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Handling

jwawhite

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 23, 2004
Messages
157
Location
oxnard
Corvette
2003 Anny Coupe
Driving the 'Vette today on a twisty mountain road and it feels like the front end slides around. Feels like the car skips, am I correct in this? What's happening?
 
What tire pressure are you running up front?
 
Like Rain said, first suspect tire pressure. What kind of tires, and how does the tread look?
Tammy
 
Thanks for responding,


I run 30 all the way around, cold. They are the stock run-flats.

The car has 4400 miles on it and so the tires are okay.

I think I may be overly aggressive but I don't think so. It just feels like when I hit an irregularity in the road (on an apex) the car seems to slip opposite side of the turn. It is a strange place to be sitting in the car- just in front of the rear tires. This is new to me.

I also ride a motorcyle and am familiar with Hwy 33 in Ventura County, California. Anyone else on that road?
 
I just have this opinion the car should "stick" a bit more than it does.
 
Sounds like a four wheel alignment by a Corvette shop is called for. This might be a good starting point. I hope someone didn't swap sides with the tires which would change the direction that the tires ran. Just a thought!

:beer Good luck.
 
Now you guys are starting to scare me. My Vette also skips around the turns when I hit a small bump, usually the expansion joints. My tires are original and haven't been moved since delivery. The arrows on the tires are pointing in the right direction and I also run about 30 psi. I thought the skipping was normal because of the tight suspension and I've never used run-flats before.
 
Bump steer. When the tire hits a bump and the weight is partially unloaded, the frictional force is decreased. Then the wheel will move to the outside of the turn. Once the wheel settles again, grip is restored and the turn continues. I think that is one of the things that the new magnetic controled shocks helps address.
 
What type of suspension package do you have?

jwawhite said:
Driving the 'Vette today on a twisty mountain road and it feels like the front end slides around. Feels like the car skips, am I correct in this? What's happening?
Suspension Package Availability

FE1 Suspension Standard
F45 (w/Selective Real Time Dampening) Optional
Z51 Performance Suspension Optional
 
I have the standard suspension. So you're telling me the standard suspension on a Corvette isn't as good as my Pathfinder and Windstar? They have no skipping problems on the same roads at the same speeds Maybe I should let some air out of my tires? Is 30 psi too high? :confused
 
Nevets2004 said:
I have the standard suspension. So you're telling me the standard suspension on a Corvette isn't as good as my Pathfinder and Windstar? They have no skipping problems on the same roads at the same speeds Maybe I should let some air out of my tires? Is 30 psi too high? :confused
I'm gonna go out on a limb here because I'm no car suspension expert so one of the techs may come along and prove me all wrong but as an engineer I'm gonna do my best to explain why you shouldn't panic. First of all I wouldn't recommend letting tire pressure out. To do so prematurely wears the outer walls that aren't supposed to touch the ground. In addition you could cause the center to cave in, which would actually reduce the amount of tire on the road. So keep the tires where they are supposed to be, whatever it says on the driver panel. Second the tight suspension is made so that the car doesn't yawn or pitch in hard cornering. A side effect of that is that the suspension can not absorb all the hard bumps and transfer some of the energy to the car cuasing it to lift up. You can't violate physics and have it both ways unless your constantly adjusting the suspension. All of the suspensions, with the exception of the magnetic one, can not change fast enough to absorb the energy so the makers were left with a decision to make. They opted to make the car tuned for smotth or relatively smooth road so if you live up here where pot holes can swallow small dogs then your gonna feel the jump and if its during a turn its going to move the car a little. I dunno if you can but softening the suspension would fix that although that may be opening up a new can of worms that are unexpected and it would def cause handling to suffer during smooth road turning.

The buzz about the magnetic ride is that it can change fast enough to absorb the impact of a bump but then restiffen the suspension to continue the turn. The bottom line is if your experianceing a little hop in fast, bumpy cornering, dson't worry and just anticipate it. If its excessive then you might wanna start havingthings checked.

Sooo Hib, or C4C5 or any tech......how'd I do?
 
Hey Ryan,

Thanks for the explanation and I agree with you 100 percent, but I was just expecting better handling on the bumps. The handling on smooth roads are superb. The only Vette I've driven before my C5 was my brothers C4. And I don't recall any issues with the C4 unless I just didn't hit any bumps on the turns.

I'll just have to anticipate the bumps and grip the wheel a little tighter and enjoy the ride.

Thanks
 
I bet you all still have the original Goodyear EMTs on. The EMTs also triggered the traction control to come on a lot sooner than wanted when the TC sensed any slip at all. I notice when I went to a different tire (GY F1 GS-D3) the TC did not come on as often since the tires were sticking more.
 
Nevets2004 said:
Now you guys are starting to scare me. My Vette also skips around the turns when I hit a small bump, usually the expansion joints. My tires are original and haven't been moved since delivery. The arrows on the tires are pointing in the right direction and I also run about 30 psi. I thought the skipping was normal because of the tight suspension and I've never used run-flats before.
Same here. I have Z51 suspension and run flats. Never gets too loose just a split second bit of lateral movement if there is a bump in a turn then it recovers. I'm used to it.
 

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