i have a 1997 civic hatch back ive notice while driving at low speed and hi speed i feel the steering wheel lightly going left and right. I have a brand new set of 15x7.5 te37 with brandnew 195-50-15 dunlop tires and i know it cant be the rim or the tires or the balancing. So yesterday i rased up the car and looked at all my suspension parts they all seem to be good. So i then play with the wheel moving it side to side (little play) then moved it from 12 oclock to 6 oclock (no play) . So i figured its the tie rod, when i play with it pushing it front to back theres a slight play. Question is how can i tell tell if the outter tie rod or the inner tie rod is bad? help would be so much appreciated thanks.

 

just swap them both, no real reason not to since you have to do an alignment anyway.

 

is it hard? the outter seems to look easy not to sure about the inner and since my car has a manuel rack does it make it easier then a power one?

 

are we talking about a wheel shimmy?? or play in the steering wheel??

 

wheel shimmy? what do u mean by that?

 

the wheel shakes back and forth at certain speeds is a wheel shimmy

play in the steering wheel, would be considered turning the steering wheel, and the actual wheels arent moving...

 

make sure the bellows have no tears or buy new one (they are cheap also ) i replaced inner/outer tie rods and the bellows on my 95 with manual steering for ~ $44, also if money isnt tight might be a good idea to do both sides, and then alignment...

 

if you shake the wheel left to right and u feel the play have someone put tension on the tie rod and then shake it if it goes away the wherever the tension is thats the bad part. replace that get an alignment and u should be good to go

 

If you have access to a lift this is easy to check with help from a friend. raise the car and have your friend place their hands at 9 and 3 oclock on the tire. have them push it back and forth and while they do that, you grab the outer and then the inner tie rod ends. you will feel the play when you grab it and then you know what needs replaced.

 

sounds like its the inner tie rod