Suspension advise needed please

[quattrorunner]

OK, I just finished the turbo flare install and now am using 9X11 wheels with 255x45x17 and 275x40x17 rear(I know odd selection but it's what I have at the moment.)
My question is why after I changed widths front and rear am I feeling a more darty feel?
I under acceleration can go from one side of my lane to the other if not carefull.
The car is powerfull but it's no diffrent from narrow body to now in power just how it gets to the ground. It should be noted that before I would loose traction under these same conditions and now it just squats for the most part, so this is one reason I guess?
I haven't done anything to my suspension ever in 4 years but don't have any real tire wear problems to speak of other than rear tires going quicker than fronts for obvious reasons.
Is this something that isn't easy to diagnose without actually looking at it?
Thanks, it might be that I just need to replace bushings and some such maintance I guess.

[dfhtrhjn]

Having staggered width wheels on a highway with ruts in the lane causes a little bit of that behavior because the front wheels don't ride in the rut the same way as the rear wheels, but wouldn't expect it to by very noticeable.

Is the front lowered? Perhaps you're feeling a little bump steer?

[quattrorunner]

No other changes except width of wheels/tires. It hunts on the freeway too.

[gliding_serpent]

Your car is tramlining. Typical for wider tires.

A good read
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=47

[quattrorunner]

That is deffinately part of it for sure. But I believe I had other things needing attention as well.

[Chuck.H]

255/45 is somewhat of a tall tire, no? perhaps you have altered your effective caster rate on the front suspension? One simple judge of caster is how light your steering feels; too little caster and the steering effort will be very low, but then car will not want to track in a straight line.

I have 255/40-17's and 315/35-17's, and I can say my car is very sensitive to alignment settings, but it certainly doesn't drift around unless the road is heavily grooved.

Chuck.H
'89 TurboLookTarga, 384k miles

[quattrorunner]

Originally Posted by Chuck.H

255/45 is somewhat of a tall tire, no? perhaps you have altered your effective caster rate on the front suspension? One simple judge of caster is how light your steering feels; too little caster and the steering effort will be very low, but then car will not want to track in a straight line.

I have 255/40-17's and 315/35-17's, and I can say my car is very sensitive to alignment settings, but it certainly doesn't drift around unless the road is heavily grooved.

Chuck.H
'89 TurboLookTarga, 384k miles

It is a little tall yeah, and the rear is a little narrow too.
OK this makes sense. The front really does have a lifted feel while accelerating. Front tire before was 215/45 which is much narower but still somewhat tall.
Thanks for the input.

[wayner]

With all that width in the from to the outside of the hub, not only did I find that my car tramlines on highways with ruts, but also was very sensitive to toe adjustment (you've added a big toe and a few extra piggies

[Flieger]

When you add the width to the outside of the wheel/tire you get more kickback through the steering when you hit bumps, so the steering will turn more before the trail brings it back into line. Increasing the kingpin inclination (which for a strut means increasing negative camber) will reduce the scrub radius and help the kickback in some instances, but will make the steering heavier at lower speed.

[enzoducoing]

[QUOTE=too little caster and the steering effort will be very low, but then car will not want to track in a straight line.[/QUOTE]

+1 on the caster set-up. Try a different setting.
Cheers
MD