A little while back, I posted in a thread about doing my timing belt and a number of other things I did to my car in July. One of those things was to get my tires balanced, rotated, and 4-wheel alligned. Immediately after getting it alligned the first time, I noticed that i had to have my steering wheel slanted to the left to keep it going straight, and that if I let go of the wheel, the car pulled HARD right. Something akin to quick lane-changing. I was told that this was caused by my over-worn tires (my allignment was way out some how, and tore up my tires) and a bad passenger front strut. So I got 4 new tires, and had the strut replaced, and took it back to them to be rebalanced/alligned, and it came out pulling to the LEFT (though not as hard as it was to the right) and now my steering wheel is slanted to the right to drive straight.

So, having finally made it through all of my travels - I went for a weekend out to California: had to drive the car from home to my apartment @ college, then continue from my apartment up to a friend's house where I left my car, and then back to my apartment when I got back on the East Coast, and then a day later back down to home for family birthdays, and now back to my apartment - and my car not straightening out any, I drove to the nearest Sears Auto Center (45min-1hr drive) and told them to fix my allignment because the other guys didn't. They get it up on the allignment rack, and the mechanic tells me that my inner tie rod on the driver's side is bad. I just had the car re-alligned (with the new tires and new strut) on the 23rd of July, and they didnt tell me anything was wrong with my car afterward. Gave me some bull about my brakes squeaking (bull b/c like heck if I'd let them replace my brakes), but didn't say anything about my tie rod being bad. I did notice the mechanic under my car and pointing at something to his buddy while it was on the rack, but they didnt say anything was wrong.

So here's where my confusion comes in: My car has been misalligned TWICE now. Granted the first time was because my tires were crap and my strut was bad, but the second time they did it bad, they gave me no mention of anything being wrong with my car. And now the mechanic at the 2nd Sears Auto Center told me that the inability to properly allign my car could be caused by the inner tie rod being bad all along.

My question is this: Is it possible for a tie rod to go from good, 'no need to replace or mention it' condition to being so bad that they cant allign my car anymore in 2 weeks? I've put a good chunk of miles on it (just over 1000 so far since Aug 1st) with all the driving I had to do, but it was almost all highway, and very little hard driving.

The mechanic at the 2nd Sears auto Center told me that its their policy to inspect everything having to do with the allignment before they do it, so either my tie rod went from 'fine' to 'bad' in a 1000-1500 miles, or the guys at the first Sears center screwed me over and either didnt tell me or didnt look. I've had one heck of a couple of days this week. People trying to rip me off and doing half-assed work. *sigh* if they had just told me it was even starting to look like the tie rod was going bad, I would have had it replaced when I was doing the other work on my car. Now I have to drive back to the Sears Auto Center tomorrow morning and have them replace the inner tie rod for $114+. And my car's AC doesnt work, so I get to drive down in 96ºF+ Heat index. Fun.. Thx for listening.

Greg

 

Well, mechanics aren't perfect, they're only human after all. I've had instances where one mechanic spotted a problem that another missed. This time that they checked it, they were probably looking harder for a problem since you just had it aligned and it's still not aligned properly.

It does sound like you do have some front end trouble, so it's possible that it could be your tie rod ends. However, it could probably also be the ball joints, the CV joints, or your steering rack.

I've had the same problem ever since I got my car with 60K miles on it, no matter how many times I align it and balance it, the car pulls to the left. I had the ball joints replaced at 80K, so I know it's not that. It may be my tie rod ends are going bad, but no one has ever mentioned it, even when I had my struts replaced. Something from the left side started making a clunking noise at around 115K miles, so I'll probably have it checked out soon.

Keep us updated as to what was wrong and if the fix worked.

-C-

 

So, my dad (who's name the warranty is under for the allignment) got a call yesterday about the car from Sears, because they didnt come asking who's car it was first. Told him about the inner tie rod being bad, and after a series of phone calls with me and with Sears, set it up for me to be back there at 10am this morning, and for them to replace the inner tie rod for $114+. So I drove down there this morning, and got there at about 9:55am, and stood in line until around 10:10am to be helped by the service desk people (there were only 2 ppl at the desk this morning for some reason). So, I go back to the waiting area, where I can see my car through the window and read a book. An hour passes by, my car hasn't moved, another 45 minutes, and it still hasnt moved, so I go bug the service desk people, and the girl behind the counter tells me 'they've done the inner tie rod, lemme go ask how much longer it will be', while I know that my car hasnt moved an inch since I got there. She comes back in and tells me that they havent gotten to work on it yet, because the car before mine had some issues that needed to be fixed or something, and it would be another hour. This was just before noon. I'm glad I made a sandwich and brought a bottle of water with me for lunch. And a book and a magazine, for that matter.

