When I up shift on acceleration or down shift I sometimes get the sensation of rear steer. It feels like the car is trying to steer from the back end ever so slightly.

I have the car raised and the wheels off. Previously I did a visual of the rear bushings and used a pry bar to see if they flexed and found no issues nor did I see anything wrong with the rear sub frame mounts. This time I'm taking both shocks out, so I can have the car at ride height and see if any of the joints to flex.

Anyone else experienced this?

 

Dave,

A couple of years ago, if I hit a rough patch, me car acted like that. New Michelins cured that and drastically improved the ride quality

 

Checking the linkage makes sense. My first thought would be the toe links but if those are good, then the other thing that occurs to me is that a failing rear differential or rear axle could have the same effect, e.g. a different level of force on one wheel vs. the other would create a steering sensation as the wheel with more drive would tend to rotate the car. Just a thought.

 

Have you had it aligned recently? If so, what's the rear toe? How smooth are you with the power transition/clutch smoothness? Do you have traction control on? What's it like with it off? How old are your tires and what type are they?

 

Tire condition first, and as stated have you has an alignment? Tire pressures, condition and age. All addressed pre alignment.

 

The car did this with the old Continentals and also with the new Michelins with less than 500 miles on them so thinking I can eliminate tires.

Today I've taken the right rear shock off and placed the suspension at ride height and tried to move all the joints to see if any were worn and all seem good on this side. Will try the other side tomorrow.

As far as alignment I haven't check as the tires wear even and overall handling is good. I usually do my own alignments with some tools I've made up over the years but don't have them here. May setup a fixture on jack stands and use a tape measure to check toe. I'm leaning away from this as the cause as this only happens under a load.

I also wondered about the traction control acting up but to be honest never checked with it deactivated. Worth a try if no bad bushings found.

I've had bad axles in a posi diff before on my other car but never felt like this. Rotating the axles hasn't shown anything so far.

 

This is exactly why alignment probably is the issue. Rear toe out under squat will have the car scurrying in all directions.

 

You cannot do a proper rear wheel alignment with homemade tools. The alignment is based on the wheels relationship whit the “cars” chassis. The alignment must reflect this.