Unstable handling?

[ColonelPanic]

Help! I've scheduled an appointment to get this looked at on Friday but I figured might as well check in with the suspension gurus to see what your thoughts were... O ye great ones, ponder this for me, please! It is scaring me quite a bit. Over the last few months, something strange has been going on up front. At first I thought it was with my snow tires that had taken a toll on handling but once I switched over to my all seasons, it doesn't seem to have changed much.Basically, when I get on uneven surfaces, I have to fight with the car quite a bit to keep it going straight. If I'm on a concrete road with multiple lanes with a seam in the concrete between the lanes, if a tire comes in contact with that seam, the car wants to shoot straight into the other lane almost like some giant hand reaches from the sky and pushes the car over. That's a cheesy explanation but that's about the best I can describe it. Same deal when going toward the shoulder... The wheel also wants to kick over when this happens, so I have to fight with it. Same deal with going over rough pavement, the car wants to take off in one direction or another and the wheel kicks back hard... Something just feels mad crazy loose in the front end to me, I dunno... Once again I can't win for losing, the front end feels so loose that I'm going to lose control of the car at highway speeds and once I go to park, the front end is so fricken stiff I can barely turn the wheel at slow speeds. Out on the interstate, I'm getting some really strange feelings if I try to pass semi trucks as well... It really feels like they're going to blow me off the road, feels very close if I try to pass two. The car just seems difficult to keep under control with the additional turbulence from the wind coming off those suckers. Something really feels considerably different than what it used to, I never had to be all wigged out when passing the big trucks until recently... That's another weird one I can't really explain what I'm feelin'. I know my struts are WAY gone, 73K on them... At (what is supposed to be) stock height, it scrapes a bunch of stuff and is bouncy as hell... Kari's car at 30K with good struts and stuff rides rough like a lowered Vibe in comparison to mine. I'm sure that's part of it but I don't think that's all of it...Is there anything you guys could think of that would be worn out or loose up there that would cause this?I'm going to find the worst road I can down at the shop for them to take it down and see if they can duplicate my concerns... Hopefully they come up with something other than I'm on crack, who knows though. They've got all day to look at it, dropping it off so they can fix the windows for the umpteenth time and try to figure out what's up with the front end. Wish me luck.

[ColonelPanic]

Haven't tried a side-to-side rotation yet, just front to back. Back in the fall, I marked which tire went where when I switched to the Blizzaks for the winter. This spring, I put what was on front on the back when I went back to my summer tires so I wouldn't have to deal with getting them rotated shortly after they were reinstalled.The power steering is suspect, particularly with the lack of assist at slow speeds. I had a different dealer replace the pump about a year ago for that exact issue because the dealer I normally go to wouldn't listen to me. That did fix the hard to turn stuff there for a bit, but it came back eventually.

[yippeekyaa]

Since you swapped the tires from winter to summer and it did not change anything you can pretty much rule them out of the equation. I had a similar issue about 20k miles into a set of tires. When i took them in for a rotation i mentioned it to the tire tech. He said alignment can do that, Had it aligned and it fixed the issue. Talked with the alignment tech while he was doing the job and he said it's fairly common. Shocks fade a bit with age and springs sag a bit, again with age and it changes the alignment just enough to make the car seem "jittery", his words.

[ColonelPanic]

"Jittery" explains it very well! Thanks for the input there. I hope that's all that it is... I'll find out on Friday...

[ColonelPanic]

Official diagnosis: Not a damn thing wrong with it, but whad'ya know, the service advisor kept kicking around the idea that the *bleepin'* rack may be bad. But once again "we can't just go throwin' parts on the thing just because they're broken!." He tried to blame the tires but I advised that can't be since it did this on two sets of tires."You need to wait until it gets worse." Yeah, I'll bring it back after it gets worse and I'm fricken DEAD.I give up.