1:30 rolls around, and I finally hear my car being started and driven into the garage. A few minutes later, a mechanic walks in while I'm reading my magazine and asks a guy walking past him if his car is the maxima. The guy tells him no, and the mechanic keeps walking, so I drop my magazine and go after him (because he's gonna call my dad who's 200 miles away instead of talking to me), and I catch him at the service counter and he says, "Now, what part was it that needed to be replaced on your car?"
"The inner tie rod on the driver's side?"
"Both your inner tie rods are perfectly fine. Who told you it was bad?"
"um.. he was african-american with a scar or something under each eye."
*mechanic, Billy, rolls his eyes and shakes his head*
"Come on out and take a look at it if you want, there's nothing wrong with your tie rods."
I follow him out to the garage, and he shows me the tie rods are fine by moving the driver's side wheel left and right and showing me that it affects the passenger side as well, and presses on the top and bottom showing that it isnt moving. I tell him "The guy yesterday said that he couldnt do the allignment because of the inner tie rod being bad, and that it was gonna be $114 to get it replaced"

Billy responds with "There's only 3 guys here who have been here for a couple of years, the rest of these guys are just dumb kids who dont know what the f**k they're talking about" and tells me that he'll do the allignment and have it done for me in a little bit.

He gets it done, drives it out, and I sign the paperwork (no charge, 6 month warranty on allignments), and get in my car and drive off. As I'm going down the road I came in on, I realize my steering wheel is STILL cocked to the right, and it pulls even HARDER to the left. So I call up my dad and he tells me to read over the specs sheet, and I see the SAI and IA (those are the abbreviations, dont know what they stand for) are way out of spec for the left front tire, and so I turn right back around and head back to Sears.

I walk up to the service counter, and the senior service desk guy (I assume, since he had the keys to the change drawer) says "Whats the problem now?" and I tell him the steering wheel is STILL not straight and that it pulls even harder to the left, so he says we're gonna take it for a test drive. He takes care of the paperwork he had in his hand, and we go out to my car. First of all, my tires were over inflated. 45psi I think I heard them say. Turns out Billy's 12y/o pressure gauge was off. They deflate my tires down to ~35psi and we hope in for a test drive, the service desk guy driving. We drive around the road just outside the mall, and he drives with the steering wheel straight and notes it going left, and holds the steering wheel so the car goes straight, and notes it being cocked to the right, and we drive back to the service center, and he pulls into the garage, and Billy comes over and the service desk guy shows him the steering wheel is cocked to the right and that it pulls left (and somehow NOW it sinks in as being the truth, as opposed to when I told them), and Billy comments that the machine read everything as in-spec and correct, but to drive it back up on the lift because something was obviously not right. I'm invited to sit out there and watch him do it, and sure enough, the machine is now reading that my toe on the front tires is WAY out of spec. -.45 on the left, .32 on the right. The left tire's location on the toe's gauge was signified by a 'X' on the far left side of the gauge.

He fixes the toe on both tires, until they're .09 and .1 respectively (incidently, these are what the readout I was handed just 15minutes ago said the left and front toe were at already), and sets my steering wheel straight, and apologizes for the machine error. Tells me he had another guy yesterday have the same thing happen to him, guy didnt get 5minutes down the road, and he came back complaining about the allignment. Apparently the machine is prone to screwing up. So, he lowers the lift, backs my car off, and I tell him that if I dont come back, its good, and I drive out of the garage, and out of the mall. I drive down the street, and the steering wheel is still a little off, but only by a cm at most. At a red light, I turn my steering wheel all the way one way, then all the way the other, and its driving straight. So I decide thats good enough for me and head out (also, if I had gone back, it would have been an hour or so wait to get it fixed again because there was another guy who was there almost as long as I was waiting to get his car worked on). Driving down the highway, and going up on-ramps, my steering wheel tends to become turned to the right, but a quick jerk of the wheel puts it back to center. My brother tells me this could be a loose or bad rack. So thats the end of my tale of Sears trying to screw me over, for now. Having my dad or brother check tomorrow to see if there's any kind of warranty on my rack where I got it done (family mechanic), and if there is, I'll take it home on the first day-off from classes I have (cant get it home on Friday after classes with enough time for any work to be done, have classes all day mon-thurs), and have him take a look at it/replace it. Sigh, just when I think I've taken care of all the stuff thats wrong with my car, she goes and pulls something out and slaps me in the face.

