About a month and a half back I bought a 99 Civic Ex with 163K on it. The struts were shot so I went through and replaced all four as well as the tie rods. Once I had those parts swapped out I put four new Kumo tires on and had a full alignment done and the car runs great. Also swapped all fluids and plugs. For some reason when I drive the car and let off the gas or tap the brake to shut cruise control off the car immediatly starts to pull to the right and if I give it gas it pulls to the left. While just cruising or on cruise control the car drives straight as an arrow. Any thoughts on this? Next when I go over some bumps, not all, it makes a noise in ther front end like a bushing or something is gone. At times it almost sounds like something with the suspension and I know it can't be the struts since theyre brand new. Any body have any thoughts about this or run into the same issues? I still have a set of innovative torque mounts that I figured I could throw on since theyre just sitting around and the old ones look as if they will need to be replaced soon. Thanks

 

Something is broken, loose, or not installed properly. Inspect your axles, brakes, control arms, bushings, sway bar. Check both front and rear. If you don't see anything, jack the car up, place it on stands, get your arms around the front suspension and give it a wiggle. See if you can replicate the noise.

Note: Don't drop the car on yourself.

 

Jack each side up and check the front tires for side-to-side play. If there is any at all, check the lower control arm bushing (the inner one).

 

Will do. I'm going to hit it after work tomorrow evening. I'm thinking it's a bushing or something. I'll keep y'all posted.

 

Well I went a head and bought back my rear disk setup that I had sold to a local guy. In the process of installing this morning I have found that my rear upper control arm are shot! The bushings are virtually non existent and thus far have proven to be a pain in the *** to find locally. More to come

 

The rear upper control arm will make your car shift on the tail end so that may be the problem. You might want to check out your motor mounts too.

 

Yeah I'm going to work my way up to the front. Going to be a new car when im done with her! LOL Plus these parts are too easy and cheap not to swap. Deff will check those motor mounts and i'm for sure swapping those torque mounts today.

 

Torque mounts? Mounts under the frame? They are for show and tell. They really don't do anything.

 

As for the torque mounts they assist with the vibrations and so forth from the motor. I wanted to double check them and sure enough driver side was destroyed. I installed the innovative mounts and WOW, forgot how bad it made the car shake!! LOL I installed a new driver side mount and put the good passenger side back on and the car is smooth as hell. Still have to let the rear rotors and pads seat. However I am pretty sure I found the issue where the noise is coming from.

When I try to push it back and forth I hear the same sound that I hear when I'm driving.

 

I dread having to replace this entire unit. Is there anyway that you can just replace the boots on this or the arms?

 

Can you show me a picture of what you believe the torque mounts to be?
You need to be more specific as to where you think the noise/problem is coming from.

 

The noise is coming from the rack and pinon unit. If you grab the bars they move slightly and make the exact sound that I am hearing when driving.

 

If it is the rack I don't think replacing it will be that bad. I just did one on an old Accord (88) wasn't easy but not too bad. Had to drop the sub-frame. Surprised it's the rack, I have a 98 EX with 173k and mine is fine, but I'm the orignal owner so I know the history.

Good luck!

 

Yeah the rack itself is sold however when you grab one of the rods that the tie rod ends screw onto it shakes a little. It's enough that you can ever so slightly push it and pull it and hear a slight noise.

 

are you sure its not the inner tie rod that's bad? hard to believe the rack is bad o.o

 

http://civic-eg.com/viewtopic.php?t=13588

 

Yeah I have replaced the outer tie rods. Did that before I went and got the alignment. Im reading the article listed above right now. Thank you

 

Yeah I would deff say its the inner rod that has the play. I can see most likely where the sound is coming from. Im going to place an order for the new inner and boot. Thank you for the article link.