obuhmyuh

lately when ive been driving my car tends to veer one way or another. when i turn the wheel one way just a little bit it wont do very much and i move it just a little more an the car jerks to the direction i just turned it...
i recently had my pass. side tie rod replaced and he told me my drivers side should be soon. could that be causing this?


i wanna get this taken care of asap, its a little dangerous on freeways, so input is much appreciated...

jadziasman

Check the ball joints in your front upper control arms for looseness. Reach past your tire and try to push the arm up away from the steering knuckle. If you can move the arm up toward the shock tower more than 5 mm that means the ball joint is worn out and the UCA needs replacement. I just replaced mine and oh what a difference. No more of the steering pulling to one side and no more need to over correct the steering when the car is at an angle due to the crown of the highway I have a 92 Civic VX with 177K miles and I think the UCA's were 16 year old OEM.

spray_bombed

did whoever replaced the tie rod align it afterwards?

obuhmyuh

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by jadziasman &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Check the ball joints in your front upper control arms for looseness. Reach past your tire and try to push the arm up away from the steering knuckle. If you can move the arm up toward the shock tower more than 5 mm that means the ball joint is worn out and the UCA needs replacement. I just replaced mine and oh what a difference. No more of the steering pulling to one side and no more need to over correct the steering when the car is at an angle due to the crown of the highway I have a 92 Civic VX with 177K miles and I think the UCA's were 16 year old OEM.</TD></TR></TABLE>

so check and/or replace uca's, not tie rods?? yes im experiencing similar effects...

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by spray_bombed &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">did whoever replaced the tie rod align it afterwards?
</TD></TR></TABLE>
i've had it aligned twice and my tires changed once since then, but problem just recently occured...

jadziasman

If you check the UCA's as I described and find looseness, it should correct most of your steering issues if you put new UCA's in. I just did this myself four days ago. The tie rod ends affect toe in and out in addition to actually steering the car (lol) and that's a tire wear issue primarily. Personally, I'm not as much concerned with tire wear as long as my car travels down the road as straight as possible which it does now with a finger light touch on the wheel - finally!

obuhmyuh

haha ok ok ill check that out, im probably gonna nee to get an alignment if i replace that uca, huh?

jadziasman

Not necessarily. I have owned two Civics (not at the same time) for a total of 13 years and never had a wheel alignment done on either one of them. The suspension adjustments are essentially limited to front and rear toe in. Camber is determined by the control arms front and rear although you can adjust them with camber kits or other less precise methods. My car's alignment improved after replacing the front UCA's. I expect that you would have the same experience. A wheel alignment would give you assurance that nothing is seriously out of adjustment - if you need that. Me I don't especially feel I need to for a 16 year old car with $30 tires.

obuhmyuh

ya i see ur point, ill try to take a look at it today.