i just replaced my front control arms today with some oem ones because i have the gay balljoint camber kits on them. now for some reason when i make any turns, the steering wheel has to go farther than it used to, which it was driving perfectly normal last night. and the weirdest thing is, the steering wheel wont straighten itself out after the turn, i have to pull it straight. for example, when i turned around at the end of my court and released the wheel a little to straighten out, it stayed where it was and kept turning. so i just let go to see what would happen and i ended up going in a few complete perfect circles.

the car is a 96 gsr. everything is bolted down tight and it was driving perfectly normal yesterday. the only thing i can think of to be wrong is that i tightened the bolts holding the arms to the anchor bridge thing too tight. could that be the problem? any input is appreciated.

 

need help

 

ok i raised the car and loosened the bolts where the arm pivots and then jacked up the control arm all the way and tightened them down, so that it wouldnt put as much stress on the arm. originally i tightened them when the arm was pointing downwards. it drives a little better but still doesnt straighten out all the way. now i noticed that when one wheel is straight, the other is pointed inward. the toe is bad because i just took out a camber kit right? but is this the reason for it not turning correctly?

 

wow either nobody knows anything about my problem or no one wants to help. if you're thinking i should just go get an alignment, i will, to fix the toe. however, i called wheel works and told them my problem and the manager said an alignment wont fix it, its a mechanical problem. either he doesnt know anything or i f*cked something up. can anybody guess at what i might have f*cked up? any input will be appreciated.

 

im gunna reply to /bump.

i have no idea mate.

sorry

goodluck.

 

i did the exact same thing...

replaced my ghetto camber kit to the OEM arms...

you need an alignment...im 300% sure...

the alignment shop is on crack...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by CV-DA9 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">the alignment shop is on crack...</TD></TR></TABLE>

^^^yup, thats what i thought ^^^. so ill get an alignment ASAP. hopefully that should get rid of all the problems. thanks a lot.

 

This commonly happens when doing something like this.

An alignment should remedy your problem. your wheels are more than likely Toed in a different direction, so they aren't going to want to return to center.

I'd probably tell that manager at the alignment shop to get a life and atleast know what he is talking about..

 

ok so i went to les schwab to get it aligned and the guy said my tie rods are messed up. i didnt notice anything wrong with them last week but now i can feel play in the driver side when doing the 3oclock 6oclock shake but not the passenger side. my question is should i replace both sides or leave it alone if there is no play.

another question is, can i reuse the the tie rod circlip from the old one since the new tie rod from the dealership didnt come with it. and what else do i need besides the boot, castle nut, and cotter pin. the dealership tie rod only came with the boot attached but nothing else. thanks for the help.

 

If you do not have a camber kit any more, only the toe can be adjusted.

 

im not trying to be rude or nothing and you've been helpful to me, but what question are you answering. i need help on what i posted last. thanks

 

I would replace just the one with play. Inspect the other one. You can reuse the hardware.

My point before is that you can align the car yourself since only the toe can be adjusted.

 

ok thanks, i didnt know what you meant.

so i can reuse the castle nut and cotter pin, but how do i go about resusing the circlip. how do i get it off the old joint and onto the new one. i looked at it and looks wrapped all the way around the boot. do i need a special tool?

 

I haven't done one in a while. Snap ring pliers?

 

ok thats what i found when i searched but it doesnt seem that the circlip on the tie rod has the two little holes for the plier, but ill have to carefully check again. thanks a lot