George33

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Why am I getting the choppy feel on turning the steering wheel of my new C7?

Sometimes even small amounts of steeting input causes the jumpiness. Almost
feels like my truck when 4-wheel drive is engaged.

Dealer said they heard that happens sometimes.

What?

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time2run

If you're making tight turns at low speeds and you feel the chop, it's completely normal. Basically due to the suspension and the tires on the car and is discussed in the drivers manual. Bunches of discussions on this. The sensation will also be slightly worse the colder the tires are.

killascrimp

that's what happens when it gets cool out side. When your tires start getting bad just replace them w different tires.... I am used to it but my wife hates when the tires hop, kind of feels like you have no air in the tires.

mjw930

Do a search on "ackerman", on this site alone there are 249 threads.......

Engineering for the "Ackerman" effect impacts performance. Due to the front suspension geometry once you get past a certain point the front tires do not match the proper angle to prevent skip. The engineers had 2 choices, modify the suspension and degrade ultimate performance or put in bump stops to limit travel and create a much higher turning radius. They chose to do neither and publish a note in the manual saying this skipping is normal at slow speeds under full lock.

MeanDean43

I never cease to be amazed at the number of people who somehow manage to come up with the money to by a C-7, and obviously haven't bothered to read the owners manual.

JoesC5

I don't think "small amounts of steering input" is the same as turning the steering wheel to full lock position. Maybe some of you on your high horse should read the OP's posts more carefully before jumping on him.

mjw930

Yes, I read that but he doesn't say at what speed and at what percent of lock these "small inputs" cause the skipping. If he's driving in a straight line and small inputs cause skipping then there is something wrong and the dealer needs to do a bit more than say "some do that" because in a straight line NONE do that.

JoesC5

What if he's in a cloverleaf and has turned the steering wheel 45 degrees, and then turns it to 47 degrees? He's not driving in a straight line, and he's far from being in the full lock position. That 2 degrees steering input is what I see when I read his post about small steering inputs.

mjw930

You are taking giant leaps based on a 1 line complaint. If that was the complaint then he obviously has deeper issues, as I said in my reply.

Almost all of the complaints about "Hopping" or "Scrubbing" are due to the Ackerman effect which GM actually took the time to document in the manual. There has also been some reports of rear diff issues which cause a similar event so for the dealer to say "some do it" is simply lazy diagnostics unless they drove it and attributed it to the documented tight turning radius design issue.

Maybe the OP will jump in and clarify when this happens.

KenHorse

Not a very good explanation. In fact, it was pretty tortuous

mjw930

I linked to a video since many are adverse to reading..... If you are bored here's some more detail

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ackermann_steering_geometry
http://www.me.ua.edu/me364/PDF/Steering_Ackerman.pdf

http://www.longacreracing.com/articl...t/Ackerman.pdf

KenHorse

Oh I understood the geometry issues before that video. I was just offering critique of that crappy video

mjw930

Ah, got it. Maybe Khan Academy has one

KenHorse

JoesC5

I agree that the OP needs to further define his problem. And I agree with you bout the dealer's comments.

I'm used to the old power steering where you could get choppy steering if you were low on hydraulic fluid. Maybe with the new power steering, you get the choppy feeling if you're low on electron fluid.

mksz51

OP's issue is most certainly the Ackerman issue - he describes "feels like 4WD" and that is EXACTLY how a 4WD feels on dry pavement at slow speed engaged.

I too am amazed that people buy this car, don't read the manual, and are generally surprised when presented with something like this which is SUPER obvious and well documented / discussed. I tend to assume every Vette owner is an enthusiast and well-read on everything associated with the car. That's probably a false assumption for a large fraction of the ownership.

George33

Thanks for the information guys. And thanks for the non-reading of the manual criticism. Very nice.

I'm lucky enough to be able to buy such a beautiful car with what limited time work and personal life
allows me. Reading the manual will eventually work its way to the top of the list, I assure you.

Regardless, back to the turning issues. There's only 250 miles on the car. The turns are jumpy both at
full lock and 45 degrees, both are at slow speeds. This does not occur in a straight line or at faster speeds.
The suspension explanation makes a lot of sense and now I understand.

Thanks to all. :-)

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