well, i lowered the rear of my car a while back, (about 1.5") and then had it lined up, well it seems fine driving around town, but on the highway when i go around turns, the rear end seems to want to sway each way.

im worried that my rear swaybar needs to be removed, and the mounting holes redrilled, since the suspension is slightly more compressed now, maybe its causing some issues since it was mounted before i lowered it.

anyone got any ideas?

oh, when i got it aligned the shop put my rear tires on backwards, and the directional tires were wrong, i just swapped them, but havent driven the car yet, Does anyone think that could cause issues?

i guess if no one has any clues, im going to remove the swaybar and see if it corrects the problem.

matthew

swapped the rear tires, to where they are supposed to be, no change at all, but i must say, in a straight line, it runs smooth at 120mph.

matthew

Matt,
I am not sure about the sway bar issue. I would think if it was not a problem before the alignment, it should not be a problem after.
The directional tires though will cause unusual tracking if mounted backwards.
Unless the alignment was done wrong (always possible) the tires are probably the problem.
Rich

make sure that the 2 bolts on the strut are tight.. on a buddys car we dound that they were loose on one side.. we drove all the way to dells like that it was scarry. the rear nuckle was slopping arround on the strut. the alignment shop didnt tighten them fully

probibly not the case.. but worth a look

and many places dont realize there are tie rods in the back. they may not have done a good alignment. I've had this happen twice. they usually give you a printout of the final positions - go over that. rear toe is the biggie. another thing, if you are worried about the sway bar - just loosen the bolts that go on the cradle, bounce the car a few times, then tighten them back up - that should take up any "preload" on the rubber.

Don't forget the pinch bolts that hold the spindle assembly to the lower control arm. Just a slight amount of play can result in a large amount of motion. I know I had a similar issue on mine though occasionally even when driving in a straight line it would seem to "shift" to one side. Come to find out the lower ball joint pinch bolt on the rear passenger side wasn't torqued quite to specs. I think it only took 1/4 of a turn to tighten and created a drastic difference in handling characteristics.

If you removed your CV shaft to pull the strut assembly check your cv joint nut ( hub nut) . I found mine loose and it cause the rear wheel bearing to have some play. It made it feel like the wind was blowing the car around. Once i tightend the nut the sway went away.

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HARDCORE SBC CRONIE AND PROUD OF IT ! GOT TQ ?

Well as soon as i get a chance, im going to replace a rear wheel bearing thats got a slight bit of play, and im going to remove the rear swaybar at the same time. and see what happens.

matthew

Matthew, I've got a similar thing going, on the highway mine will 'oscillate' unless I hit the throttle or decellerate. I don't have a rear sway bar, but I have lowered mine (1.25 inches) and have full poly suspension. Pretty sure my ball joints (all new) and end links are in good shape. Had an alignment done. Handles fine in corners as far as I'm concerened. The measurements after alignment: Front camber is .9 deg left .8 right .17 toe both sides; rear -.9 left -1.1 right camber, toe is .15 left .13 right.I'm suspecting my rubber cradle bushings are gone. I have the poly cradle bushings in a box on the garage shelf. I was saving them for the engine swap I planned to do, but they may go in early. If anyone has an opinion about what beefing the other bushings up and putting extra stress on 20 year old rubber will do, chime in! I think I also need a front engine mount at this point...

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John DuRette
Custom 85 SE/87 Coupe
"Kinda makes you nostalgic for a Members Only jacket"

quote Originally posted by USFiero: Matthew, I've got a similar thing going, on the highway mine will 'oscillate' unless I hit the throttle or decellerate. I don't have a rear sway bar, but I have lowered mine (1.25 inches) and have full poly suspension. Pretty sure my ball joints (all new) and end links are in good shape. Had an alignment done. Handles fine in corners as far as I'm concerened. The measurements after alignment: Front camber is .9 deg left .8 right .17 toe both sides; rear -.9 left -1.1 right camber, toe is .15 left .13 right.I'm suspecting my rubber cradle bushings are gone. I have the poly cradle bushings in a box on the garage shelf. I was saving them for the engine swap I planned to do, but they may go in early. If anyone has an opinion about what beefing the other bushings up and putting extra stress on 20 year old rubber will do, chime in! I think I also need a front engine mount at this point...

Your alignment specs are very close to what I set my cars to and mine do not sway.
I would suspect based on your description that you do have a bad motor or trans mount due to the fact that accelerating or decel changes the way it feels. It sounds like your engine is moving around.
By changing the suspension bushings and not the cradle bushings you are just moving the load to the next weakest area. In this case the old cradle bushings and it could make the car wander.
I have poly bushed cradles in both my 85 GT and 86 GT as well as poly bushings in the control arms.
Both cars are running Eibach springs and dropped just over an inch.
Both track straight and true.
Rich

[This message has been edited by STRATOHACKER (edited 01-14-2006).]

