed steering stability increases, steering wander decreases, the steering wheel will be harder to turn, (that's why power steering was added), and the steering wheel will return to center on its own faster after you turn a corner. All that's important is the two wheels must be the same. Did you get a printout? If so, what are the camber, caster, and toe readings? "Caster" has very little affect on tire wear but it has a big affect on pull. I assume you had the car aligned after the parts were replaced. THAT is what contributes to steering wander. ![]() If it moves more than that, you'll see the right wheel move left and right too. That arm shouldn't move more than about 1/8" with hand pressure. You can see that pretty easily if you crawl underneath, grab the center link right by the idler arm, and push it up and down. They didn't fail in a way that presented a safety problem, but they develop looseness that allows the right wheel to turn left and right. The last thing to consider is that GM had a really huge and common problem with their idler arms in the '70s and early '80s. With both wheels tipped to the left, that sets up an unstable condition. Now, to get the needed camber offset for road crown, you may need to tip the right wheel in on top a little. That 1/4 degree has very little affect on tread wear on normal tires, but with wider tires there's going to be more outer edge wear unless camber is lowered. That's road crown, and all cars will drift that way if that extra 1/4 degree camber isn't there to offset it. All roads lean to the right so rain will run off. The left tire is always set a little higher, (about 1/4 degree), to offset road crown. Each tire wants to roll in the direction it's leaning. In addition to that, camber affects tire pull. If one tire hits a very small bump in the road, it is going to tug the car that way momentarily. They still balance each other out but the two halves of each tire don't balance out. Now you have both tires tending to pull to the outside of the car. Taller tires, wider tires, and deep offset wheels will change scrub radius. Those two forces balance each other out so both tires want to go straight. The right half of each tire will want to pull the steering system to the right. The left half of each tire will want to pull the steering system to the left. That line was designed to intersect the road surface at the center of tire tread. If you stand in front of the car and look back at the wheel, draw an imaginary line through the two ball joints. You also need to understand a non-adjustable alignment angle called "scrub radius". ![]() That puts more of the tread in contact with the road, so again, you'll feel every bump. That would cause excessive outer edge wear on wider tires so for those, camber is lowered closer to 0.0 degrees meaning perfectly straight up and down. "Camber" on most cars is supposed to be about 1/2 degree positive which means the top of the wheel is tipped out a little on top. The Camaros and Firebirds came with wide wheels and tires that caused you to feel every tiny pebble and bump in the road. When a wider wheel was available as a factory option, they will usually give different alignment specifications. The next thing to look at is the new wheels. If you counted the fractions of a turn you tightened it, put it back and continue with the diagnosis. That can be very tiring and miserable to drive. Rather than stay there, the steering shaft is going to keep bouncing off to one side and you're going to have to hold it centered. If you tightened the sector shaft it is going to make the shaft bind when it comes back to center. First of all, GM had almost no trouble with their steering gears getting out of adjustment.
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