When I accelerate it feels like it has bad motor mounts or torque steer so I replaced 4 out of the 5 motor mounts even though my mechanic said they didn't look bad at all. Didn't fix the problem but I wanted to replace them anyway because the car has 25whp more than stock and an ACT aftermarket clutch that "grabs" kind of hard.

The car is squirrelly (from left to right) when I accelerate even moderately, more noticeable when accelerating hard, and it's difficult to keep it in its lane when I want to go fast. There 's also some free play in the steering wheel that I didn't have several months ago. It almost feels like there's constant toe changes but every bolt we checked is tight.

Next I installed the 3 ES polyurethane torque mount inserts. It got a little better but the problem is still there. Next because I knew I had a rear leaky shock and another on in the front on its way out, I installed new Koni Yellows all around with softer spring rates (400F/450R, I had 600/750 before), no change!

So now I 'm thinking it's one of the axles or something else but no clue what. I didn't hit a pot hole or anything. It's just started getting progressively worse over a 6 month period. I don't hear any clicking sounds indicating a CV joing is bad so I 'm really at a loss. My mechanic said the rear motor mount, the only I didn't replace because it was like $120, looked ok too. Checked all the suspension bolts many times too. Everything is tight. Have done 2 wheel alignments at 2 different shops and the settings matched. Nothing out of the ordinary. Same that I 've had for years: 1/8th toe out in the front and 0" toe in the rear.

The car has the new Skunk2 upper arms in the front and Ingalls w/poly bushings in the rear. Camber is -2.3 deg. in the front and -1.5 deg. in the rear. Every corner matches. They seem ok and are tight.

I hope it has nothing to do with the steering rack.. if anything it would be the tie rods.. but I suspect one of the axles maybe. How do I tell which one? Any help would be appreciated.

 

that sounds like it could be a tie rod. jack the car up. grab the right and left side of each front wheel (at the 3 and 9 o’clock positions) and pull one side while you push on the other.. back and forth. if there is any play, those are your tie rods. you can also do the same thing with your hands on the top and bottom to check the upper and lower ball joints. to check the wheel bearings keep your hands on the top and bottom of the wheel, but pull in and out at the same time with both hands.

you can also check those tie rods by grabbing the tie rods with your hands and shaking them for any play. it may be easier with the car up. also a good way to check sway bar end links.

you can also check the tie rod ends for play by having the front wheels on the ground and moving the steering wheel back and forth and listening and feeling for a small clunk.. which would be the play in the rod ends.

toe out in the front can make for very twitchy steering and combined with whatever new problem you're having can make it even worse.

ruts in the road on a car with toe out and camber can be a bitch to keep straight too. does this happen on all roads you drive on or only certain ones?

 

Thanks I already grabbed the tie rods while the car was jacked and tried to move them and couldn't - didn't see any play. Maybe I 'm not strong enough.. I also grabbed the wheels but didn't do everything you suggested.

Would front bad sway bar end links make a difference or cause the squirreliness when accelerating in a straight line? I thought those only come in play when turning or transitioning.

I 've ran -2 degree (and more) camber for a long time and 1/8" toe out for years and the car always drove nicely, straight and confident. I always use 0 toe in the back or slight toe-in (1/16th). I used to have more toe out in the front a couple of years ago: 1/5" toe out (-0.10 each side) and the car drove much better than it does now.

Could be wheel bearings (hubs?) but I don't hear any noises. Wouldn't ball joints make a noise too? Come to think of it the problem started about 2-3 mos after I installed the Skunk2 arms so it could be the upper ball joints which are Skunk2's. I thought the new version Skunk2 had better ball joints. Maybe I should get OEM ball joints.

 

does your car pull to the left or right if you let go of the steering wheel? sounds like a bad LCA to me. hit any curbs lately?

 

I"m not sure but when I had a half stripped lower ball joint I notice the same problem you had. well might want to check Ball joint and make sure everything is tighten up.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by shutupnskate &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">does your car pull to the left or right if you let go of the steering wheel? sounds like a bad LCA to me. hit any curbs lately?</TD></TR></TABLE>

yeah, blown *** bushings in the lca could do that too. good call.

 

tie rods, power steering rack possibly? maybe even frame damage... ?

 

Lol.... I had this problem and my Tranny was loose off the block, there was like an 1/4" Gap there, got out the wrenches and tightened it up and it all went away

 

sounds like you have a little bit of toe out on your alignment

 

tie rods, inners tie rods, blown bushing in the lower front control arms.
1 of these 3 for sure imo.

you cant just grab the tie rod outer with your hand, grab it with a wrench and try to move it to see if it has play. if you can move it by hand its really bad.

i had a completely destroyed stock flca bushing and when i would accelerate the car would pull left, let off it would pull right. installed es bushing master kit and that went away, now i just have inner tie rod problems to take care of.

 

I noticed you didnt mention the castor angle. It is adjustable with those upper arms you installed? The problem sounds alignment related to me, so I'd look at the castor (may be positive with new arms??) and back out a bit of the toe out in the front - I usually run about 1/16 out front and 1/16 in rear. Just my 2 cents.

 

hardly any arms on the market have caster adjusting.

 

have you checked tires? What type of tires do you run? Are they low on tread? You check your tire pressure recently?

 

Thanks all for your advice (I got multiple alignments, no pot holes, etc. please read my initial post, I give a lot of detail and answers to anticipated questions) .

The only thing I haven't checked is front LCA bushings although I 've thought about them a lot (thanks vtecsir1). I installed ES poly bushings 2yrs ago and many have told me that they have had some go bad a year or two later so I need to check those when I get some time. I don't have much faith in them. I think I may go back to OEM rubber LCA bushings.

My car also pulls to one side (can't remember which) when I accelerate which is why I said it feels like it has too much torque steer or bad motor mounts, and then it goes the other way when I let off the accelerator so the LCA bushings are definitely under suspicion.

Also it could be like someone said one of the tranny mounts is not tightened all the way. Could be my mechanic didn't tighten the bolt all the way when we installed the ES polyurthane inserts, so that 's a good call too by GSR-T. I have more things to check now, the only problem is finding the time

So the plan is to inspect the bushings and the tie rods really well. It's gotta be one of those two. Thanks everyone!

 

my car was tight, i have even posted about this before its archived, untill i put in the es bushings. I beleive the way they work affects perceived spring rate. Stock bushings twist and es just rotate.