Today I noticed that under breaking, the car will suddenly jerk to the side (could be left or right). Under normal driving, there does not seem to be this twitchiness.

Could this be due to a mis-alignment (toe-out)??

Has anyone experienced this issue before? If so, what did it turn out to be?

Thanks!

- Nate

 

Okay, I'll assume we are discussing the '93 in your profile. Did this start suddenly?

Having the front end inspected/aligned, would probably be the place to start...



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check the tire pressures first.

second would be to look for loose/worn suspension parts, the FD develops play in the rear pillow bushings

third would be to align the thing. toe out in the rear will be unstable. front not as much

 

Since it only happens under braking, maybe that would be a good place to start looking? Leaks, loose bearings, pad wear?
Which way does it shoot when you hit the brakes? Look to the side that does nothing.

GD

 

Thank you everyone for pitching in with ideas. The symptoms did start suddenly (2 days ago). I jacked the car up tonight and found that one of the bolts that holds the driver's side upper control arm to the chassis was missing completely!

Three months ago a friend and I replaced all of the bushings with the ones provided in the SuperPro master kit. I also did all of the rear ball joints with OEM units. It looks like the bolt may have not been torqued properly, or at least it was not torqued again after the initial test drive (this is important!).

I temporarily put in the hardest grade of steel bolt available at the local hardware store and all symptoms have disappeared. Tomorrow morning I will be ordering a new OEM bolt/nut from Ray at Malloy. I will also be checking the torque on as much of the suspension as I can get to.