lxdriver

So today I took my civic to firestone to get an alignment and the tech guy said that there is "play in the steering wheel." Also he said that the car needs rear strut bushings. Can anyone put more information about these two issues please, any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance HT guys.

Jdubbs6101

Maybe your steering bushings ....cars with p/s....are bad or maybe your tie rod ends inner and outer are worn your rear lower control arm bushings are prolly rotted and torn that and maybe your trailing arm bushings but oh way to be certain is to jack the car up and look at it but that's about all I can guess at your description was rather vague

EJ1_CRIS_909

http://www.lmgtfy.com/?q=honda+steering+wheel+play

tegtuner01

^^thats AWESOME!!!!!!

hyperblu

Most likely inner or outer tierods...

lxdriver

So now that I replaced both tie rods (inner n outer), the steering wheel still has some play to it. Is that normal or not? I would say it has about 1" of play without actually moving the wheels.

axis11

There's more than a dozen things to cause a steering wheel play. Start with the most obvious. Put the car on a lifter or jack it up and have blocks under the front tires. Reach under the car and shake and pull the steering components to see where the play is coming from. If all seems good, have somebody move the steering wheel slightly back and forth(just enough to have resistance but not to move the tires. Check visually which parts have a play in them. Check parts in the steering arms, rack and pinion assembly,bushings gears, cross joints and plastic bushing in the column. If no P/S , check adjustment bolt near tip of the rack.