After I'm done turning, the steering wheel doesn't naturally straighten itself like it should. I have changed the lower ball joints, upper control arms, and tie rod ends in the front in an attempt to fix this problem, but it still persists.

I recently got an alignment, and my caster is at 2.8 degrees on each side, so it's not that. Does anyone have an idea of what the problem is?

 

real stupid, but are your tires low on air??

 

I actually checked the tires too, and they were fine. Thanks for the suggestion though.

 

i assume you mean for example your doing a U turn and at the end of the apex you let go of the steeringwheel and push the gas pedal to make the steeringwheel spin and going straight?

sounds like a rack-pinion problem, might be the teeth getting stuck on something or needs lube or ???

 

That's exactly what I'm talking about. I'm not glad to hear it may be something with the rack itself.

 

check those cheap ones 1st, which is ur toe.
if your toe-out is too much, that cld be the reason. reduce that, or set it back to factory specs for confirmation

 

I just got an alignment, and toe is set to straight ahead. The car still does it. It stumps me.

 

you need a rack. end of story.

 

Mine does that too, but maybe not to the same extent your's does. I was wondering the same thing, but I think mine might be tow-related.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Mike K &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">you need a rack. end of story.</TD></TR></TABLE>

that's it. i slid on some ice a long time ago in my gsr and hit a curb pretty hard, bent a tie rod pretty bad. had it replaced and the car re-aligned, and when I would turn the steering wheel, it would not re-center itself with throttle input at all. it was because the rack was damaged.

 

im having the same problem. i have an uneven kaster, passenger is at 3.2 n driver is at 2.2. was wondering if u got it fix yet???

 

Caster is what centers your wheel and is an angle thats built into your steering knuckle( difference in degrees from the point of where the strut bolts to the knuckle to your lower ball joint if you were looking at it from the side.) You can't change that with an alignment if your caster's out your knuckles are bent. the only things alignments can fix are camber and toe. Caster can be effected slightly by changing those two things but not much.

 

so which part do i need to replace??

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Mike K &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">you need a rack. end of story.</TD></TR></TABLE><TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Mike K &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">you need a rack. end of story.</TD></TR></TABLE><TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Mike K &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">you need a rack. end of story.</TD></TR></TABLE>

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by I like my R &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">After I'm done turning, the steering wheel doesn't naturally straighten itself like it should. I have changed the lower ball joints, upper control arms, and tie rod ends in the front in an attempt to fix this problem, but it still persists.

I recently got an alignment, and my caster is at 2.8 degrees on each side, so it's not that. Does anyone have an idea of what the problem is? </TD></TR></TABLE>

do you have an aftermarket steering wheel? maybe you tightend the spline nut too much