Herky-Jerky SUPER-Sensitive Steering...

[Ludigdrums]

Hello all...well, it never seems to end here for me. I finally have her ('81) back on the road after doing a whole bunch of stuff.

Here's the thing...I had it aligned, and it still pulled to the right, so I brought it back, and he took shims out, and I tested it...still pulling...he takes more out...still same thing. Anyway, he said there were no more shims to make adjustments with. The pulling seemed to get less, but not anymore...it almost seems worse now.

So, the thing about the steering is, it's so hard to keep her straight. I feel like people must think I'm drunk. My thought is that this has something to do with the pulling and constantly having to make corrections to keep her straight. Do all C3's have really quick steering? Mine just seems too quick and gets scary at faster speeds.

Here's what my car has:
New Front VBP 550lb springs
VBP smart struts w/adjustable rods
Complete offset trailing arms (Van Steel) w/spindles,bearings,matched rotor, etc
Reconditioned hald shafts w/new Lakewood U-Joints
8" Spring bolts
New Boyd Coddington 18x10" Wheels w/Dunlop S9000 255/40/18 (front) & 285/40/18 (Rear) Tires
New Brake Calipers and pads and front rotors

So, I don't know what could be causing this when so much is new. The ride height is not too low, so I don't understand how the front ran out of adjustment.

I would love any input! Thanks everyone!

- Jeremy

 

[Vettehead Mikey]

If it's constantly pulling to one side even on a level road, your power steering control valve needs to be balanced. Pretty simple procedure, makes a huge difference.

 

[JohnZ]

Centering the control valve may not cure the problem; C2/C3's do NOT like 10"-wide wheels and huge wide-tread 40-section tires due to the camber gain and bump-steer (toe change with suspension travel) that's designed into the suspension; chances are it will be "darty" even with a properly-centered control valve and a correct alignment. The suspension geometry on your car was designed in 1961 for the dynamics of a skinny 6.70-15 bias-ply tire on a 5-1/2" rim.

 

[67HEAVEN]

I went with the complete Vette Brakes Performance Plus suspension -- front and rear. What I didn't do was change from 15" wheels. The fronts are 8" wide and the rears 10".

The car tracks straight and true. I have no power steering.

As you know, we have an almost identical chassis.

 

[lone73]

Wheels

Wheels and tires sound cool! How 'bout a pic?
thanks
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[Ludigdrums]

Here's a pic from before I lowered it. The angle is from above, so you can imagine how high the car was before I lowered it!

The control valve sounds interesting and I'll look into it...but the thing is, it was never a problem before...

AND, that's the thing...it wasn't a problem before I lowered it. Everything else on the car was the same, except I finally got the height pretty much right by installing the 550lb springs and 8" rear bolts.

Thanks for all the responses so far!

- Jeremy

 

[craig32]

hey, I'm having the same experience with my '81. I trailered it home from MD 3 months ago, and just got it registered and inspected last weekend. It seemed to be very erratic steering, I assumed it was from having 60's series tires all the way around. Not only that, I haven't driven a V8, rear wheel drive car with no air bags or ABS in 15 years! I guess I better behave for awhile. . .
Craig

 

[67HEAVEN]

Those of you having these problems....have you inspected/adjusted/replaced the idler arm, pitman arm, steering box, rag joint?

 

[JohnZ]

AND, that's the thing...it wasn't a problem before I lowered it. Everything else on the car was the same, except I finally got the height pretty much right by installing the 550lb springs and 8" rear bolts.

Thanks for all the responses so far!

- Jeremy

How did you lower it? Cut coils, dropped spindles, or??

 

[Hib Halverson]

Provided the power steering control valve and the steering gear are properly adjusted and the alignment is proper, you have several problems
1) your tire wheel combo probably is at the core of much of the "wander" for the reasons JohnZ lists above.
2) you might not have enough caster, but even with all the caster your front end will allow, when ancient suspension geometry combines with the offset of those wheels, and the width of the tires, you're going to have to accept poor in-center steering feel.

 

[THORIN]

My 77 was doing that. Does yours pull harder when braking hard? If so one of your brakes my be hanging up. It turned out it was my brakes. One brake job later and that fixed the problem for me.

 

[Ludigdrums]

67HEAVEN: The Power steering pump/return hose/pressure hose were all replaced, as well as the valve adjusted on 5/3/00 by the previous owner @ 61,039 mi. I now have 67,283 mi. Does the valve need to be adjusted after every alignment...if so how?

JohnZ: I originally cut the front coils and went from 8" to 10" in the rear. I replaced all that with 550lb VBP front coils and went back to the 8" bolts in the rear. That's the only "lowering" I've done. And what is funny is that the rear still sits high, but if I put in the 10" bolts, my half shafts will no longer angle downward.

Hib Halverson: Thanks for the info...I was afraid of hearing that...no one seemed to mention that when I was thinking of these tires/wheels.

THORIN: Yeah, I've test that...during braking it goes nice and straight...which is good! ;-)

Another thing I should mention about the wheels is that they have the standard 4" backspacing...so they are not a weird offset or anything. The reason being is that my car has a Duntov Turbo kit on it, making the fenders come out a lot. So, the 10" wheel with stock 4" backspacing, makes it even with the fenders (which I like and wanted).

Thanks again for everything so far. I WANNA DRIVE!!!

- Jeremy

 

[67HEAVEN]

Here's a link to the adjustment procedure.

http://www.corvettefever.com/howto/82239/index3.html

WARNING: Be careful not to place your hands/arms inside the steering wheel following adjustment and re-start as the wheel may turn quickly if the adjustment is off.

 

[Ludigdrums]

Thanks for the procedure...but, do you really think I need to do this? Or just get offset A-arms to give enough caster adjustment?

- Jeremy

 

[Ludigdrums]

Vettehead Mikey: Exactly!!! That was it!!! Amazing what a simple little adjustment can do. Now I want to bring it back to the alignment shop to make sure they didn't mess anything up by trying to fix the pulling by adjusting the caster. It is so much better now!

Thanks again..that's why I love this forum!

- Jeremy

 

[Vettehead Mikey]

That's great news that it worked out. Early Xmas present for you I guess.