when i go over bumps and railroad tracks, the front wheels feel loose and make a wierd wobbling(sp?) noise. I thought it was the lower ball joint, but i recently replaced those, and the sound persists. any help/suggestions/comments appreciated.

 

Wheel bearing? When you have the car jacked up, how much play does the wheel have?

 

Try tightening ur bolts

 

outer tie rod end stuffed???

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by dr_latino999 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Wheel bearing? When you have the car jacked up, how much play does the wheel have?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yeah, check for play.

 

all bolts are torqued to spec. i know the upper arm bushing is shot, but i dont know how that would cause the wheel to feel like its wobbling loose. I will have to check for freeplay now

 

Its the little plastic Bushing in your streering rack. Its very common for Ours cars to have that noise. You can try and replace the bushings, but im not sure if many places even sell them. Your best bet would be, to buy a new rack or live with the noise.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by MENACE &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Its the little plastic Bushing in your streering rack. Its very common for Ours cars to have that noise. You can try and replace the bushings, but im not sure if many places even sell them. Your best bet would be, to buy a new rack or live with the noise.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Very common problem. About 10$ from the Honda dealership!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by fourthgenhatchB17 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Very common problem. About 10$ from the Honda dealership!</TD></TR></TABLE>

I have a similar problem, and it has gone from bad to worse. I just ordered the part locally for about 15$ including tax. I will be trying to tackle this asap so i will report if it fixed the problem. God I hope so! VERY annoying.

 

I had the same exact problem, i just replaced the upper ball joint and it was fixed.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by MENACE &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Its the little plastic Bushing in your streering rack. Its very common for Ours cars to have that noise. You can try and replace the bushings, but im not sure if many places even sell them. Your best bet would be, to buy a new rack or live with the noise.</TD></TR></TABLE>

plastic bushing causing the wheels to feel loose as if their going to fall off??
maybe so, but upper ball joint sounds like an easier fix. If that doesnt work on to plastic bushing

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by teewhy55 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">when i go over bumps and railroad tracks, the front wheels feel loose and make a wierd wobbling(sp?) noise. </TD></TR></TABLE>

fixing my steeering rack bushing fixed all that on my 200k+ mile chassis.

that little white plastic bushing does wonders for making the suspension feel good.

https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=1117870

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by teewhy55 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> i know the upper arm bushing is shot, but i dont know how that would cause the wheel to feel like its wobbling loose. </TD></TR></TABLE>

why wouldnt it? fix that if theyre shot.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by teewhy55 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">plastic bushing causing the wheels to feel loose as if their going to fall off??
maybe so, but upper ball joint sounds like an easier fix. If that doesnt work on to plastic bushing</TD></TR></TABLE>

If if just noise and a vibration, then its the Rack bushings. If you lifted the car up and nothing is loose when you shake the wheel side to side or up and down. Then Upper balljoints will be a waste of time. Besides i work on cars all day long, and i have never seen a honda with Noisey upper ball joints. But your the expert, and thats why you asked for help. While it maybe could be the upper Ball joints., and thats a big maybe. you would still feel when you lift the cr and shake the wheel. And they would most likey be worn slam out, i never seen maybe Ball joints on any cars that make noise. unless they have like 1/2 inch of play in them.

So yeah it might be a easy fix, but it most likey wont fix the problem.

 

That wasn't me being an expert mechanic, that was me wishfully thinking that because the entire boot of the upper arm ball joint came off when installing shocks that it may be the culprit. I only put it back on because i would've been screwed out of work without a car. As for it being a definitive solution, probaly not. I am going to do the steering rack end bushing to even though the job sounds like a complete bitch.


Modified by teewhy55 at 8:43 PM 8/17/2005

 

I'm not sure if it's the same noise, but when I'm at freeway speeds and i turn [mostly to the right] I hear a strange noise, and I get alot of feedback through the steering wheel. I don't know if this is very serious or I just need an alignment or get my wheels balanced [don't think they were when i bought them ]. Hope you guys understand my problem and can help.

