Tilting when turning, sitting crooked

[xminnis]

I have a 78 Grand Prix, it runs great and i love it but what is the deal with how it tilts so bad when i am turning and when i park it will sit tilted to the side, not one particular side though it just depends on which way i was pulling into the parking spot. Are all G-body cars like this. My cousin has a 84 cutlass that does it also, and my old 78 monte also did it but none as bad as the grand prix i have now. Is there anyway to correct this?

 

[megaladon6]

with the wheel straight, do the tires point in the same direction? i think you have some serious front end/alignment issues.

a little bit (less than an inch) of "tilt" is normal. more than that...

 

[xminnis]

It looks like they point the same just eyeballing it. Im not sure if tiliting or leaning would be the right word for what it does when i turn buy its definitely doing something

 

[megaladon6]

that's fine, as long as they're close. a couple of degrees will be noticeable if you look for it (but can be missed with a casual glance)
anything over 5* is pretty obvious although.... i've seen them 10-20* off and the driver never noticed!!!! just brought it into the shop with "ever since you did the oil change it doesn't feel right". look at the car and ask, "did you notice when you hit the really big pothole?" the tie rods were severly bent from the impact, but it was our fault because we did an oil change.
for a cheap alighnment check, try parking the car on a level section of asphalt and turn the wheel so the D/S wheel is straight forward. look really carefully at the front tires and make sure that they don't tilt in or out at the top. have someone sit in the car and turn the wheel. make sure they pivot and turn equally.
does the car tilt the same in both directions, and does it do it if you're not in the car?

 

[xminnis]

ok i will try checking the alignment like that sometime. yeah it tilts about the same both directions, if i have something in the back seat it will slide all the way to the right when i turn left and slide all the way back to the left when i turn right. And after i turn the car will still be tilted to that side slightly (not as bad as when i was turning) so i gotta give a quick little swerve in the other direction to balance it out straight. And yes the car will stay tilted to the side when im not in it if i had turned hard into a parking spot or something, but if i just pull straight into where i am parking it will not be leaning

 

[megaladon6]

actually i mean if you stand outside the car and turn the wheel in either direction, does it still tilt as badly?

 

[dan2286]

Could it possiby be really bad shocks and springs? I know a leaking shock on my Cutlass made it lean alittle.

 

[xminnis]

i guess it could possibly be springs but i just replaced the shocks so that is not it. About the previous question i tried turning the wheel while standing outside tit just barely tilted at all i think that is normal so it only tilts when i am turning corners, but i did notice that when i cut the wheel all the way to either direction there was like a squeeky belt noise, what is that? is my power steering belt too tight or something?

 

[dan2286]

i guess it could possibly be springs but i just replaced the shocks so that is not it. About the previous question i tried turning the wheel while standing outside tit just barely tilted at all i think that is normal so it only tilts when i am turning corners, but i did notice that when i cut the wheel all the way to either direction there was like a squeeky belt noise, what is that? is my power steering belt too tight or something?

When you cut the wheel all the way, it puts alot of strain on the pump. It could be the pump just whining from the strain, just listen really closely, you will be able to tell if its a belt or the pump.

 

[dougfather]

For what it's worth, my 84 Grand Prix (V6 - before the swap) had a broken passenger side spring. Just one coil of the bottom sheared. I noticed it when we took out the whole front suspension.