Hi all,
For some reason that I am unsure of, whenever I am driving, the car sways and the body of the car jerks around. The car drives perfectly strait when this happens but it feels like its gonna fly off the road. I have heard many different reasons from different people:

Tie rods and ball joints (which i know are good)
Struts
Sway bar / Sway bar links
Sub frame going bad

I have no idea what the problem is.
Has anyone else had this problem or might know how to fix it?

Thanks for your help!

 

Does it feel like it's the back of the car??? My dad and I went crazy trying to find a cause for a 2000 Grand Am having the at "sway" or "shift" feeling when the rear end went over bumps. It was finally found that the rear lateral arms were bent outof whack by the last shop that did an alignment on the car.
Our Montes have rear trailing arms and lateral arms. If the problem feels in the rear end, see if they are bent.

 

I have a similar question to Jason's,
Are yo going Straight or around a curve or corner when this happens? Are you accelerating? Does it go away at any time while you're moving? Does it feel like it is coning from a specific corner of the car? All the parts you mentioned could be the cause. Having answers to the above question could help members narrow it down to just a few parts in a specific area of the car!

 

Sometimes a wheel bearing will cause that

 

All,
Thanks for such a quick response. It happens on a straight or curved road. Does not matter how fast i am going. Also it happens when both the front and rear hit the bump. Ive never had just the rear hit a bump but not the front. My dad (who also drives my car) seems to think just the rear of the car sways but i feel like its the entire body. It happens when ever the car is moving, does not matter if accelerating or decelerating. It does not go away with time and i feel like its just the entire body of the car swaying, not coming from a specific point. My dad was also in belle tire today and they also believe that it is the struts.

Thanks again all!

 

Something is definitely outa wack. Struts and strut mounts..may all be worn out to the point that they may just fall out do the points of contact where the struts are bolted to the car.
Could also be swaybar bushings or even possibly the subframe body mounts...
How many miles are on it?

 

I agree with Stumpmi, sounds like your rear struts at the least are shot and you need a wheel alignment! I would at least have them checked!

 

You feel it's the whole car and your dad feels it's just the rear. Do a visual inspection on the following parts just to start:
- Rear Trailing Arms and Lateral Arms (should be nice and straight, no bends or kinks)
- Front and rear sway bars, the fronts will crack over time and the bar no longer does it's job.
- Front and rear sway bar end links (if that broke, same issue as a broken sway bar, it's not doing it's job).

Start there, as jacking the car up and doing a visual is not expensive, just takes a little time.

Again, I have found it's somewhat common on the N-body (Grand Am/Alero) for shops to support the car by the rear lats and in turn, it bends the crap out of them.

 

All,
My dad took it into belle tire today before i could even look at it, and by the sounds of it, the tires just need to be aligned. Hopefully that will solve my problem. If it doesn't, you'll hear from me again... LOL

Thanks a lot guys!
Appreciated

 

132,000 miles too btw