Is this the feeling of failing tie-rods....?

desmo · 08-16-2011, 12:06 PM

After 600km's of home-cottage-work-cottage-home driving this weekend I hit the threshold of km's/part breaking ratio....

-Steering is a bit slow and really vague at walking speeds when changing direction, like it takes an extra cm of turning the wheel to make the tires move.
-Moving the steering wheel at full stop, I can feel some slop and a "movement" in the rack......

....gotta be tie-rods right? I'll try to get it in the air tonight.

Thanks!

Bullet Ride · 08-16-2011, 12:20 PM

Not necessarily just the tie rods. Over time all of the tolerances in the joints in the steering system open up. When there's a little bit of play in every joint they all stack up to give you that extra cm of slop in the wheel.

noodles101 · 08-16-2011, 01:55 PM

failing tie rod is usually : vibration when braking at high speeds.
( i know this because every single bimmer ive owned had tie rod issues lol )

Ceeker · 08-16-2011, 05:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by desmo

After 600km's of home-cottage-work-cottage-home driving this weekend I hit the threshold of km's/part breaking ratio....

-Steering is a bit slow and really vague at walking speeds when changing direction, like it takes an extra cm of turning the wheel to make the tires move.
-Moving the steering wheel at full stop, I can feel some slop and a "movement" in the rack......

....gotta be tie-rods right? I'll try to get it in the air tonight.

Thanks!

Play in the rack is common when it has lots of k's on the car.

desmo · 08-16-2011, 05:34 PM

Well I do agree that its probably a number of small things all adding up, I guessed tie-rod specific because this feeling came from nowhere.

AKA 550km of "usual" steering feel, then I did a semi-spirited ride through River Road in Kilgore/Terra Nova, stopped for a quick break, and then the steering got all wonky as I was pulling back onto the road....as-if something broke just then.

I got big winter plans for the car, but dont want to start changing small things untill I can tear down the whole car and do it all at once. I'll give it a visual and monitor any changes for safety's sake.

BTW...the roads in Kilgore/Terra Nova/Mansfield Ontario....I hope all you guys have taken a run over there before, beautiful place and not too far north of the city.

noodles101 · 08-16-2011, 05:45 PM

^^ i know exactly what you are talking about man !!

**T.Dot_E30** · 08-16-2011, 06:00 PM

Why guess? Jack it up and check for side to side play, or take it to a shop. Shouldn't take long to pinpoint once it's in the air.

everlast · 08-16-2011, 11:27 PM

Could be any of the ball joints allowing the hardware to move before the wheel does too. Don't risk something happening, get it checked asap.

craz azn · 08-16-2011, 11:34 PM

In my experience, I've never really noticed a tierod problem at low speeds. Only at high speeds over wallowy roads, the car sometimes decides to dart around a bit or the car pulls and lets go as it follows the road. But I'll be the third to say get it checked out asap. It is easy to do it yourself, and wiggle the wheel around side to side and feel for a bit of play.

nonlocal · 08-17-2011, 12:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by desmo

BTW...the roads in Kilgore/Terra Nova/Mansfield Ontario....I hope all you guys have taken a run over there before, beautiful place and not too far north of the city.

+1...

desmo · 08-27-2011, 05:47 PM

Swaybar Bushing! (Sigh of relief)

Everything else looked/felt good. On the road again shortly