08 TL-S 50k miles

I've had this problem for a while now. At speed (above 60mph), the steering wheel seems to float quite a bit. It's not loose, there is no play in the steering wheel. It's not my tires. It feels the same with my new DWS's as it did with the OEM tires.

It's most noticeable over rough highway around turns. It just makes the car feel like it's not planted to the road very well. Very annoying. I've been procrastinating on bringing it to the dealer because I know it's not going to be a straightforward ordeal. There going to claim everything feels right. Understandably...they don't live with the car and short of them taking the car 30 miles down the highway and back, the issue may not overtly present itself.

Has anyone else had this problem and had it fixed by the dealer? I know the LCA bushing are prone to failure but I inspected them when I last changed my oil and I could not see any cracks.

Thank you for your help.

 

It's not tramlining, either.

 

DWS...isnt that a snow tire with soft sidewalls?
might be tires.

 

DWS are all seasons. And their sidewalls won't be stiff but shouldn't be bad either. Plus he said it's the same OEM tires and new DWSs.

Compliance bushings? How's the alignment?

 

Felt the same with the OEM tires. DWS is an all-season tire. I guess, technically, a high-performance tire with a snow rating. In reviews people do mention turn-in is a bit soft with these tires but I don't think that's the case.

It's difficult to describe. It seems like the steering wheel doesn't settle quickly and will float back and forth for a bit before coming back. It's not flailing around but it's enough that it's not very confidence inspiring.

 

I have DWS tires and noticed this also, I am not sure if it happened before or not, I just figured it had something to do with the steering being much loser than I was used to on german cars.. But if I go over bumps or cracks the steering wheel will move as if the tires are being influenced by the crack/bump. Also, it just feels loose in general.

My control arm bushings do need to be replaced which I hope is the issue and not something with the power steering, also my car pulls right (but strangely sometimes pulls left if the road is slanted enough), not an alignment issue.

 

I'm curious to find out if the LCA bushings fix your problem.

 

I may actually just go ahead and buy the A-Spec suspension kit. I was doing some research on that as a birthday present to myself and some people mentioned it fixed the problem I've been complaining about. May not be the only cause but I'll keep my fingers crossed.

 

My car has always felt ltike this... Doesnt matter if I had the stock wheels and tires on the car or my 19's with any tires. I also have Tein SS coils and a Progress bar on the stiffest setting.

 

Worn shocks??

Although at 50k I wouldn't expect them to be (unless, maybe, you're dropped on stock shocks).

 

Possibly. Stock suspension but I have the A-Spec suspension sitting in my house right now. I bought the car in north Jersey and I saw how terrible the roads were there.

If that doesn't help, I'll take it to the dealer. My dealer just seems very hesitant to do any type of warranty work if there isn't a very clear problem--I had it up there a month or so ago for the "sluggish when heat-soaked" issue and they basically threw their hands up because the CEL wasn't on.

 

My car feels the same way ... floaty.. I think the shocks in the rear are too light duty. It was worse before I got the aspec springs and shocks.. But its still there a little. And my rear tires are wearing very evenly. So, I don't think the rear alignment is out. But when I add a few groceries in the back, the floaty feel goes away.

 

We've been over this, it's your alignment. Not the camber but the toe.

 

no one searches anymore.

 

I had the same "Float" issue at highway speeds since I purchased my 07 TL-S. After installing the CT RSB and the A-Spec suspension, and several alignments by a very qualified shop I became convinced that the problem was elsewhere.
Your experience may be different than mine but I found that the issue was Not associated with alignment. Alignment only ensured that the car would track as steered while "floating", it did not address the root cause of the problem.
I installed UR chassis bracing - Front Lower Bar (LA2-487) and Side Lower Floor Bars (LA4-288). The car is rock solid and the float issue is gone in all but the most extreme circumstances.

 

I would agree that an alignment that makes a car feel floaty is unusual. Sure, a bad alignment can make it steering very odd and make your tires wear terribly, but floaty feeling is unusual. And to have so many people say the same thing, that just seems odd. But just for grins, i will have an alignment done when I get new shocks or springs, or if I decide to not get shocks or springs I will do it anyway. But i am sure IHC will reply with another big long thread as to why it's not possible. However, I did not realize that toe changes on the rear when the spring compresses. But here is something new that I have not mentioned before. I forgot that I noticed several months ago that my rear tires do already look like they have a toe-in. I can just look str8 down at the tire from above, andd see a slight angle inwards. So i know it already has a toe-in that is set. I always thought I must have been imagining that last year when I was installing wheel spacers.. I was intensely trying to measure both rear wheels to see if one wheel was sticking out further than the other wheel because it loked like it was off a little bit. Like 1 of the rear wheels stuck out about 2mm more than the other side. So in this process I noticed that the wheel did not appear to be pointed str8 in parrallel with the car.. so now I see that there is a toe-in on the rear Wheels. And if there is a toe-in existing, then my floaty feeling is not likely coming from the alignment because IHC said most unstabile feelings come from being toe-out. And he is correct about that. But if I can visually see there is some small toe-in, then this comfirms why I thought i see a toe-in and that I am not ,smoking anything..

Also, after reviewing all this, and how each tire has independent suspension and moreover, if the toe-in is adjusted by rods that are connected to the chassis.. just imagine how if a guy got into a wreck and if the backend was bent, imagine how next to impossible it would be to set the alignment back to oem specs. I mean, the adjustment rods are mounted to the body frame on the rear... (i am pretty sure) and if the chassis frame is bent, then its near unrepairable. Lovely!!! I never saw that before. Cars that have a rear axle would not suffer from a misaligned rear end for more than 1 reason.

 

I hate to say this but placebo effect. You're suggesting chassis flex was the cause of the TL feeling floaty? You realize it's torsional stiffness was higher than the C5 Vette, right?

 

No placebo effect my friend.
In my case the chassis bracing produced a striking difference in stability and handling.

 

How??? The difference would be subtle at best. I've braced cars that had literally 5x more chassis flex than the TL and it was a difference but bracing a TL is not going to cure a floaty feeling. They just don't have that much chassis flex to begin with. Especially not on street tire. The vast majority of the people out there have no issues with a floaty feeling. If adding the braces helped, you fixed some other problem in the process. Did you get it aligned after the installation?

 

Hey, I'm not a mechanical engineer and didn't have stress meters or other instrumentation installed before/after chassis bracing so I cannot identify with certanty the underlying issue causing the "Float".
Without knowing that, trying to explain how the bracing cured the problem is just conjecture.
Suffice to say the entire feel of the car is changed.
More steering resistance at low speeds, Much firmer ride, More precise steering/handling at high speeds.
And yes, I have had the alignment done following installation of the bracing, but it had been done many times prior to that with only the improvements I mentioned previously.