Hey all, I have a 1999 Suburban C1500 4x4. I've noted in the last month or so the front end felt loose. When I would turn the wheel, generally above 25 mph, it felt like the front end would sort of skid into the turn, almost like it wanted to go straight yet the steering wheel would suddenly, but briefly pull in the direction I was turning. It felt like I was about to lose control but it never went that far. I suspected perhaps it needed an alignment and got that done; however, some three weeks later I'm having some of these odd issues. The tires have been rotated and are about a year old.

1. The front almost feels "floaty" if that makes sense, like the minimum amount of tire is contacting the road.

2. The front end just feels a bit sloppy

3. Occasionally and mostly while turning right again the steering wheel feels like its being forced to turn even more, and if I let go I'm sure it would. This is accompanied by an almost skidding sensation in the direction I'm turning -again in this case primarily to the right.

4. It is not consistent in the description above, sometimes it seems to turn fine. When it does this [number 3] it seems as though its only above 25 mph, and when I'm steering to say pull off of highway, or a somewhat sharp curve, or pulling back into a lane after passing a car.

Any thoughts would be appreciated, thanks!

 

Welcome to the forum....
Yep I know that, had it on my 1997 Tahoe, its the speed sensitive steering going out.... it thinks you are going slower so it makes steering "easier" when in fact you are going at a higher speed and you think the front end is floating on air!

I had Firestone replace it when I had it in for an alginment... IIRC it was about $80 and I believe its mounted to the steering column...

 

Here is the item, read the reviews and I think you will find it spot on for your issues...











.

 

Thank you so much! It was refreshing to hear the same terms being used- I'll look into those links. The vehicle is back at sears because they did an alignment three weeks ago and I wanted to rule out an issue with that.

 

Might want to have Sears do the sensor as I understand its somewhat of PITA to do....

 

Nothing really against Sears, but this one I'll take to my regular Mechanic =D
In any case, again thanks for the help!

 

Once you have the work done, please do follow up if this was the fix ( or if it's not) as you could save someone else some headaches

 

Absolutely and for those very reasons!

 

Nifty. I would have thought worn out pitman arm or ball joints.

Not sure what years stopped using those. I think the 07+ is a rack and pinion setup.