02 Gt Wandering

BlackStang00

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I bought this 02 gt a few months back from a small town dealer. He didn’t know much about the car but I did see it had some mods and drove nicely around the block. Anyway, recently I’ve been spending more time and money on it and have noticed something annoying. Driving, especially over 50 mph, it likes to wander almost dart from one side to another randomly. It might continuously pull one way then the other or it’ll go straight for a while. It’s worse at highway speeds. And when the road surface is uneven it’ll wander even more. The front end is nice and tight, no slip in the wheel at all. So I’m suspecting maybe it’s the rear end. The rear suspension appears to be somewhat new, though that doesn’t mean nothing is bad. Any suggestions? I live in an apartment so space to work is limited.
 

Blkkbgt

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I'd start by getting the car up on jack stands and physically inspecting the suspension. Look at everything and pull on the tie rods to check for play. Also check the ball joints. Make sure your wheel bearing are good too.

If everything checks out of take the car for an alignment.
 

Roots-type

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I'd start by getting the car up on jack stands and physically inspecting the suspension. Look at everything and pull on the tie rods to check for play. Also check the ball joints. Make sure your wheel bearing are good too.

If everything checks out of take the car for an alignment.
+1

What wheel/tire setup is it on? What's the tire pressures?
 

Lambeau

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This was ~2014. I had two 01's. A Bullitt and Cobra Vert with similar miles, ~25k. At highway speeds, Bullitt would wander, the Cobra was rock solid.
On the Bullitt, I had the rack, suspension checked, and fluid changed. Same problem, still wandered.
After researching, I identified the potential cause as a degradated rag joint in the steering shaft.
I purchased and installed the solid Maximum Motorsports (MM) steering shaft (mfr by Borgeson in USA) in my garage, by myself.

This new, MM solid steering shaft solved the problem.

CJ sells the Borgeson shaft, but the one from MM, has some additional work done to it which improved it. I don't recall what it was.

I have pics on my desktop and I can post later if you want.

Pretty sure this is what I purchased that solved my Bullitt problem.


 
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BlackStang00

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Tires checked out fine, between 30 and 33 psi cold. They’re staggered btw, I can get the tire sizes if needed. I’m not near my parents house where all my tools are so I had to get under it and inspect/push/pull etc on the ground. Everything seems to be tight but there was some slight movement in the quad shocks. I don’t know what brand shocks these are but they have a knob of them like they’re adjustable. Maybe there’s not enough dampening?

As for the front, again only from the ground but everything checks out. And the steering is nice and tight. I’ve never driven an sn95 with no slop in the wheel except this one. Also, if it helps, it tends to oversteer in turns.
 

BlackStang00

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Oh and here are some pics of the rear
59152e9e654ee4a6523bad92e489378c.jpg

1668d53ca5ce84697654381fb25a950c.jpg

80c2773d46ea50d6cb9ebea62bf116bf.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

BOOGIE MAN

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I'd check the brake lines/sensor cables, like someone mentioned above. They shouldn't be where they are.

Does that rear shock look funny to anyone else? How much play is in that?
(Pic found online)
bil-24064187-k_04586134.jpg
 

DSG2003Mach1

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^^^ good point, looks like the shock and quad shock are rubbing, pretty sure that shouldnt be happening
 

BlackStang00

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I did notice that line rubbing after I took that picture, I’ll ziptie it out of the way later. Right now it’s sitting in a parking lot with a fuel leak by the rail…

I don’t believe it’s lowered but I’ll look closer at the springs. When I saw them last night they looked black like the stock ones.

The shocks don’t really have play but I noticed it looks like there’s no bushing in the bottom mounting location. It almost looks like an lca with spherical bushings. I’ve owned many mustangs but I’ve never really messed with the suspension too much. This one was modified before I bought it so a lot of it is unknown. I can see it has front and rear sway bars, rear shocks and non adjustable lower control arms. But a lot of it looks like cheap crap tbh. I’m sure that’s not helping my issue at all.

I did notice a few nights ago I was coming to a stop and noticed abs kicked in for no reason. It was the rear brakes not the fronts. Then it smelled funny like burning plastic or something. I thought maybe I’m just not used to high flow cats but the smell went away after I drove around more. The brakes aren’t dragging and the rotors look fine. I’m wondering if the abs isn’t working right. I haven’t noticed the abs light coming on but I’ll check to see if it turns on with the key.
 

DSG2003Mach1

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The lip of the wheel sure looks like it’s rubbing. It’s like the lines are missing a holder or something.

Agreed it looks like that lower shock bushing is missing or damaged, might explain the shocks rubbing as it moves side to side. You need to take that wheel off and get a better look imho
 

01yellercobra

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Bad shocks won't cause the wandering issue though. They'll clunk or cause the car to bounce over bumps. Since it's moving around randomly I would pull those rear control arms and check the bushings. Poly bushings can wear out. And when they do things will move around as they want. It's not always something you can feel by pulling on it.

If the bushings check out get the front end aligned as mentioned. I've found cars do some weird things when the tires don't point in the right direction.
 

BlackStang00

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The fuel line right before the rail decided to start leaking the other day so I’ve been waiting on a replacement. I’m the meantime, I did get under it and ziptie the abs harness and parking brake cable away from the wheel. Both were rubbing bad and have deep cuts in them. I couldn’t get a good pic but I’ll try to get another one next time I’m off.

You could be right about the bushings. The lca’s look like they’ve been on there a while and are getting rusty where paint has flaked off. This car has a lot of unknowns.
 

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