[dkim1]

hi there...it's definitely not related to your tires or alignment or wheel balance since this is a severe problem, from what i've read...but it does have everything to do with your rack and pinion. since you have taken it in for a checkup, i will assume it is level with fluid.it sounds like you are having a steering lock-up situation. i would suggest you visit several mechanics and have it checked out, including non-dealer mechanics. it is only going to get worse and a danger to you if it completely locks up next time. gl.

[ColonelPanic]

Thanks. What I just read was scary, but thanks nonetheless! I know I should try to find a dealer that places at least a minimal value on human life and get a second opinion, and check with my tire shop that does my front end work.I'm done with this dealer, so they won't have to worry about seeing me again.

[ragingfish]

I did have similar issues with the vibe, and also with the G6...my dealer (and several other people I know) say it is one drawback of riding low profile tires...they tend to get drawn into grooves and ruts moreso then tires with bigger sidewalls...

[kostby]

Just trying to think of some other possibilities...Are all the lug bolts tight on all the wheels?One or more bent rims?Have your tires been re-balanced lately?Any tires with a defective or damaged steel belt.Hidden internal tire damage?Have you hit a curb or pothole hard enough to cause internal tire or belt damage? (with BOTH sets of tires, say on the way to work everyday?)CV-joint wear and/or damage?Worn or bad wheel bearing(s)These things could cause all kinds of hard-to-diagnose handling problems too.

[ColonelPanic]

I do agree with ya there, they do drive different with lower profile tires... My main gripe here is it is driving much different than it ever has before. My winter tires are 15"s with some massive sidewalls so they should have been better... But they didn't make much of a difference.

[tnpartsguy]

they can actually test the rack...for that matter anyone can. Ask Mi-Tool Guy about the 'special tool' that GM uses...LOL.....it's a fish scale!Seriously! they tell us to put it in the place of the outer tie rod ends to see that the same power is applied to each side.

[ColonelPanic]

(removed)! What does GM charge for said fish scale?

[NSimkins]

Quote, originally posted by ColonelPanic »I'm done with this dealer, so they won't have to worry about seeing me again. Let's all hope a new dealer will finally fix some issues properly this time. Maybe your former dealer wasn't competent enough to fully-understand/install properly your bad components. Good luck!

[ColonelPanic]

Quote, originally posted by NSimkins »Let's all hope a new dealer will finally fix some issues properly this time. Maybe your former dealer wasn't competent enough to fully-understand/install properly your bad components. Good luck! I don't think they were competent enough for much of anything, really. LOL! In case they weren't aware, I made it a point (in subtle ways, of course) to advise them of such in front of several members of their service, sales, and parts department staff, maybe a few customers, I can't remember, before I left. But it wasn't even for this issue, it was because of the Great Window Crisis of 2006.Kostby, I missed your post, those are great things to check. The lugs *should* be tight, tightened them myself when putting the summer tires back on. Not sure if there's a bent rim or not, who kows. Which could lead to the curb deal, yes, I have hit them but not on a regular basis. The only time I curbed a tire enough to kill it was 45,000 miles ago. Haven't had them balanced in probably a year so that may be something to look into. And at 74,000, no telling what related components are worn or damaged. I'm "dealer-less" now, I'm scared to go back to the only other dealer I've been to, no telling what will happen with those bozos. Have heard worse things about another dealer in the area, so I'm not feeling warm and fuzzy about going there either. Pontiac dealers here apparently suck! Or maybe I'm the one with the problem, i'm sure many here think that.... (removed)! There's always the 1-2 hour drive out of the area for service I guess.So, I guess I won't be getting this fixed under warranty, but I always have the option of paying for it, I know good places to take it to where I bet I can actually get the thing fixed... But that's ok, maybe in a couple weeks they won't notice it when they go to appraise my car when I try to trade i t in, if I can trade it in. If I end up not being able to trade, I'll have to get comfy with a dealer real quick like and start this all over again. *sobbing*