divil

Lately I've noticed when I turn at speed - like on sharply curving highway ramps for instance - I can feel the front wheels bumping around like crazy. It feels like I'm driving on a very rough surface even when it's smooth. Through the steering wheel it feels like the wheels are slipping around a bit. But it only seems to happen when one side of the car loads up in a turn. In a straight line, or lower speed turns, it's fine.

The front sway bar is not on the car, but I've had that removed for a long time, and I haven't noticed this before. Still maybe that could be it?

Everything seems nice and tight at the front wheels. Wheel bearings have normal play. Everything is fairly new - tie rods, steering rack mounts, wheel bearings, ball joints etc. Tire pressures are normal and the tires are in good shape. The alignment should be pretty much spot on too.

Any ideas what could be causing this?

thomasmryan

what about the inner tie rod?

i had an inner race move as i tapped in the outer as the hub cooled from the oven. i ended up grinding the old race down and used a press.

V2Rocket

is the car lowered at all?
bump steer can be like you described.

divil

I don't think it's that. The inners and outers were replaced together. It was a few years ago but I had them off the car not too long ago and they seemed fine. In any case, rocking the wheels back and forth shows no play.

Nope it's 100% stock.

MAGK944

Sounds like uneven tire wear on the inside edge and when the camber changes, like at speed on sharply curved roads, you are riding more on the worn edge. Sometimes it's difficult to see the wear unless you take the tire off and check/measure the thread. Look for feathering of the thread pattern and less thread depth inside to outside edge. Might be worth swapping the rear wheels to the front and see if that cures it.

car_slave

I had a vibration like that from not having the brake disk screws attached. The rotor would move slightly in the turns.

Van

Sounds to me like something is loose. Jack the car up and start wiggling things. Likely culprits are:
-Wheel bearings
-Ball joints
-Tie rod ends
-Strut top mounts

divil

Well I had a good look today there's definitely nothing loose, at least that I can tell from trying to move things with the wheels in the air. The wheel bearings have a tiny bit of play, but they've had that since I replaced them. They are a few years old now, but I don't think they're the problem.

The feeling I get in the corners is not so much looseness but more that the tires are getting pushed around by the road...a bit like a go-kart. That's the best way I can describe it.

Van

Alignment settings? And, how recently was is done?

divil

Alignment should be factory spec, although it's a while since it was done. Tire wear is perfectly even so far, but I suppose if something happened to the alignment recently it might not show up in the tires yet.

divil

I might have found the problem. I don't know how I missed this before, but there's a ton of movement in the front control arm bushings. I took a quick video - here I'm holding the caliper and the front edge of the rotor and rocking the steering back and forth:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwLX...ature=youtu.be

(The noise is just the steering wheel hitting the stops)

It looks like the control arm bushing is moving as much as the tie rod! That can't be normal can it?

Both sides are exactly the same. I replaced them 3 years ago along with the ball joints. I pulled one ball joint out of the knuckle and its still as tight as it was when I installed it. I wonder how the rubber bushings could get this loose so quickly.

Van

Oh yeah - that's bad!

KEVIN ANDERSON

That definitely sounds like the gremlin

KEVIN ANDERSON

Maybe they weren't pressed all the way in correctly?

KEVIN ANDERSON

After watching the video it looks like they arent pressed in all the way. There could be a little plastic washer missing also