[Info@PeddersUSA.com]

Originally Posted by JDBeck23

Thanks, USMCJLP!

I spent the afternoon in the car, I had to go to a custom exhaust shop to get my ARH-Magnaflow system finished and get a custom bent piece put in between them. The shop was an hour each way. So as im driving the car... I really got a chance to play around and see what I could figure out... Here's the conclusion I came to.

All of the things that I noticed stem from the same problem (I believe). I noticed a good amount of play in the steering from center. Going 60 miles an hour, I can very quickly "jiggle" the steering wheel left and right about 2 or 2.5 inches in each direction and get pretty much ZERO response from the suspension or front wheels. When I move the steering wheel about 3 inches left to right very quickly, I can start feeling the suspension and steering move... body roll in each respective direction, car moving in the lane, etc etc. But not as much as my brain tells me that the car SHOULD be moving based on how much im jostling the steering wheel.

Now during normal driving, when Im just happily driving down the road, I can feel certain road conditions affect the front suspension, and when it does, it makes the car turn slightly... which is not unheard of.... but what was throwing an alarm in my head of something not being right, is that I could feel the car moving (turning slightly due to the bump), but I couldnt feel any input in the steering wheel at all.

So I think that's another aspect of the same problem. The steering wheel doesnt feel like I have "slop" at all. There's no "dead spot" where I feel I have no connection to the steering rack. The steering wheel feel is consistent throught a 360 degree turn. It's just when im at center, it seems there's a noticeable gap from where im turning the wheel and when the front tires respond.

Im definitely taking the car in to be checked out, but im just curious if that sounds more like what you guys have noticed.... And if not, what could possibly cause something like that?? I really dont think it could be steering rack, or steering knuckle related... Because like I said, there's no "slop" in the steering per-say. Can a loose ball joint or loose endlink cause this kind of problem?

Thanks in advance for the help! And thanks again USMCJLP for the response!

The way that rack and pinion works, is much tighter on center than the old style worm and recirculating ball nut style. This is the reason rack and pinions are used; much more positive steering thru the entire turns.
With that said, and assuming the gear has proper preloads, then anything loose at all, from tie rods, ball joints, bolts, etc, can create a looseness. So if everything, I mean OE tight, then you need to think what could be causing excess loosen which we have documented very well. This relates to the posts that I made above.

Now in terms of drift, GM for some unknown reason, did not make the casters adjustable. We think this is a big mistake. What is odd, is the adjuster plates are there, but the hole that mounts the front radius rod bushing is not slotted. Therefore no adjustability is available. Also GM has a camber adjusting hole in the knuckle, but no bolt. This is the same configuration as GTOs and G8s. So if your car is drifting due to road crown, then your only opportunity is to mess with camber. We think this should not be done.
Pedders now has an extremely high quality front align kit. It includes lifetime warranty on the eccentrics for caster, and a special bolt that can be used for adjusting cambers easier. Now the caster adjusters will require drilling out and eventually slotting the mounting holes. this process will take about 30-45 minutes. But then you will have complete adjustability of caster for road crown compensation, plus will have the ability to increase caster, which will also help in that centerline steering feel.

But the Camaro has a serious amount of body role, that is "challenged" by its short wheel base, excess weight, excess height, under-tired, under sprung, and excess movements in nearly every bushing in the suspension that allows a lot of unwanted movement. So our feelings at Pedders is not to try and mask it first, but to fix it by coils, and critical bushings. Now we do/have the masking approach for the budget minded as well.

Pedders has looked at the Camaro and has solutions for all types of driver skills. We have on the forums, focused primarily on the max handling positions and opportunities because thru this process, that has been baby steps, testing, another step, testing, etc, etc, that gives us a serious amount of practical advantage and knowledge for the weekend warrier, canyon runner, drag racer, cruiser, auto crosser, and track guy, and just the ordinary Joe who just wants to tighten her up a little. Pedders USA has spent a massive amount of time, engineering, testing for all of these solutions. We have been a company that other companies can come to for assistance. Case in point, it is a concern for SCCA T2 with the front OE fluid filled radius rod bushings. In this class, the bushing cannot be replaced. But on the OE bushing, there are 2 rubber bushings that are like bumpers. they call them snubbers. We now have these replacement snubbers that help to strengthen the OE radius rod bushings. SCCA has been petitioned to allow these snubbers for safety sake.

thanks
mike
dms