Loose steering

[RobE30]

When I'm driving my car it feels like there is something loose in the front end. I put it up on a lift and everything is tight (balljoints, tierods etc). The car wants to wander and sometimes when I hit a little bump it feels like something is loose. My next step is flush ps system and new ps reservior. The rack is a reman (Crown) w/ about 20k or so on it. Any suggestions?

[jlevie]

With the car sitting on the ground and the engine off, can you feel play in the steering wheel?

With on wheel on the ground and one in the air is there motion if you grab the wheel that is in the air at the 9 & 3 o'clock positions and try to twist the wheel?

How did you check for play in the ball joints/ The best way is to use a large pair of channel-locks and squeeze the joint any motion at all is a sign of wear.

[aworthybrother]

have you checked the rubber mounts for the sway bar?

[RobE30]

^ Didn't check sway bar bushings. The balljoints, cntrl arms and CABs have less than 7k on them. I will try the 9 and 3 test tom after work. Do you think that the steering u-joint might be bad? I plan on switching over to the m3 style endlinks (welding new tabs etc) so this could be a good excuse to do so. Thanks for the info so far guys

[cro320]

^ Didn't check sway bar bushings. The balljoints, cntrl arms and CABs have less than 7k on them. I will try the 9 and 3 test tom after work. Do you think that the steering u-joint might be bad? I plan on switching over to the m3 style endlinks (welding new tabs etc) so this could be a good excuse to do so. Thanks for the info so far guys

does it feel loose at high speeds? Like driving a boat?

[RobE30]

It doen't feel "boaty" while driving. The car just wants to follow every groove in the road and just feels loose. The front struts have about 5k on em along w/ strut mounts (struts are Bilstein sports). The only thing thats old are the sway bar bushings and endlinks

[whiltebeitel]

Tramlining may be because of too much toe-out (Wheels pointing like \ / from above)

[aworthybrother]

^ Didn't check sway bar bushings. The balljoints, cntrl arms and CABs have less than 7k on them. I will try the 9 and 3 test tom after work. Do you think that the steering u-joint might be bad? I plan on switching over to the m3 style endlinks (welding new tabs etc) so this could be a good excuse to do so. Thanks for the info so far guys

I know my sway bar bushings needs raplacement, I just dont know how to replace it yet. Im suspecting that causes my loose steering. I replaced my CAB, Control Arms, Sway bar Links and tierods except for these rubber bushigs... If you find something else that fixes your problem, let me know.

[RobE30]

Tramlining may be because of too much toe-out (Wheels pointing like \ / from above)

I was thinking that might be part of the problem, but I am waiting to find a decent shop to do an alignment. Does the "factory way" make that much of a difference?

[ColdAccord]

I've replaced a ton of stuff, have corrected alignment, and am still getting a similar problem