Car handles terrible at high speeds. All over the road. Scary. Need Help.

[Tim Cucci]

The car wants to really sway bad when upward of 90 MPH while the car is pulling hard at wot.
I have new shocks which are Monroe Sensa Trac which I have been thinking of replacing with KYB if it will correct the problem.
I also have air bags but the car still handles bad with or with out air in them. I have 255/60/15 on back and 235/60/15 on front with stock rims. Stock springs and suspension.
What can I do to make this think handle better? Does a bigger swaybar help?
Thanks
Tim

 

[strikeeagle]

Worn FE parts?

Wheel bearings?

Alignment?

Something bent or defective?

I wouldn't be throwing new shocks and such at it - it just sounds like a half hour on a pole lift and a mechanic checking it over would be a better use of your $$$.

 

[tpabayflyer]

How many miles on the car??? I bet the lower ball joints are wasted..... It is a rough job to replace them but I did it about a year ago after having the same type of problems. The car would wander all over the place with the steering wheel held stationary. I would also say that all the front end bushings should be replaced as well. TBF

 

[G McCall]

What type of tires are you running ?
Good traction but bad street manner tires (squirly) are tires such as M & H street tires, ET Streets etc. Don't expect these tires to handle well or around corners. They are for stright action only.

 

[Warp6]

I've seen a bunch of TR's do that..including mine. I'm not talking about worn out cars either. I remember watching a TR in 92 almost spin out because of it.

 

[77tech9]

Mine was doing the same thing, even shaking at certain speeds, so i replaced bearings and think it's better, but the ball joints need to be replaced. I might take it in for that, thats rough.

 

[MistaScott]

Where are you going 90MPH and getting away with it?

The few times I've gone over 90 the car has handled like crap. TRs are notorious for it and the brakes are hardly capable of stopping the thing. Scariest time of my life was trying to stop from 120 MPH.

Check your bushings and maybe add the GNX bushing in addition to what has already been suggested.

 

[Tim Cucci]

Car has 63k miles on it. New bearings, rotors and pads. Front end seems to be solid. I have Yokohoma Avid S/T tires all around in good shape. No odd tire wear. Car will hold a good straight line with no pull on steering wheel. The car cruises perfect. It's just when you are really hammering down on it at high mph. It almost feels like it is trying to get loose in the rear end.
I will do a close front end inspection. What about the stock springs? Could they just be weak? Ride hieght seems OK.

90+ On back roads. Live outside of a small town. No big city roads around here for 20 miles.
You are right 115 mph is about as fast as I can nerve befor letting up. I have no idea how fast this thing will go. Scary
ride.
Thanks
Tim

 

[Donald McMullin]

(1) Passenger side upper arm bushing (the rear one) most likely is trash. This will give you toe-out at speed and you will be correcting for oversteer all the time. If all front end bushing are stock, replace them when you are doing the ball joints.

(2) Check front end alignment, adjust to maximize caster, and have at least negative 1/4* of camber. With new rubber bushings adjust toe to stock settings. If you use more solid bushing you can adjust toe even (no toe in or out).

(3) Rear bushings are most likely used up. Play in the rear bushings will result in rear end steering under load. Depending on which side has more play in the rear, you could be seeing a major rear toe out to one side when you are at high speed.

Too many other things to address in this post, ie: spring rates, sway bar induced oversteer, angle of hood at high speed (down force or lift), bump steer.

On a final note, I do not agree with those that say these cars can not handle at high speeds. It is all in the setup even though it is a brick.

Deep Enough
Donald McMullin

 

[Buick Mark]

Definatley check the front end out closely. I replaced all my rear bushings with the poly ones, WOW did that tighten up the wobbly and sway prone rear end!! Best handling improvment for any Regal!! Mark

 

[87gnblackdemon]

Say your doing 45mph, the roads are wet. You decide to get into the boost a little and when you do the car wants to spin out on you. You let off the boost to straighten her out. Would that problem be fixed with the solutions mentioned in this thread? The other instance only happened to me once, but when doing a burnout my cars backend wanted to go sideways on me almost hitting my buddies car sitting next to me. According to my vin and all numbers I've seen on my car, I have Limited Slip, which I believe means one tire turns, but when it slips the other kicks in with it, correct? So I don't think just one tire is spinning causing this.

