The Camaro Club (UK)

The 3rd gen always wants to head towards the left side of the road and it's been like that for at least half a year. I always have to have a bit of pressure on the steering wheel to keep it in a straight line. I remember when i drove it when it was new to me, it drove arrow straight for a good while. The roads got pretty bad around winter last year, lots of potholes etc. but then again that could just be coincidence.

I've checked the air pressure over the months and it's the same pressure all the way around, so i've ruled out low air pressure on the left side. What's the normal remedy, is it as simple as adjusting the drivers side tie rod to pull it inwards? Or the passenger side outwards? I would rather avoid an alignment shop as i'm finding that people get scared when you mention it's an American car. Even though it all works pretty much the same.

Cheers!

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Gotta be alignment, or worn balljoints/bushes/steeringarms/ends etc.. my old IROC needed the lower balljoints replacing it used to wander terribly..

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“You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.”

If you are happy to travel a bit, we have a shop here in Swindon that do 4-wheel alignment and they are very happy to work on American cars. They've been doing ours for years

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1988 Pontiac Fiero (my toy)
2009 Dodge Challenger SRT8 (hubby's toy!)
2012 Kia Cee'd (daily driver)

http://www.solent-renegades.co.uk

One in Watford as well which will do the tracking, I also went to the big nationals who kept repeating "computer says no" when asked about tracking on mine

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1997 30th Anniversary SS SLP
1993 GMC Typhoon

A suggestion.
Swap the front tyres around. I had a Monte Carlo that did this and after much alignment checking I rotated the tyres and it pulled to the other side. Found out that the tread was separating from the inside of the tyre (not uncommon).
If it makes no difference it needs an alignment.
And if the alignment shop is 'scared' of American cars, it's a shop to avoid.

Thanks for the suggestions, i'll swap the wheels over and see how that makes a difference. Got a set of 4 new tyres less than 18 months so hoping they haven't got bad this quickly. If it's not tyre related, then i'll look into of the alignment places you mention. Swindon is a bit far but it's not too far. Watford is closer, still a bit far, but if either place can sort it, then it's worth it. Hopefully it's not balljoints, but then again, all the suspension is original. The MOT certificate noted corrosion to suspension, so i do plan on taking it apart, putting in new BJ's, bushings, cleaning and repainting it all. Will have to have the 2nd gen on the road though incase anything takes longer than a weekend to do. Cheers!

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I did think tyres as I've had cars wander due to bad tyre wear, or just old tyres, but I know yours were newish.. I'd jack the front up and get the crow bar in there for a good wiggle..

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“You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.”

Alritey, as the tyres are directional, i couldn't swap the fronts over, so i swapped front to back on the driver side. There is noticable wear on the outside edge of the tyre taken off the front drivers side. I'll get a pic today, what could this indicate? Tyre pressures are even all around. Didn't seem to be any play when trying to rock the wheel from side to side (though the passenger side tyre was on the ground so no sure if this makes a difference).

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My guess would be one of 2 things:

• Agressive cornering - the outside edge will take a battering
• Incorrect castor/dynamic camber - when the wheels turn and/or move up and down with body roll, the camber of the wheel can change, putting more weight on the outer edge. You may be able to adjust the suspension geometry to help with this. Not sure what adjustments the 3rd gen gives you.

Thanks for the advice Jamie!

I think this sounds like the ticket, as i drive sensibly (daily driver) :
The 3rd gens look like a "modern" shock tower (for lack of a better description) so you can undo 3 bolts and adjust castor and camber. I guess i can jack it up to take the weight off the wheel, mark the original position, loosen the bolts and adjust to add a bit of negative camber? I guess this may take care of the pulling to the left thing too, as by the sound of it the tyre is riding on the outer part of the wheel instead of the centre line?

Cheers!

(found an engine bay pick) :

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How to post pics: When writing a message, scroll down and use the "attach file" option. Where possible, a photo sharing service can be used such as Flickr, Imgur etc. The image location (usually ending in .jpg) can be copy and pasted between the ][ brackets that appear when you click the 'Img' button (you can find this button at the top of the message box).

How to post youtube vids: Click on the 'youtubeHD' button at the top of the message box and in the middle of the ][ brackets that just appeared, copy and paste everything from the youtube web address that appears after the = sign i.e if this is the url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2cNqaPSHv0 just copy "K2cNqaPSHv0").