BTW: the wheels I just bought are 17" [iono the manufacturer, got 'em from my cousin]. and when i put them on i don't remember seeing weights but i could be wrong. If there aren't weights/needs to be balanced, could that lead to noise and feedback?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by teewhy55 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">. How could you possibly get the tie rod ends any where close to where they originally were? Sigh... I need a write up</TD></TR></TABLE>

By being very careful and counting the turns it takes to get them off. Ive done outer tie rods before and put them all back together and steering wheel only ended up being ever so slightly off. Front end alignment is best after messing with the tie rods though.

 

it couold be your shocks are blown out, and bouncing up and down real bad(not doing there job) also check into the tie rods.....I don't know about noise with the wheels not being balanced, If it did because the wheels weren't balanced . It would be because something else isnt right and its exaggerating the problem.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by teewhy55 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">How could you possibly get the tie rod ends any where close to where they originally were? Sigh... I need a write up</TD></TR></TABLE>

Just undo the outer tierod, from the streering Knuckle, then unscrew the inner tierod (while still connected to the outer tierod) from the rack. Then replace the bushings. that would probley be he best way to handle it that way you dont have to count threads. lol sorry from being a *** in the last post, ive had a ruff day. I just dont want to see you do extra work. While the rack bushings are a pain to replace. They are alot cheaper than the ball joints.

How long have the boots been off the ball joints. even without a boot it would still take them some time befor they would wear out.

If ya need anymore help let me know

 

the balljoints have been exposed a week now and i already ordered new upper arms w/ ball joints, but i'm looking into the rack end bushing now.

what your saying about removing both ends of the tierod as a whole sounds much easier, and seeing that my tie rods aren't in bad shape i will be re-using them.

I think the loose feeling of the steering rack is so extreme now because of warped rotors. Warped rotors caused by me washing my car and spraying the brakes while hot. Lesson learned.

I'm researching the rack end bushing now and will guaranteed be asking questions about the process, so thanks in advance

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by VTEC DrEaMz &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Try tightening ur bolts</TD></TR></TABLE>

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by barely4dr &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I'm not sure if it's the same noise, but when I'm at freeway speeds and i turn [mostly to the right] I hear a strange noise, and I get alot of feedback through the steering wheel. I don't know if this is very serious or I just need an alignment or get my wheels balanced [don't think they were when i bought them ]. Hope you guys understand my problem and can help.

BTW: the wheels I just bought are 17" [iono the manufacturer, got 'em from my cousin]. and when i put them on i don't remember seeing weights but i could be wrong. If there aren't weights/needs to be balanced, could that lead to noise and feedback?</TD></TR></TABLE>

this is basically my EXACT problem. My wheels are not out of balance ive put them on another car and run them both ways (rotated). it never used to do this but it has progressively gotten worse and worse. slight right hand bends like on the freeway the outter right wheel feels like its clunking around (thought it might be a bad axle?) ...

 

I had that same problem for a while also with the wierd steering and when slightly turned right you get wierd feedback. So i went on down to have wheels alighned and they said it was my steering rack. It just gets worn out i guess so I am replacing it this weekend and we'll see what happens

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by TougeCRX &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> they said it was my steering rack. </TD></TR></TABLE>

you can buy a $10 bushing or pay $200 for a new rack... same results.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by The AntiRice &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">this is basically my EXACT problem. My wheels are not out of balance ive put them on another car and run them both ways (rotated). it never used to do this but it has progressively gotten worse and worse. slight right hand bends like on the freeway the outter right wheel feels like its clunking around (thought it might be a bad axle?) ... </TD></TR></TABLE>
First you need an alignment, but if there's a clicking it's definitely one of these three:
Bad steering rack end bushing
Bad Axle
Loose Lug Nuts
Loose Assembly&lt;-- Happens when you're high and forget to go more than hand tight.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by jedubz &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
First you need an alignment, but if there's a clicking it's definitely one of these three:
Bad steering rack end bushing
Bad Axle
Loose Lug Nuts
Loose Assembly&lt;-- Happens when you're high and forget to go more than hand tight. </TD></TR></TABLE>

I just bought a steering rack bushing kit from Energy. Should arrive soon [few days]. I'll let you guys know what kind of results i get.

BTW: I bought it for a total of $20.84----&gt;only in America [{salutes}]