I had the samething happen to me and it was my left rear hub bearing was bad and it doent sway anymore

Any update to fix ????

quote Originally posted by STRATOHACKER: Your alignment specs are very close to what I set my cars to and mine do not sway. I would suspect based on your description that you do have a bad motor or trans mount due to the fact that accelerating or decel changes the way it feels. It sounds like your engine is moving around. By changing the suspension bushings and not the cradle bushings you are just moving the load to the next weakest area. In this case the old cradle bushings and it could make the car wander. I have poly bushed cradles in both my 85 GT and 86 GT as well as poly bushings in the control arms. Both cars are running Eibach springs and dropped just over an inch. Both track straight and true. Rich

engine moving around will not affect how the car tracks - what will is torque stear caused by worn bushings,balljoint, or tie rod.... which direction the car stears when accelerating or decelerating will tell you which side is most likely the culprit

cradle bushings can cause some wierd things also but usually not torque related

many thing could do this....and its probably a combinations of few of these.
tire pressure - I usually over inflate my rears
struts - now that its lowered, the struts are sitting in a different spot <- most likely it
axle nut - just re torque it
rear tie-rod end, cradle bushings & a-arm bushings - these 3 will give the sway, but often linked with on throttle pushes one way, off throttle pushes the other way
worn rear balljoint - usually get a shake on braking with this
sway bar will do nothing but help this problem - leave it on

Further examination on mine has revealed a worn rear tie rod. They were pretty snug a couple hundred miles ago but with all the 'new' suspension parts and some 'spirited' driving has trashed my left rear end link. Comes from exiting the Interstate at twice the posted limit replacements are on the way from Rodney Dickman.

Check on your old worn cradle bushings. The best thing to do is to get the poly replacements or even better yet get the Aluminum ones.

JG

i havent driven the car out on the interstate yet to see how it does, when i do ill post, BTW my car has all new shocks/struts, ball joints, and all rubber bushings replaced with poly.

matthew

I ditched the balloon thin sidewall tires I had and got something a little better, Bridgestone RE 950. My car felt like crosswinds were doing i but it didn't take much to make it happen. . Turning the steering wheel back and forth at freeway speeds really made it noticeable and scary. More weight over the rear axle vs. front and a short wheelbase is part of it. The tail wants to wag the dog. I agrree that proper rear toe in is essential and get rid of any play in the toe rods. Wish I had gone with 17" tires though.

Matt,

I recommend against attacking any problem this way. Do one thing at a time, make one change at a time, then evaluate the change. Otherwise you end up chasing your tail.

John Stricker

quote Originally posted by m0sh_man: Well as soon as i get a chance, im going to replace a rear wheel bearing thats got a slight bit of play, and im going to remove the rear swaybar at the same time. and see what happens. matthew

quote Originally posted by $Rich$: make sure that the 2 bolts on the strut are tight.. on a buddys car we dound that they were loose on one side.. we drove all the way to dells like that it was scarry. the rear nuckle was slopping arround on the strut. the alignment shop didnt tighten them fully probibly not the case.. but worth a look

Dito, Dito Dito, I went through this for about a year after the 3800SC install on my 88GT--could not put our finger on the problem, tried all the archives, went back to (aligment shops)---then I think his name on the forum is Francis T --posted he had the same problem with his car, this was in the post jeffndebris posted right after his 4.9 install, he said the rear end was swinging around on him , anyway Francis double checked and sure enough those strut bolts where loose--I checked mine per the specs and had the same problem, once torqued properly the problem has dissapeared... By the way I`m lowered with Eibachs in front and stock springs in the rear--cool part--doesn`t cost a dime to check......hope this helps some...........

With mine when the bolts were lose it was especially crazy if you tried to make abrupt turns even at low speed and it would not stay in lane at higher speed without constant attention. I would keep the sway bar as mine is lower and once I did those bolts it was perfect, better than ever.

Many are saying the same thing. My experience is with loose bolts too.

Naturally the list goes like: Verify no warn parts. Make sure all bolts are tight. Verify the alignment .... in that order.

As for the swaybar.... I doubt that is your issue. Also, a tiny bit of play in the bearing should not cause what you are discribing, but I would replace it anyway. As has been said before, rear tow on these cars is critical. I have also seen worn tires cause issues.

Keep us posted!

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Paul

Home Built Tube Chassis IMSA Race Car - 3.8 lb./hp | 1987 Fiero GT 119,xxx, 3.1 motor, HHP swaybar, Full poly
For more IMSA Fiero info: http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/789315

Rear wheel bearing

[This message has been edited by USFiero (edited 01-22-2006).]