 

[19gn87]

demon,

Might want to try this... jack up one side of the rear leaving one tire on the ground. Place trans in neutral and try turning the wheel thats off the ground. If it turns freely you don't have posi (RPO codes underside of deck lid includes G80) or the clutches are toasted. If you can't turn it by hand, try checking with a torque wrench on that wheel. It should start to slip at approx. 35ft.lbs. Procedure may not be 'perfect', but should be close enough to answer some questions...

 

[turbobuickman]

Just do a nice long burnout, then go back and look at the pavement. Chances are if there are two black stripes, you have posi

Kyle

 

[Chuck Leeper]

WTF???

"Say your doing 45mph, the roads are wet. You decide to get into the boost a little and when you do the car wants to spin out on you. You let off the boost to straighten her out".

Sounds like the problem is "brain slip".....

 

[RUQWKNF27]

Hey Chuck!!!!!!!

Whens that website gonna be ready???? Oh yea an how big is that turbo on the car?? Sure you will not answer the 2nd question... I agree "car spins out on wet roads" is not hard to figure out. Next thing we will hear is "car was stolen while left running" did i need a alarm??? UH DUURRRRRRRRRR!!!!!1

 

[87gnblackdemon]

I knew I'd get a few numbnuts with smart@ss remarks to the one question. Getting into boost on wet roads=not a good thing, duh, only did it once when I first got the car, being a newby to turbos I didn't know the true power of these cars yet. Second, most cars wheels spin in rain, but back end of car doesn't swing out on ya like mine did.

Anyhow, thanks to those who answered maturely. My window sticker says limited slip, and I also have the G80 code on my trunk sticker. Just thought maybe something needed replacing to keep car straight. I do have different wheels on the car now, a trunk car audio setup and airbags, so back end may be heavier and more sturdy since then. I just thought I'd throw my experiences with the back end issues out there and see what I got.

 

[Chuck Leeper]

#%$&^(**@

I knew I'd get a few numbnuts with smart@ss remarks to the one question

 

[Chuck Leeper]

Re: Hey Chuck!!!!!!!

Originally posted by RUQWKNF27
Whens that website gonna be ready???? Oh yea an how big is that turbo on the car?? Sure you will not answer the 2nd question... I agree "car spins out on wet roads" is not hard to figure out. Next thing we will hear is "car was stolen while left running" did i need a alarm??? UH DUURRRRRRRRRR!!!!!1

Just got off the fone w/ the web guy... soon.!
The turbo is a PTE GTQ-74...

Tim, I am finding that same problem w/ my car. At 130, the car starts to get loose. By 141, it's a real handful. I am convinced, as Donald already posted, that it does not have enough caster dialed in.
The reason I say that is, the entire car has every wear part replaced, right down to the body bushings. I also have the HR rear bar on it now, and a 6 pt bar to boot. I can jack the car up at 1 corner, and the other corner on the same side will come up too, so the bar has done the job of enhancing rigidity. I don't think it's chassis flex w/ these cars... especially at 90 mph... go back to Donald's post and follow thru..

Let us know what you find, but don't "check it out" in the rain"!!


HTH,
numbnutz

 

[Donald McMullin]

One trick to gain extra caster without having to shim upper A-arm too much:

Weld in a long B-body ball joint into upper A-arm and locate center of ball joint 1/4 inch to the rear of stock location. This will require reaming the spindle for new ball joint taper.

Reason for doing this:

(a) Longer ball joint helps provide more negative camber during pump.

(b) Imroves caster for high speed control

(c) Minimizes shimming of upper A-arm. Shimming of upper A-arm to gain caster will increase change in of caster during pump and rebound (the direction and amount of change will depend on spacing between upper and lower ball joint)

Just some simple modifications using availble parts.

One last thought, most of use remove front sway bar for drag racing, this will cause more over-steer at high speed. More caster is the most appicable solution to this problem.

Deep Enough

Donald McMullin

 

[Luz2av6]

Replacing all the parts in the world isn't going to do much at speeds in excess of 140! The reason these cars aren't good at high speed is the same principal that airplanes use. the car becomes extremely light because of little or no downforce. I bet these cars would probably start taking off at 160!