V1 LeoZug's Montana Street Goblin - '05 Cobalt SS donor

[Ross]

My shop alignments sometimes made for uneasy driving.
I have drove goblins that are as nice as normal car, so no, it is not normal for a goblin to be uneasy.
Are you running the tubular subframe that eliminates bump steer?
If you are using the Cobalt swingarms, have you checked the rear swingarms for excessive movement from worn rubber bushings?
You can install Moog problem solvers or polyurethane bushings to stiffen up the rear swingarms.
If your suspension is running on new parts, you might just need a good laser wheel alignment.
Be sure to set your ride heights before the laser alignment. Put the correct weight in the seats before adjusting the A arms horizontal.

 

[ah.b.normal]

So I’ve been driving the car for a week now and I’m hoping you guys have some advice. I got the alignment done but the car feels very uneasy. It feels like it’s always searching for a line in the road. I’m basically constantly adjusting my line and sometimes it feels like the car is going to pull itself off the road. It’s a pretty stressful feeling. Going over 50 is pretty scary. Is it something that’s normal? Someone told me it’s because the track width is narrower than normal cars so it never really sits in the grooves in the road. Like a train that has wheels slightly narrower than the racks. Maybe I just need time to get used to it? Wish I felt more comfortable.

If it is tracking straight but hunts to re-center after turns it sounds like it needs more toe in on the front. Your alignment shop ought to be willing to adjust things so the changes are recorded and quantified, for their warranty. From what I've read, placing weights in the seats, mimicking a driver and passenger(If applicable) could help on a vehicle this light.
If it dives for the ditch or center line under braking it may be a sticking caliper or other brake issue making the brake pairs respond unevenly across an axle(ft or rear). If it just seems to drift towards one side or the other after turning it could be due to the road crown and a bias in the toe in angle needs to be adjusted accordingly. These cars are so much lighter that many/all road items seem exaggerated vs average road cars(and especially one ton dually Dodge diesels). Finding an alignment shop that does alignments on road race suspensions in your area of Montana seems unlikely but maybe? I hope this helped, I am not a/your suspension guru!

 

[Markm]

Did they happen to give you a print out? If they did go ahead and post it. I had originally set up the wife’s with a quick trick alignment setup I borrowed from a friend and it is very difficult to get the steering wheel straight with it but it drives good then I attempted to eyeball adjustment to straighten the wheel and got the toe out and it wandered and would be somewhat unpredictable on on ramps. I reset the toe on my friends alignment rack and it really wasn’t far out so it seems the toe adjustment is pretty critical on the goblin. We drive the wife’s goblin to Goblinfest and it drove great.

 

[Leo Zugner]

I'm using the cobalt subframe and I'll check the bushings. I also wonder how soft or firm the coilovers should be? Maybe that would affect it?

When the alignment place did the job they had two dudes sit in it to simulate me driving.

I'll see if I can get the print out from the alignment place. I noticed yesterday that my rear drivers side brake disc looked just slightly colored from heat. I wonder if it's rubbing? Seems like that could affect the steering for sure. Strangely enough, my steering wheel is slightly off. When going straight, it points at maybe 11 o'clock instead of 12? What's the best way to fix that?

Also side question... My blinker doesnt automatically shut off. It looks like the metal cam thing on the steering wheel doesn't quite hit the white tab on the blinker body. Do I just need to add something to the cam to make it "longer"?

Thanks for all your input guys.

 

[Gtstorey]

Steering wheel being off is a sign of a sloppy alignment. They should have set it straight.

 

[Leo Zugner]

Steering wheel being off is a sign of a sloppy alignment. They should have set it straight.

AH ok! I'm going back over there today to give some feedback.

 

[Markm]

Get a picture of your cancel cam with the steering wheel straight. I adjusted mine after the alignment to get it correct

 

[Leo Zugner]

Here’s my blinker cancel. The cam basically just touches the surface of the white part.

 

[Gtstorey]

There are adjustments under the button head screws from what I remember. And it looks like there are slots in the pictures.

 

[Markm]

The switch needs to be pretty much flush against the column and the retaining tabs on the switch should clip into the slots. Your switch is definitely too far away from the cancel cam.

 

[Leo Zugner]

So my boss followed me to the alignment place to have them take a look at the job they did. He noticed that I have a pretty negative camber on the front, he thought my rears looked too towed in, and the car looked like it was crabbing a bit. They can’t see me today so I just took it home. I’ll try again tomorrow. I did take a pic of my front wishbones. You can see that the bottom hiem joints are all the way in and the top ones are out maybe a 1/2” on the inners and outer. Does this seem right? Even with people in the car, it doesn’t seem like it would correct the camber as much as it would need to.

 

[Robinjo]

Do you have a printout from the alignment?

 

[Leo Zugner]

Apparently the guy who has access to it (and worked on my car) doesn't work on Monday. It took the manager an hour to tell us that.

 

[Leo Zugner]

The switch needs to be pretty much flush against the column and the retaining tabs on the switch should clip into the slots. Your switch is definitely too far away from the cancel cam.

I had to buy a replacement lever from amazon. My OEM was broken. Maybe the design is different? I'll have to check when i get home.

 

[Robinjo]

Apparently the guy who has access to it (and worked on my car) doesn't work on Monday. It took the manager an hour to tell us that.

This sounds like a top-notch spot. You may be better to just find a better spot. I know that is a cost penalty, but it might be better in the long run.

 

[Leo Zugner]

I considered that. It’s a tire-Rama. I think it’s a chain but I’m not sure. Got some feedback that it was a fine place to use. Maybe not…

 

[Robinjo]

They might be fantastic at doing every day cars. This is not an every day car.

 

[Leo Zugner]

Agreed. We are wondering if they just gave up part way through. I thinks it’s worse than when I brought it to them. I measured my front wheels with a protractor and it looks like I have -4 degrees camber. They are visibly leaning out. The rear tires look like they have maybe .5” toe in? Is the rear track wider than the front? Or is the Front and back the same?

 

[Leo Zugner]

Sorry. My fronts have positive camber.

 

[Desert Sasqwatch]

You want negative camber, not positive camber. That's why your tires are leaning out and that is incorrect. This shop has no clue if they set up with positive camber and you gave them numbers for negative camber. Probably why everything looks wrong - because it is - and your handling is off.