Hey guys. Just a question about steering in VRs. I've had issues with my steering for a while, got nice new suspension, but my steering wanders around the road. Now i've had my wheels alligned, got new tires on there, so you rekon its the rack? what would i need to replace to fix this annoying problem. I just want tight steering...seems to have 2 inches of play in the wheel. thanks in advance.
If you have 2 inches of play with the car stationary (engine off) then it must be wear in the tireods or rack ends...but whoever installed your new suspension should have reported this to you. Can you return it to whoever did the job as that should be your first action.
nah its not that much play when its off. its just seems like the car doesn't react to the wheel very well...and the wandering around is driving me nuts (excuse the pun) the suspension was done at peddars.
You got this problem after they replaced the suspension? Check that your wheels have been put back on properly. Has your car ever been crashed? It could be a bent chassis.
nah the problem was there before the suspension overhaul. I thought new tyres and new suspension would fix it...but it didn't. what about steering collums and steering arms? would that be something to look into? I"m not that knowledgeable on this particular part of the car. thanks. and...i'm in vic...anywhere you'd reccomend to go to get it looked at/repaired?
I had the same problem and still yet not fixed but will soon. In my case, I had a steering rack leak, so I have to get the steering rack replaced. Go have a look under your car behind the front right wheel (Drivers side) and look at the steering rack, see if there is a 'wet' look somewhere. Also your bushes can cause this, so better to get them replaced if not done.
thanks attaboy. i'll go to peddars tomoz and see if they'll take a look. cheers, let me know how you go? thanks.
Peddars usually find every fault possible and then some....so I'd be surprised if they do find something as they should have done so first time - so be careful. A leaky rack should not cause free play unless the rack is worn out. If you are running non-standard tyres/rims then you can have problems with wandering with changes in road camber. If the car has IRS, has the rear been aligned?
Also I heard that running low profile, wide and large diameter wheels/tires would cause this, so mite not be much to worry there. But don't know whether this is true or not (I heard this somewhere here on this forum).
I'm not sure if the rear has been alligned...did a new tyre/wheel allignment at bob jane tmarts. (the rims aren't standard either) but they are only 16" 225s. It is a 12 year old car, maybe the rack is worn? is that a common occurance..? I just don't feel this is just normal 'tire' wandering..its more than just new rims I'm sure of it.
also i'm not expecting peddars to do stuff for free. I agree, they are very thourough. I have a checklist of stuff that needs doing, but its all minimal stuff,i'll get that done this week.
When you lift your bonnet you will see a tyre placard in front of the radiator - I run mine at 32PSI. Anything under 28PSI can overheat the tyres.
The tire placard is only going to be helpful if you are still running stock rims/tires. If you have put 16/17's etc on, you will probably need to run a different pressure. Bob jane should set them to the right pressure when the do a wheel alighnment. If you are unsure, 32psi is a good number to aim for, although you can run up to 36. You dont want to overinflate or underinflate though. I recently went to pedders for the first time recently and found them very thorough and I was happy with their work. They should have picked up something like the problem you described. I would go back there and detail the problem to them. They have the benefit of hands on access to the car, which we do not have.
Thanks for all the comments fellas. I'm going to peddars today to get it all looked at. Let you know how it goes, appreciate the help. Hope you all had a great Christmas.
Got the problem fixed. Was a mixture of new bushes, tireoid arm etc. Thanks for the advice. Its good to see people still help each other out. Cheers. Happy New Year, and drive safe. (well..within reason! hehe)
