texasTA

Guys, I am having a hell of a time with my 1994 Trans Am. The car is "driving" like **** right now. It pulls and tugs all over the place. I have had it in the shop twice for alignments and this has not helped the problem. I am running 17 X 9.5 ZR1s up front with 275-40-ZR17 tires. The front left tire is getting the far inside tread completly bald. Where as the passenger side tire, the inside and outside tread is completly bald. The middles of the tires has plenty of tread, just the outsides that are a problem

Now this car's front suspension is BONE stock. I was thinking maybe try upper/lower ball joints, outer tie rods, new rack and pinion (since the inner tie rods on this alone cost almost as much as a new rack), Rag joint eliminator and new BMR adjustable lower a-arms (for adjustability and new bushings). Would this more than likely cure my symptoms, or am I just throwing money at unncessary parts.

Thanks

vodoo-chile

My car is doing the same thing (except the tire wear) and have been told numerous times that it is due to the width of the tires. I have also had the car checked a number of times by different shops with nothing to report being wrong. I am trying new tires (245/45/17's). I'll report with the findings when done. If you find anything out, please let me know. Thanks,

Kyle

texasTA

Do you run different shocks/springs in the front? I run Hal drag springs and Hal 12 way adjustable shocks up front. I am in big time need of new front tires and I might just try out the 245-45-17 tires also.

Thanks and definately let me know.

LT4Firehawk

Yes, 275 width tires will "hunt" or pull more than a smaller tire (say 245), but they really shouldn't be that bad. The very first thing you need to do is take it to an alignment shop and find out what the settings are currently at. Then get it aligned properly. Don't use factory specs, as they are almost worthless due to the wide variance that GM allows for in the specs. What you want for street use are:
camber: -.5 to -1.0
caster: as much positive as you can get with the above camber
toe: 1/32 to 1/26 toe in

Probably 80% of the time this will solve handling and tire wear issues on a stock f-body. If that doesn't solve the problem, then the next thing to evaluate are the shocks. Do you have stock shocks? If so, how many miles do you have on them? Do you have aftermarket springs? The stock Decarbon shocks really aren't even suited well for the stock springs, and will usually be worn out by 30K-50K miles. A great replacement for stock (and good for many lowering springs too) are the Bilstein HDs.

LT4Firehawk

I replied to your PM, but I thought I'd post it here as well in case it might help anyone else:

Another possibility is that you've got a tire that just plain bad. I've had this happen with tires that will vibrate even though they balance out on the machine fine, but it much rarer for a tire to cause the problem you are describing, still it could happen.

While the APHR could cause the thrust angle to be a little off, that shouldn't really cause any problems. Yes, in a perfect world you want the thrust angle to line up perfect, it really isn't going to make much difference. Most shops won't even bother with doing a thrust angle alignment unless you specifically ask for it because they know this.

One last thing to consider, it wouldn't take an accident to cause suspension damage that could cause this problem. The front spindle arms on the f-bodies are actually fairly weak and can be bent easily (I've bent two in less than a year, one on the street and one on the roadcourse). If you have a bent spindle arm (or upper or lower control arm for that matter) it could cause problems exactly like you are seeing. This could occur from hitting a curb, or even a big pothole. You might them check those pieces as well, but they may not be familiar enough with f-bodies to tell if they are bent, so you might have to find a shop that knows about f-bodies and have them check it out.

vodoo-chile

I am currently in the process of replacing the shocks/springs in both the front and back with new 1LE pieces. I know they are not the best but I got a great deal for the entire setup plus the sway bar ($150). Either way, i need to get new front tires so.....

Kyle

Hyperspeed97z28

I was told its the wide tires that do this with the camaros and the corvettes..

I tried alignments myself... Did new shocks/springs all around (1LE as well) I'm gonna do ball joints and tie-rods next over the winter... We'll see where that gets me...

Sucks when the car tries to drive its self...

Geoff Chadwick

The tires will certainly track and follow the road, but GM put 275/40r17's on from the factory, and wouldnt do that if that alone caused the problem. You have something else that's hiding in there. I would check the spindles and A-Arms. Heck, maybe even the shock mounts and such... But something is certainly off there aside from the tires (unless they're just shot as is)

GCEZ28

Have had your car at a GOOD shop to check the front suspension for worn parts? How old are you ball joints? Get it checked out good before throwing a bunch of parts at it. As stated above, these car do "track", but the tire wear you descibe is abnormal.
Now if the tires were worn like that before the alignment, it could be the tires causing the problem.
Have any worn parts replaced and get some tires before aligning. You cannot get a proper alignment with bad parts, and unevenly worn tires will cause various pulls no matter how good the alignment.

mrz28 73/97

I was having the same problem on my 97 SS 111k mi with original front suspension and I just installed BMR tubular upper & lower a-arms, Eibach prokit springs all around, KYB-AGX ajd shocks all around, Baer Trac bumpsteer kit to go along with the SLP weldin sfc's BMR lca's & relocation brackets and WOW what a difference.
The whole car is just so much tighter/stiffer and it handles great although it's noiser than stock but I can live with it.
Also as others have stated the wide tires on the front will cause the car to wander a little on uneven pavement but you need to rebuild you front suspension.

Jabberwocky

You've basically hit all the points, check the tie rods and the balljoints, see if any of the bushings are severely worn. I doubt the ragjoint has anything to do with it. Since you say you already had it aligned, I'm going to assume the alignments okay. Bald uneven worn tires will just make things worse, you need new tires no matter what you do. You can throw money at the car which might now fix the problem, or you can take to time out to figure out what's going on. Even if you buy the best parts for your car, it will still drive like crap if you don't get this fixed.

ErikSteinkamp

I had a bad ride and some noise in the front end and it turned out to be a bad wheel hub assembly. If I jacked the front of the car up, I could actually rock the wheel back and forth when everything was tight. Just one more thing to check out.

texasTA

Well guys, I have pretty good news. I just put a new set of 275-40-ZR17 Kumho Ecsta ASX tires on in the front. Well, the car drives INCREDIBLY smoother and straighter. I think this was the problem. I am still going to replace the ball joints and tie rods (because the car has 110,000 miles on it). I am also shortly (after my LT4 heads/intake get ported ) putting some BMR tubular lower A-Arms on. This should help also.
Thanks guys for all your suggestions.

vodoo-chile

Man, now you are going to make me go out and buy new tires sooner than later. LOL Glad you got it fixed,

Kyle