I replaced all of my front suspension components with either Hardrace or mood parts. Inner/outer tie rods are Moog OEM replacements and I believe the knuckle ball joints are Moog OEM replacements, everything else is Hardrace with hard rubber bushings except the OEM knuckle.

So, once I got everything installed, the tie rod ends were a little loose in the knuckle. I figured they would seat once the car was on the ground and didn't think much of it. Not too long after I took it to a tech inspection for a track day and they found the tie rods still loose. For a temp fix we put a washer between the nut and knuckle, but I am about to take the car for a rack replacement and an alignment and would like to make a more permanent fix. Not sure if anyone else has ever encountered this issue I'm running a mild drop on Progress Technology coilovers, and may even be raising it a bit more after I can get out on a track and test it, but as of now it's not crazy low (I can clear speed bumps), so I didn't figure i needed any roll centering ball joints or inverted tie rods based on what other people have said about their set ups.

So if anyone has any suggested on what to do about the loose tie rods, I'm all ears. I did order some Hardrace OEM replacements already, but it would be good to know if I need something else before I start part swapping.

Thanks

 

So the tapered part of the tie rod ball joint doesn't fit properly? That's unacceptable, no way would I have driven with that or thought it was a temporary situation.

Which tie rod did you use? Moog or hardrace, you didn't specify.

There shouldn't be any issue finding the proper tie rod that's works.

 

Yeah, the tie rods sit in the knuckle, but once the castle nut and pin are on, there's about a 1mm-3mm gap between the top of the castle nut and the knuckle.

Current tie rods on the car are Moog. I made sure the check parts numbers and buy the right parts, so I'm confident what's on there is what Moog has listed as 97 Civic EX Coupe tie rods.

I bought everything I needed to refresh my rear suspension last night, and bought Hardrace tie rod ends, just in case I needed them, but I wasn't sure if the ends sitting loose in the knuckle like that was some result from lowering the car, or swapping out other suspension components. This is the first car I've gone this in-depth into changing suspension components outside of just OEM or coilovers, so I wasn't sure if any of the would be a factor. Based on everything I've read though, the OEM style inner and outer tie rods should work with a slightly lowered ride height without any issue. I'm definitely not stanced out or anything. Trying my best to get as much tire meat to the ground as I can.

 

Get another set of tierods. It's fine with lowering. Don't worry about bumpsteer, yet.

 

Cool, hopefully these new tie rods will sort it out then.