I have a 1994 camaro z28 6 speed with 80,000 original, one owner miles. The car was owned by a older man and the car was well taken care of. I just had new set of Firehawk Wide Oval AS tires stock P245's/16's size, installed. The old tires where Summitos ZR. They were 11 years old. They had plenty of tread and were evenly
worn they were just OLD.

I had and still notice some slight rear end sway when going in a straight line at interstate speeds. If I get in a sharp curve the car takes it well. It is a constant challenge to keep the car going in a straight line when going over 60 or so. The car drives straight when breaking or letting go of the steering wheel. Its not much sway but enough to keep me constantly having to correct to stay in my lane comfortably.

The sway is probably only about an inch either way. It almost feels like riding on ice. The sway is very smooth. I checked the rims for bearing movement and the bearings feel fine. No rim movement. Any Ideas? Its very annoying. It did it before getting the new tires also. The car rides very smooth and quiet. It is just the swaying that bothers/concerns me. The tire dealership said the cars alignment was off a little. He mentioned the camber and toe being slightly out. After seeing that I might have suspension issues I decided to check that before getting an alignment because I did not want to pay for 2 alignments. Thanks!

 

Make sure they don't stick you for a four wheel alignment. The rear of ours can't be aligned with stock components. Check the sway bar bushings and end links. The purpose of the bar is to prevent sway.

 

Thanks for the info and quick response!

 

99% of the time suspension issues are caused by wear and they show up as something being loose. Assuming the tech follows the proper alignment procedures he would not be able to align a car with something loose. The alignment procedure has you setting then moving the suspension. If there is clearance the parts will not return to their original position. Unless the tech would have a reason to lie if he completes the alignment then you are ok.

It is pretty common to find clearance in parts that have already been inspected by a mechanic for safety and found to be safe but still have to much play for a proper alignment. This really pisses customers off cause you tell them the suspension seems ok but the first time you set it and it does not return to its position after you bounced the car now you have to look for very tiny play. As a mechanic you end up eating some of it, normally the customer pays for the repair and you eat resetting it up on the alignment machine.

I said 99% of the time. I have seen cars that had a hard hit and passed alignment the next day only to have a ball joint or tie rod fail 3 weeks later. In my opinion these are items that where cracked due to an impact but had not started showing slop in the part yet and that let the tech could adjust in good numbers.

A good pot hole hit can throw off an alignment without damaging anything to the point it needs replaced. I would suggest getting aligned to see if that makes the issue go away. The car pulling is caused by Camber and the car swaying or as we say "following the road" is Toe. Even a small out on toe adjustment can cause a significant feel to the car.

I believe your car has a rag joint at the rack , that is something to keep an eye on as that will not show up in a alignment but can cause the car to feel loose.

 

how old are the shocks and what kind are they? shocks and shock quality dictate handling on the 4th gen. would not surprise me if they are stock orange ones. check bushings on the panhard bar. and like said check sway bar end links and for damage to sway bars.