I havent had my Catera very long, but I seem to remember it handled a whole lot better when i first got it. I recently had the front brakes done, including calipers, because there was significant rattling, except when braking. Rattle is now fixed, however the handling is very poor on bumpy or uneven roads only. Straight flat roads are great, but as soon as i hit a pothole, which in california are everywhere, the steering is very hard to control. It seems to pull left and right equally, so i am not sure if it would be alignment, it just feels like all four tires are going in different directions, feels squirley, like the road is wet....can anyone tell me where to start? i have already checked the tire pressures, and they are fine...should i begin with alignment, or could it be something more major with the steering? did the brake job mess something else up? I am in a rental car at the moment due to being rearended, and the car i am driving handles sooo much better on the same road that i drive every day in the catera...any suggestion would be appreciated!
I havent had my Catera very long, but I seem to remember it handled a whole lot better when i first got it. I recently had the front brakes done, including calipers, because there was significant rattling, except when braking. Rattle is now fixed, however the handling is very poor on bumpy or uneven roads only. Straight flat roads are great, but as soon as i hit a pothole, which in california are everywhere, the steering is very hard to control. It seems to pull left and right equally, so i am not sure if it would be alignment, it just feels like all four tires are going in different directions, feels squirley, like the road is wet....can anyone tell me where to start? i have already checked the tire pressures, and they are fine...should i begin with alignment, or could it be something more major with the steering? did the brake job mess something else up? I am in a rental car at the moment due to being rearended, and the car i am driving handles sooo much better on the same road that i drive every day in the catera...any suggestion would be appreciated!
Wait, was your Catera the car that got rear-ended? That could be the possible cause of the issue. Reguardless, yes the first step is to see if its out of alignment and a visual inspection of the front suspension parts.
thanks for the input...i appreciate it. The rear-ender was just barely a bump, only enough to crack the paint on the bumper, no other damage, so im thinking its probably not related.. I just picked it up from the body shop today, driving home the steering was wobbly still, and on top of that the brakes are chirping...i had taken it back to the place where i had the brakes done for the same chirping and they told me they applied brake quiet to the pads, but they still chirp..very annoying. any quick fix for that? I will take it in for alignment this weekend and see if that helps. Should the steering be stiff/tight, sports-car-ish?
My 2000 Catera 15K MI steering is all over the place also. Uneveness in the road will cause the steering to want to wander and pull the car from side to side. This is still the case even after alignment at a Caddy dealer. I read somewhere that there are new alignment specs that may fix our problem.
