I have a 2000 LS V8 with Advancetrac. It drives me nuts that this car understeers worse than my 93 Taurus or almost as bad as my mom's 96 Chrysler Town and Country minivan. I can't even take a left street turn at 25-30mph without the brand new Michelin Pilot's squeeling. I don't have the sport package. I have had the alignment checked and adjusted at Sears. I think part of the problem is still the alignment, I requested the front camber to be set as negative as spec would allow and even bought an adjustment bolt kit, but the redneck guy at Sears thought I was crazy and said it would make the car dangerous, I guess he didn't know what advancetrac is for. Anyway, the front camber is set as far positive as is within spec, when you look at the wheels, they look like they are straight up, no angle whatsoever. I am getting new Monroe Sensatrac struts at all four corners next week, and would like to get a sport package swaybar. Do you guys have any ideas about how to correct this very annoying understeer problem? Thanks for your help. Also, I just thought of this, I know the new LS's advancetrac software curbs understeer, is it possible to have my software updated to the newer version.
LS Severe Understeer
- Thread starter carpoof
- Start date
Midas78
Well-Known LVC Member
:wrench
I have the same car and have had the same problem, that was b/c it was out of alignment. I took it to Sears to fix the alignment and they said they couldn't do the alignment b/c of a busted ball joint. Well LS's do not have a ball joint to begin with, they have a knuckle joint. I took my car to a tech school teacher (teaches mechanics), he looked at the car and said there was absolutely nothing wrong with the knuckle joint. It just needed an alignment. They did a 4 wheel alignment and I haven't experienced any understeer or squealing since. Sears is probably not the best place to go for mechanical advice.
BTW I've had 0 software upgrades. Get an alignment, $60, if that doesn't fix it, then you have a problem worse than outdated software. Good luck.
carpoof said:
I have the same car and have had the same problem, that was b/c it was out of alignment. I took it to Sears to fix the alignment and they said they couldn't do the alignment b/c of a busted ball joint. Well LS's do not have a ball joint to begin with, they have a knuckle joint. I took my car to a tech school teacher (teaches mechanics), he looked at the car and said there was absolutely nothing wrong with the knuckle joint. It just needed an alignment. They did a 4 wheel alignment and I haven't experienced any understeer or squealing since. Sears is probably not the best place to go for mechanical advice.
BTW I've had 0 software upgrades. Get an alignment, $60, if that doesn't fix it, then you have a problem worse than outdated software. Good luck.
carpoof said:
Dude, you want NEGATIVE camber, not positive!! My LS replaced a '91 Sable. That FWDer was the poster child for understeer! Have you checked your tire pressure?? Could be too low. I had terrible results with the Monroe's. IMHO, the stock shocks are the way to go. Call Bill Jenkins at www.teamfordlv.com and have him set you up with the european shocks!
Midas78 said:
The LS does have a ball joint........which is actually called a ball joint that happens to be integrated into your steering knuckle assembly.
As for the starter of this thread.........I would suggest doing the obvious and checking tire pressures. Factory should be set at 30......which is what mine are set at and they never make a sound and are wearing evenly. Some bump the tire pressure up for their own liking, however, I prefer to stick with what works best for the car.
Also, unless you are racing your car, there is no reason to take your car out of camber. When you do that, you will be wearing your tires at a fairly accelerated rate.....I don't blame the tech at Sears for refusing to do that. He was doing his job which is to put cars into factory spec (I would assume he thought you wanted it out of spec........otherwise, spec is spec). Also, why would he care to know what advancetrac is? For normal driving, the advancetrac system is useless.......it is meant for emergency manuevers which unless activated would compromise the intended path of the car. If they checked the alignment and it would have needed something, they would have done it. When I took my car in to get tires and alignment a few months ago, the car was in spec and thus did not need an alignment.
As long as the camber is within spec, there won't be a noticable difference whether it is further to one side or the other.........it will still be in spec. I've never noticed that much understeer in the car, personally. You have to keep in mind the near 50/50 weight distribution as well as your tire size (16 inch I would assume since you don't have the sport) and the actual weight of the car which is around 3700 lbs.
2001LS8Sport
Dedicated LVC Member
Your choice of shocks is horrible for performance use. Great for a cushy ride, but they won't perform like you are looking for. You would be much better off with a set of Motorcrafts for the performance set up than you would with the Monroe's.