Steering Issues and high speed vibration and steering dead spot.

Myco

Myco

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I've replaced on the front suspension.

Upper/Lower Control arms
outer tie rod ends
outer sway bar end links
bushings


The bags were changed over to coils. The coils were bought used and look to be arnott brand. They are also a lowered coil set.

After putting on the front and rear strut rod bushings I got the car re-aligned and got 4 new tires. After I got my last alignment the car was pulling to the right and the mechanic said that it's set right on but it pulls. (this was 9months ago) Recently I went to get the alignment done and it pulled to the right again along with pretty bad high-speed vibration. I started hearing noises from the suspension so I took it back to have them look at it. Both tie rod end links were loose. (VERY LOOSE) So they tightened them up and re-balanced the wheels and re-aligned the car. They said they cannot get the alignment perfect in the front or the back because it's "maxed out". I have the readout but not with me.

The car still pulls to the right and at high speeds the vibration is pretty bad. I would suspect the axle but the vibration is there through a range of speeds and will go away and come back while traveling at the same speed.

I took the car to an empty parking lot and threw her around a bit to see how the suspension felt and there seems to be a dead spot in the turning radius that is a little tougher to turn.

I'm suspecting the struts are shot and getting tokico's will help out but I'm not sure about the turning issue.

any ideas?
 
What about the inner tie rods. Also I thought (and I may be wrong) that tie rods had a countering nut to prevent them from loosening?

But I am putting money on the brakes for the pull and vibration. I bet a caliper is seized.
 
unity said:
What about the inner tie rods. Also I thought (and I may be wrong) that tie rods had a countering nut to prevent them from loosening?

But I am putting money on the brakes for the pull and vibration. I bet a caliper is seized.
Click to expand...

+1

Were are you getting your alignment done at?

Are you getting a before and after print out were your alignment is set?
 
front calipers and roters are brand new. the callipers pushed back fine when I changed the brakes.

ntw is dong the alignment and the printout is not with me. the car is nearly jumping at high speeds it's scary.
 
Did you replace your strut rod bushings when you did the lower control arms, you should have cause if they need replacing you have to drop the lower control arms and re-align the front end. Maybe you should find a shop that has more knowledge. They are supposed to set camber 1st, then caster, then toe. Then recheck and adjust where necessary.
 
yes, the strut rod bushings re brand new. everything on the front has been replaced except except the inner inner tie rods.

I'll get the data sheet. and post it up.
 
Myco said:
yes, the strut rod bushings re brand new. everything on the front has been replaced except except the inner inner tie rods.

I'll get the data sheet. and post it up.
Click to expand...

Well if everything but the inners have been replaced, I'd start with them. It's usually the stone that was unturned. They don't cost that much but you'll have to pay for another alignment unless you keep track of the number of turns while taking your old ones appart. If they wind up being bad I'd ask the guys at the shop why they didn't find the problem. If someone ever brought a car in to me for an alignment I always checked out the front end cause I couldn't guarentee the set up if it had worn parts.
 
I'm betting you need one of these......................



Check to see what your steering rag joint looks like. My 94 was doing the same thing, this fixed it.

100_2771.JPG
 
Roadboss said:
I am still suspect of front end alignment.
Click to expand...

I agree. I put on the strut rod bushings and bought the tires the next day and had them put on the day after. I had them put on and the alignment done at NTW. At that point it still pulled to the right and it was vibrating badly at high speeds.

I took it back after hearing a clunk backing up and went into the garage when they pulled the tires off. The guy was about to put the tire back on after rebalancing it and I said take a look at the suspension to make sure everything is tight and kicked the caliper with my foot and the whole suspension moved. :eek3: Taking a look the rear strut bushing was very loose. There was about 2 inches of play.

Like I said earlier though. It's been pulling to the right since I got the first alignment done (8 months ago) at a different shop. I'm going to go back to ntw and have them make sure that everything is tight on the suspension. (since this is part of their alignment package) Then I'm prob. going to buy some tokico shocks and then change the inner tie rod ends.

The inner tie rod ends I hear are a bit difficult to replace so I'll need to do a bit of research on them. The alignment has a 6 month warranty so I'm good on another alignment.

It's scary though going 65mph on the freeway. The vibration comes and goes. This is what leads me to suspicion of something on the suspension.
 
94m5 said:
I'm betting you need one of these......................



Check to see what your steering rag joint looks like. My 94 was doing the same thing, this fixed it.
Click to expand...


How? Where is it?
 
Cheez_94 said:
Well if everything but the inners have been replaced, I'd start with them. It's usually the stone that was unturned. They don't cost that much but you'll have to pay for another alignment unless you keep track of the number of turns while taking your old ones appart. If they wind up being bad I'd ask the guys at the shop why they didn't find the problem. If someone ever brought a car in to me for an alignment I always checked out the front end cause I couldn't guarentee the set up if it had worn parts.
Click to expand...

why would you just replace something like this?
you can feel if any parts are bad in the front end with a proper shake down.
Just take the car to a real shop get a statement from them of what is wrong
and have the other shop pay to fix it or they fix it free of charge and pay for your other shop bill.
 
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