The rear tires on my 2002 ssei "fish tail" to the right when the front tires hit a rough place in the road. This happens at all speeds. I just took the car to my dealer with this problem. They did a four tire alignment, but that didn't help. I'd like to have an idea of what to look for before I call them back with the bad news. Thank you!

If the Front Tires go over a rough place in the road, then the rear tires are sure to follow. When you say "Fish Tail" does this mean the rear tires have lost contact with the road or does the rear end just "sway" back and forth. If the tires are losing contact then it might be the rear struts are shot. But you said that the dealer performed an alignment on the car so they theoretically should have checked the suspension all around and made sure that the tires are not over inflated. Has the Service Tech at the dealership driven this car with you over a bump so he knows what to look for???

The rear end slides quickly to the right, then back. I don't think the tires actually leave the road, but in some cases the sway is pretty healthy. I sometimes feel like I'm driving on ice! I know the tires are NOT overinflated. After my previous oil change service, the tech (from another dealership) put about 10 psi too much air in each tire. This really amplified the problem. I returned the tire pressure to the proper amount and the car'* performance returned to the state that it was before. I was told that someone test drove the car before and after the alignment was done, but I did not ride along. I did have a friend drive the car. He has a Bonneville SLE (same year) and said his car did not sway like mine. He also suggested the tire pressure and alignment. Thanks for the input.

sounds like it could be maybe a broken sway bar or something?

A few questions,
Is there any noise when you go over a bump?
Does the steering wheel seem to pull or is just a dog leg feel?

Try lifting up and push down on all 4 corners, verify that the car stops bouncing in less than 2 up and down movements. If one of the corners bounces more than 2 replace the coil and or strut.

Has the car ever been accidented?

Cheers,

:? I have always had this same exact problem! I got the car new and it was never hit. Everytime you hit a bump especially on a curve, the rear seems to slide over. It can be nerve racking at times because you always have to anticipate this happening. I thought the rear tires were not aligned correctly from the factory and wanted to get a 4 wheel alignment thinking this would solve it, guess not Nothing is leaking or making a noise. The higher the tire pressure the worse it gets! I just ran out of idea'* :(

I think you are going to find that that is the nature of the SSEi beast. If your tires are Goodyear GSA'* like mine they are not good for this car in my opinion; those plus I think the rear end is sprung hard. Much harder than my old '92 SSE. It took corners and bumps much better.

My '95 vette handles exactly the same way. I call it a side step! Can't do a thing about it except go with different tires and take those turns a little easier on wavy asphalt. I just can't wait for my GSA'* to get a little more miles on them so I can dump them.

Ever notice how your bonne handles expansion joints in roads?..........crappy; you can feel EVERYTHING can't you!

Thanks for all the replies. Sorry its taken some time to get back to this forum.
To answer your questions: The tires are original with 20,000 miles on them. There is not any noise associated with my problem. The steering wheel doesn't pull. I tried the "bounce test". All corners bounce twice and stop. The car is accident free.
Does anyone have any other ideas? Maybe its just the downstate Illinois roads!
Thanks again.

Possibly something wrong with the ELC. Does the rear air up when you turn the car on?