I picked up my G (Journey, Premium, LP/Stone) on Saturday and am utterly thrilled with the car... except for one thing which concerns me a little bit. When driving on the Interstate - or any highway, for that matter - the car seems to lack straight line stability. By that I mean that the steering seems a little twitchy, and the car seems to wander a bit. Granted, I live in Nebraska ( ! ) and, uh, it's occasionally a just a tiny bit windy. But compared to my old TL, the car seems a bit harder to keep tracking in a straight line. Am I alone, could this be an alignment issue... or any other thoughts?

 

Haven't had that problem myself aside from bad pavement. It should be pretty easy to tell if it is an alignment issue though. The G has pretty responsive steering and sometimes people have to get used to it but I'm not sure that is what you are talking about. The good rule of thumb though is that if something bothers you and it seems not usual (or what you would assume shouldn't be usual) then take it in. I'm not sure how close you are to the dealer but it may be worth it just to set your mind at ease.

 

Have not experienced this on mine.

 

It does this, it's the road not the car. you are driving in a rut in the road and that is what happens when the rut pulls your car. The steering on the G is so tight that you can feel every bit of response. I agree it shouldn't actual effect the direction of the car, but it does. I learned to live with it after about 3-4 weeks, I don't even notice it any more, it's the sensitivity your probably feeling in comparison to previous cars, it had me nervous at first too.

I find it helps if you don't drive in the rut, move 1 foot either to the left or right and the car will be driving on a rail. I've had the car over 100mph and it's rock solid stable. it only does it on certain parts of the highway I travel. This is recommended for all cars, especially in bad weather, rain and ice collect in those ruts so it's always safer to ride outside the rut. Personally I drive mostly in left lane and I prefer to ride to the left of the rut, where my right tire is closer to the center of the lane.

 

Sometimes having the "toe" on your alignment set to zero will cure the drifting. That's what help keep cars tracking straight. I don't know if the cars are coming from the factory with negative or positive toe. I've read about a few other G owners with this problem.

 

is it drifting in one particular direction, or is it random?

 

mines staight as an arrow and solid as a rock

 

Without using any references to bad Chevy slogans...

I have a Journey, also. I came from a performance-oriented VWAG car, and noticed that the steering in the G35 is much lighter, especially on center. It is extremely easy to change the direction of the G35, especially at high speeds. I don't really like it, but I have learned to get used to it.

It was really nice in my old car to not have to ever keep a strong hand on the steering wheel. The G just requires more focus at high speeds.

 

I didnt notice it so bad on mine until I put the wider rubber on it, then the car became very very darty, it would try and track almost any rut it found in the pavement. I have gotten used to it now...

 

1) is your alignment within stock specs and,
2) what kind of tires do you have now?

 

I would doubt this is tramlining, which is the car following a rut in the road created primarily by truck traffic. I have had 2 cars that had this problem very bad on certain sections of highway I travel every day (an MB E430 Sport and a Volvo S60R). The G35 (or at least my X with 17 inch wheels) does not have this issue at all, while both the R and the MB almost pulled the steering wheel out of my hands on the same section of road.

 

No problems here... it was much worse with my FX and those wide tires.
On good pavement the G feels like it's not even moving.

 

1) the alignment is not back within spec, just like anyone else who is lowered. The car doesnt pull to one side or the other, just seems to catch and drift at times with the road.

2) new tires are Falken FK4542s 235/35/19 275/35/19

 

i havent experienced this problem either....maybe its the journy?

 

i have a journey and no problem whatsoever