Okay so this just started to happen this weekend on my way up to the Carlisle All-GM Nationals show in PA. I was on the highway with my father and suddenly the car started to drift around the road, sorta pulling one way and then the other. (Best example would be like driving on a really REALLY windy day, and the wind pushing your car around the road) At first i thought "great, flat tire" or even worse, the possiblility of a lose tire falling off the car. So we pulled over and checked, they seemed fine. The tires were all fine and we checked to make sure all the tires were tight. They were...so we got back on the road and started driving. About a minute later it started to do it again and then a van in the left lane pulled up next to us and the ladies in it were waving to get my attention, and when i saw them they pointed downward with their fingers...so i pulled over again to look once more. Same thing, everything looked fine.

Anyways, the whole rest of the trip it didn't do that. My first guess was that something was stuck under my car dragging and the women saw it, but then today on my way to work on the highway it started again. So now i am totally lost, and i do not want to drive my car fast (if at all) because i don't want it to fall apart or lose control on the road. Anybody have any suggestions as to what this could be??

I'm thinking they saw the wheel wobble. Check your ball joints and tie rod ends now. Do not drive it until you do.

What Brd said.

Matt

The obvious--flat tire? Or, did the tire slip a belt, which means it is coming apart. If the people in the van saw and pointed to it, they saw something happening while the car was in motion and pointed to the tire that was at fault. I'd start with that tire first. I've had brand new Goodyear tires that were defective.

Okay i'll pull the wheel off and take a look tomorrow. The only weird thing is that i don't understand is that the car still rides perfectly smooth. I have unevenly worn front tires (which will be replaced within the next 2 weeks) and i do need a front end alignment. And it only happens on the highway on that one particular area it seems...alot of the time when i drive at that speed the car is fine...so i'll check out what you guys suggested.

oh and to quickly add, the people in the van did not point to a wheel...and i wish they did cause that would make this so much easier. They pointed STRAIGHT down towards the ground, so a 90 degree angle. They didn't point to either wheel, and that's why i thought it was something stuck under the car.

Maybe you ran over something, it got stuck for a bit and then fell out. Or maybe they were just pranking you, lol.

yeah that is what i was thinking cause it was good for another 3 hours of driving..but then today and yesterday it happened again...

Hmmmm...this is gonna be a tuffy. There is a weak part of the front suspension--it's the lower A-Arm rear bushing--they tend to tear and break up. The bushing has to work both horizontally and vertically at the same time. If that bushing goes, the wheel/tire could oscilate and rattle your fillings a bit. Bad wheel bearing? Bad steering rack joint? Bad ball joints?

I think it is probably the TPS/MAF combo on the engine...... Check the oil pan for leaks, might have sprung a connecting rod thru the oil pump. I dunno...another guess...did you change from winter air to summer air in your tires?

Does it happen in the same stretch of road? If so, I would wager the bump steer effect. What size tires are you running? Is your car lowered at all? My car does this in a few areas around Myrtle Beach. The tractor trailers leave ruts in the road and my car rides it's own path in them. It can be quite concerning if you do not know of this. On some road the car will track straight without holding the wheel, while other areas you almost have to man handle it to hold it some what straight. Even a bad tread wear pattern on your tires can cause the same thing.

Could be another explanation.

Matt

^ Yea that. I remember when my tires were wearing there was one spot of I-275 that was paved by a northern company. They paved it with those grooves for ice. Ummm this is Florida, in 53 years I've seen the roads ice once. Anyway, the car would drive really funky over that patch of road until I replaced the tires.

I'd have to say from what you've posted that it was probably the road surface that was/is causing you the problems and that they were pointing straight down to try to tell you that's what it was rather then your car since they were probably experiencing the same problem as you were.

I've get the same problem here with several roads that I drive on, all of them are either less them 5 years old or have been resurfaced within that time frame as well. My cars will shake, shimmy or try to pull one way or another when I drive on them and make you feel like you've either got a flat or have some major problems with the front end. Also like Matt said, if you've got wider then stock size tires on your car the ruts that the tractor trailers leave can cause the same problem cause the tires won't "fit" into the rut and will pull side to side to try and stay in them.

Any time a car is pulled from side to side on any road surface, it is usually caused by a bad alignment, or a tire construction problem. Sometimes, it's the quality of the tire, namely, it's slipped a belt. There could also be a suspension problem--worn out parts and/or worn out steering parts.

I've driven on most of the roads in the country with the Firebird, and have never experienced a pulling problem. There is a notorious stretch of Interstate 5 between Seattle and Everett, WA, that has, in the past, caused all of my Corvettes to pull violently from side to side. In every case, it was an alignment problem that was being influenced by the road. After fixing the alignment, that was the end of the problem. The Firebird, with a dead accurate alignment never had that problem on that road. To be honest with you, people should be surprised at the quality of most alignments and the stupidity of most alignment guys (ahemmm..."technicians", as they now want to be called). Not only that, but most alignment machines are notoriously out of whack. I'll give you an example of the stupidity that I've seen....the first thing most alignment manuals tell the technician to do is to equalize the tire pressures and then bounce the car up and down between every adjustment and let it settle before reading the measurements. How often have you seen either of these techiques being done? If neither of them is done, the entire alignment is faulty, or certainly...less accurate.

