Ok it's not that serious i just wanted responses..but who knows it may be. Ok so I'm driving and the steering wheel feels loose not to mention that the steering wheel shakes back and forth. My hand vibrates like hell when im driving. Now if im driving and I'm going straight i can jiggle the steering whell about 3 inches to the left and right and i'll still be going straight. (its very loose). Now for the steering wheel shake could it mean that I need a alignment or that one of my rotors may be warped? Any input would be appreciated.

 

The steering system has a certain amount of play in it. 3 inches is way beyond spec. You either have a worn out or misadjusted rack system, or severely worn tie rod ends. The shaking is usually due to wheel balance problems. The loose steering system amplifies the problem. Rotors would cause pulsing while the brake is applied. Alignment issues show themselves as pulling and uneven tire wear.


With the vehicle parked, have someone move the steering back and forth while watching the tie rod ends. Look for excessive play. If the steering wheel moves a lot before the steering linkage does, the problem is most likely in the rack. There is an adjustment to take out the play, but I don't want to guess where or what it is for your model. Maybe someone more knowledgeable will chime in.

 

I have a 96 Accord LX. I want to fix this. How much do you think it'll run me. I drive 400 miles a week for school and other purposes and dont want it to get worse

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by gqstatus05 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Ok it's not that serious i just wanted responses..but who knows it may be. Ok so I'm driving and the steering wheel feels loose not to mention that the steering wheel shakes back and forth. My hand vibrates like hell when im driving. Now if im driving and I'm going straight i can jiggle the steering whell about 3 inches to the left and right and i'll still be going straight. (its very loose). Now for the steering wheel shake could it mean that I need a alignment or that one of my rotors may be warped? Any input would be appreciated. </TD></TR></TABLE>

You might as well park the car until you can sort out the loose steering feel. That's just unsafe.

Warped rotor will cause steering vibration when hard braking from high speed.

Steering wheel vibration while cruising at certain speed could be wheel out of balance or worn steering and suspension components.

 

Grab your tie rod ends, push and pull them up, down, in and out. If there's any play in the outer joint, the outer tie rod has to be replaced. If there's any play in the inner joint, the inner tie rod has to be replaced. These can be alittle hard to diagnose, becuase it doesn't take a lot of play at the joint end to make a lot of play in the steering. It will cause the steering to shake also.
If the rack is in fact bad, they usually come with the inner rods. Although I haven't had a rack go bad yet.
You will have to get an alignment after you replace any of these to set the toe on the front wheels. Or you could use the tape measure method like I do and get it pretty close.

 

appreciate all the help from you guys. I'm going to look into this. Is this a hard job for me to do by myself or should I just take it somewhere. Just want to know. If it requires special tools then i'll just go to a mechanic then. If i drive on a bumpy road the steering wheel jerks so i have to fight it.

 

You don't need any special tools, although a joint press or pickle fork will help with the outer tie rod. You can use two hammers though. The boot on the inner rod can be a bitch to get at sometimes, but again, no special tools needed. Then of course there's the alignment.

If the whole rack needs to be done, it's just a lot more stuff that has to come off.

 

ok i'm going to have a look at it todya.. its a nice day today so i gotta take advantage. thanks guys. Yeah i notice that the steering wheel vibrates when im going over like 35 mph. I'm going to get some good parts.. would you guys be able to recommend certain manufacturers preferably parts made of high grade steel.. or whatever you want to call it. I've seen some cars with thick steel suspenstion parts and what not. sorry if i dont know the names im a newb.

 

You don't need to spend extra on Performance or "high grade steel" parts. OEM is ideal, aftermarket is probably OK. Either way it's better than what you've got now.

 

thanks