I'm not sure where to begin. It started happening a while ago. First off, i have a 99 sunfire, lowering springs 2", and 19" wheels. When driving down the road, everything is fine, until there is a shift in the flatness of the road. Suddenly, the wheels will starting shifting to the left, but my steering wheel remains straight, so i react by turning the steering wheel to the right. After about a 30 degree turn in the steering wheel, my tires will turn back to the right and straighting out with the steering wheel again. How is that possible? Recently, i installed new outer tire rods, had new tires mounted and balanced and had a wheel alightment done. Everything came back within specs except the rear tires needed some shims. They said it was off a hair of a degree. I might see some slight pulling, but they test drove it and it was fine and told me to come back when i get the shims. Anyways, it drove perfect for the first week. Now its back to the same thing again. Any shift in the raod and my car will begin to steer to the left whithout the steering wheel moving. Now i've noticed, when i slam on my brakes, my car will start to shift to the left, so i have to turn my wheel about 30 degrees to the right to keep it straight. Then i let off the break, and the car will shoot to the right, so i turn steering wheel to the left, and its all straight again. What could be causing this? Inner tie rods? rack and pinion? I don't know where to start.
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Loose rack? But truly to have the car shift on un-even road is not unnormal.
FU Tuning
I'll check the rack to see. I know its not unnormal for a car to shift. But isn't unnormal for the wheels to shift dramicly without the steering wheel moving? I would think so. I check the inner tie rods and they have no play. I did notice now, that when i turn the steering wheel back and forth about 5 degress, i can hear a slight popping/clicking sound.
Not sure what that would be.
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Hi Devin
I realise that this is a recall for a slightly earlier (96-98) Sunfire, but the symptoms seem to match and may even apply to yours.
An incorrectly tightened locking tab allows(in extreme cases) the ball bearings to drop out of the steering.
It will be worth checking.
Someone a while back had this problem and it affected the steering in BOTH directions
Hope it helps.
http://auto-recalls.justia.com/content/02V286000-PONTIAC-SUNFIRE-1998.html
Alont
If you have such a pronounced shift WITH braking... I would look at the brakes - you could have a seized wheel caliper that is dragging causing the problems you've described.
i have the same problem and are roads around here have patches here and there and is real bad over the my trans am also does this. I think i figure out why on my trans am i have no front sway bar and 275-45-r17 all the way around it. I took it to my cousins tire shop and when looking at the front tires( never been rotated) they are curved instead of flat. My 99 sunfire has pro sport springs, with everything new on it underneath suspension wise and started doing the same thing after putting 235-45-r17's on. So after talking to my cousin he said that going with such wide tires in the front will cause them to wear on the inside and outerside more than the middle. He also told me that it is a real big problem with low profiles. The only thing he told me you can really do is rotate the tires every 3000 miles which should help ( in my case it did) But i still notice it when hitting patched spots or where the road is unlevel in the sunfire. And has been like that for almost a year and never got worse. Maybe check your tires for flatness, rotate them or try playing with the tire pressure. also when going with different tires for different loads will cause it if say you put 32 in like the factory tires and changing to low profiles with different load ratings and speed ratings the tire pressure will change to get them flat like they should be. I figured it up for how much i should run in my 17's which was like 27 or 28.