I'm gonna have to disagree with the majority on this (anyone surprised? )--tire size is not necessarily the problem when pulling is experienced. Check and correct the alignment and go to work on the suspension.

if this is the case... I have been robbed blind for awhile now... although I dont have access to alignment procedure manuals like Charles does.... I have never seen a "tech" bounce the front end of any of my past and present f-cars between adjustments...

very interesting

Wow sorry it's been so long since i've updated you guys on this issue, but i have been away on vacation (beach, oh yeah haha!). Anyways, i haven't been driving the car, it's just been sitting in my garage, but a few nights ago i had the chance to finally pull off the wheel and check out what's going on. I didn't find anything wrong with it visually, everything seemed to look okay. But then again, i wasn't REALLY sure what i was looking for since i've never really messed with suspension parts on the car. So i put the wheel back on and drove it to the gas station (slowly) hoping that maybe putting the wheel back on may fix the problem...of course it didn't. Anyways, while i was at the station, i noticed something VERY interesting.....the drivers side wheel (the problem side) seems to be sticking further out of the car than on the other side. It's lined up right with the fender while the passenger side wheel is tucked away inside the fender. So that doesn't sound too good right there.

I'm going to look at it tonight with my father, we are going to spend the whole night if that's what it takes. But in the meantime, any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

Doesn't sound good at all. I'm thinking I'd keep it parked until I figured out what was going on there. Sounds like something is worn out in the suspension. Oh and welcome back, but beach? eh you can have it, lol.

Haha yeah i love the beach! Anyways, so yesterday me and my father took both wheels off the front and checked everything out. The frustrating thing is, everything seemed fine. The rubber covering the joint on the tie rod was a little bit dry-rotted, but the actual connection was fine. Both sides were fine. We took a big metal rod and pried up against the rotors on both sides to see if they were lose, and it was as stiff as a board. One thing i did notice however, was the passenger side rotor and caliper seemed to wiggle when i tried to push it back and fourth. So we took off the caliper and put it back on again making sure it was tight. Put the wheels on and took it out for a spin.

Everything seemed fine, no pulling or anything. So this morning i took it to work, and the car did pull on that SAME stretch of road as before, back and fourth between the lanes. I did a little experiment however, while driving at around 60, i let go of the wheel and the car pulled to the left of the lane, and as soon as it hit the dotted line, it straightened out and drifted to the other side. It kept going back and fourth like this, so i know that the unlevel road has something to do with it. The car needs new front tires really bad, as well as an allignment, so hopefully this will take care of the problem.

Basically, the car only pulls while switching lanes on roads that are a bit "uneven". Sorta like what Sue was saying with the trucks that cause wheel trenches in the road. Maybe that plus the bad irregularly worn tires and a bad alignment is my problem.

Oh and BTW, every other road the car drives beautifully on, no matter what the speed.

Gotta be the road then. Maybe you should try a different car on the same road?

i did i actually drove my dad's ford ranger on that road and it didn't pull around, but it's got much narrower tires and they aren't worn either.

Did you check the brake rotor or pads for excessive wear? That would be a sign that the front wheel bearing is failing and has too much slop in it.

Also, still could be a tire - - the belt has broken apart--that can really cause handling problems, and it might not be readily visible when looking at the tire.

yeah checked both rotors and pads for any signs of excessive wear, and both look fine. I just replaced both the rotors and pads not long ago and they still look new. Also we checked the tires to feel if any of the belts have broken. From what we observed they seemed to be fine as well. I'm replacing them regardless anyways.

Hey everybody, just wanted to get back to all of ya and let you know what's happened since my last post.

I went ahead and ordered two new tires for the front (i just got new ones for the rear about 2 months ago) so i now have 4 brand spankin' new tires on the car. Before i got the tires mounted and balanced, i took a trip to Advanced auto parts and picked up two new tie rod ends to replace them. I know one of them was bad for sure, but i went ahead and replaced both since i was going to be doing that anyways. I put on the new ones and matched them to the old ones as best as i could. It wasn't too off, but i was only going to the Sears Auto place. So then i had them put on the new tires and align the front end.

Glad to say, i took the car on the highway, including the one stretch of road where it would go completely crazy and pull all over the place, and the thing drives like new I do have one small annoyance though, which is that the car STILL very slightly pulls to the right at highway speeds. It's done this since i've gotten the car, and i was hoping the alignment woud fix that too. Do you guys think maybe he didn't do a good job or maybe that's just the way it is. It's not something i'm going to obsess about, but i wanted the car to drive perfectly straight after spending the 400 bucks to get it fixed.

Oh and Sue, thanks for helping me out earlier and telling me the "thud" meant a bad tie rod end...i was sure they were fine so i probably would still be troubleshooting if it weren't for your help!

You could have a brake caliper that is dragging a little. Rebuild the front calipers and see if it goes away.

The slight pulling to the right could just be normal for your car. I've seen that happen with other cars.

And you're more then welcome for the help Ryan.