din1780

Have 79 vette, installed steeroids recently hoping to solve problem when changing lanes on highway that have ruts in them (steeroids helped somewhat but not totally). Car as approx 55K miles and all the front end has been changed ball joints, etc. I've been told that if I reduce the width of the tires that it would drift alot less when entering and exiting ruts is this the only solution (present tires on all corners 255/60/15 BF Radial T/A).
Thanks for any suggestions anyone may have.

mrvette

Check your rear suspension for any looseness in especially the lower struts...
beleive it or not, I had that lower strut bracket bolted to the diff housing, come completely loose on me once.....

I about sh it my pants when I got home....

needless to say grade 8 bolts, with RED locktite, and lockwashers went in there....so far ok....

GENE

LAvetteman

Welcome din, I can tell you when I tried running 255/60's on my 71 I had a dangerously bad problem with "wondering" on the hwy. Previously I had 215's so I went back with either 215's or 225's. Wondering is now non existant. My front end is due for a refresh as well as the rear, which maybe where your weak link is, beings you have refreshed the front. Some people run 255's on all corners with no problems, some don't. My guess, condition of suspension is the key.

But big tires on front are known to follow ruts by nature. New or worn cars. I can feel some following when I drive my 94 (275's on front) 34k miles. But no where near the uncontrolable wondering I had with the 71.

din1780

To the best of my knowledge I have gone to a minimum of 2 alignment shops and everything at the rear is tight and within specs.
Thanks
Din

Smokehouse69

Gene's right, excessive wear or looseness and or miss-alignment in the rear suspension can reek havoc with diveability of the 'vette. My car was much the same as yours, good rebuilt front end and 255/60 Goodyear T/A radials. It would get caught in ruts and rills on the road and scare the crap out of me.
I checked my rear suspension and found excess wear on my T/A bushings, strut bushings and my yokes coming out of the rear end had excessive movement in them.
I replace T/A bushings and strut with Poly-urethane, and replaced the rear yokes with new ones. That along with a new 4 wheel alignment really improved the rut handling ability. It still isn't perfect, and that's probably a function of tire width.


[Modified by Smokehouse69, 9:55 PM 9/21/2003]

flynhi

Increase the caster on your fronts wheels

UKPaul

I changed all 4 tires from 225 to 255 & it started to wander on badly rutted roads. It's not scary, just annoying, but is a downside of wide tires. What pressures are you running? I found that setting mine to 35psi, rather than the 26psi somebody recommended, helped reduce the wandering.
:cheers:

Larry B.

A worn idler arm will cause this. Of course there are other things but no one mentioned the idle arm which is a common problem.

Brettmc

Steeroids eliminates the idler arm.

Brett :thumbs:

adamdinat

I have 255s on the front and have seen the same problem. I had to tighten up the play my steering box to improve control. It still pulls into them. A guy at work with a C5 says his follows the ruts too.

They do not look like much in the car but standing aside the road you will be surprised at how deep some of the troughs are.

Robert N

Wide sticky tires may be the issue. Greater contact patch and they do tend to tract/stick to the road. They are a great advantage on good roads and a potential liability on rough roads.

Riceater

if its that bad, i would just repave the road to eliminate the ruts :jester

jrzvette

I've noticed the same problem with my 69. I went from 215/70R/15s all around to 245/60R/15 front and 255/60R/15 rear. If I drive on the northern half of the Garden State Parkway (which prohibits trucks) the handling isn't too bad. But on a heavy truck road I have to bring along an extra pair of underwear.

Robert N

And if you think that wide radials require an extra pair, try it on 60 series bias plys with manual steering and a cross wind at 35 mph.

jrzvette

Que hombre!! :thumbs:

Seriously, if you're old enough to remember when bias ply 60 series wide ovals were the state of the art in tire technology you have to wonder how we managed to keep the cars on the road, and why the shimmies and ruts never really bothered us.

Does anyone remember the thrill of driving over the Milford Ct bridge on the Merrit Parkway?


[Modified by 6t9l4t6, 8:36 PM 9/22/2003]

ettev

.....or find a back road to drive on! Always a joker :jester or two :jester :jester in the bunch

Sigforty

The bigger tires (255s) on my 71 also follow ruts. I also find that my brothers honda does also. Some of the ruts in New Orleans are so bad I do not think it matters what you do to the car. I do not drive the 71 much so I live with it. I like the bigger tires better.

dewcustom

to solve the rut tracking toe in the front more and increse the caster. i have 255's on front and 295's on the rear and no problem at all but my 02 SS with 275's on all four is horible on roads with ruts

Smokehouse69

Mark B. Those aren't ruts in New Orleans!!! Those are streetcar tracks! :D
Just kidding! Your right there are such bad ruts and holes that you can break and ankle crossing the road.

jpatrick636

I am running 255's on the front and 295's on the rear. When everything is tight, it runs strait as an arrow. However, you have to have the right alignment. Go to Vette Brakes and Products and download their alignment specs. Factory spects just don't work as well. Radials will bring out any weakness in a suspension but any C3 with good parts and a good alignment will handle better that it did when new.


[Modified by jpatrick636, 9:02 PM 9/22/2003]