Total time spent this weekend to get my allignment fix that should have been right in the first place: 5 hrs yesterday, an hour in the afternoon on the phone, and 7 hours today, not to mention ~3/4 of a tank of gas driving to and from the place. This has apparently been the summer of 'Try to take Greg for a chump'. (The other people being two online computer hardware stores that shipped me products I didn't order, and then tried to say they weren't going to refund the shipping charges after they shipping a product I didnt order. www.gameVE.com and www.pcdirectsource.com, dont shop at these websites. They show you one product and ship another, and their customer service/support sucks *****, especially PC Direct Source - the 1-866 number on their website isnt even there's anymore)

Argh!

Greg

 

Dude that sucks ***. What you should do is take your car to Firestone and have an alignment there. I believe if you pay $149 or something for lifetime alignments. I really don't like dealing with places like Sears because of the fact you have high schoolers that don't know what the hell they are doing working there. Either way, hopefully things will work out for the best.

S

 

Sears is well known for screwing people on automotve service work. There have been many many claims filed at the BBB against them, in almost every town they have a service center at.

As for the way your car is handling, that is either a bad tie-rod end (inner, or outer, both can do it, although inner is more likely), or the rack. If it's an inner tie rod end, check on the waranty for the rack, as they are a part of the rack as a replacement unit, and should be covered under any waranty available.

Hope this helps, and good luck...

 

After reading your post, it reminded me to get my car looked at. Here's an update on my car's situation, as I just had it checked out by Firestone for $16. They said that both of my CV Joints are shot and need replaced, cost: $300 for parts, $150 for labor. They looked at the tie rod ends and they checked out okay and I had the ball joints replaced shortly after I got the car. The steering rack has never leaked and doesn't make any strange noise or do anything funky, so it's unlikely that it's a problem.

My symptoms include the car pulling to the left and the clunking noise when I go over a bump on the left hand side. Also, my steering wheel shakes violently at highway speeds when climbing a hill in OD.

Well, I'm getting it done in the next week or two, whenever my schedule permits it. I don't know if they have to do an alignment/balancing, I would think so but if not I'm having it done anyway. I'll keep you guys posted as to how the car's doing afterward.

Christ, if this problem that has plagued me for over three years is finally resolved, you don't know how freaking happy I'm going to be.

-C-

 

Charles, don't get ripped...the CV joints can now be bought at AAutozone for about $75 each...that's an entire half-shaft...easier to install...labor of about $150 sounds right, though, for shap time...

Buy your own parts, and have then install...

they could cause the noise, etc...

the vibartion is VERY likely an out-of-balance tire...or a bent wheel...but most likely a tire balance will fix it...

 

Thanks for the heads up MaxWgn, I'll have to check it out.

As for the vibration, I've had the car aligned three times and the balancing done at least five times, possibly more. I thought that one of the original wheels may have been bent, which is why I went with the American Racing wheels I have on there now, and it still vibrates. I've also had at three different sets of tires on there and it still does it.

I'm at a loss as to what can be causing it, hopefully new CV joints will clear the problem up. If not, I may have the steering rack checked out since that seems to be another common problem on these cars. I do think it's the CV joints though, I think because they're bad the mechanics can't properly align the wheels which is why it vibrates.

-C-

 

Loose wheel bearings???

Scott

 

After getting a pretty intimate look at the design of our front suspension, I'd say the CV joints would cause the vibration only if they are so far gone that they have a lot of lateral play (in & out)...for vibration, the most likely candidates are going to be control arm bushings, ball joint, tie-rod ends (inner or outer), rack itself, or sometimes totally shot front wheel bearings...

In your case, without knowing the specifics, but knowing you've got new balljoints, etc...I'd guess either the rack, or the outer tie-rod ends...as for the inner ends, the process in volved to replacing them, it's just as easy to just replace the entire rack. To do the inner ends, you have to replace the boot. From having done this with the rack in the car, I can tell you we found no "trick" to doing it...it took over 3 hours per boot, to get it positioned correctly, and fastened to the rack...and do not buy a universal boot...they are crap, will fall apart, and do not have the crossover tube, and do not seal very well, allowing for leaks. However, if you rack isn't leaking, and doesn't make noise, I'd say try the outer ends first...the control arm bushings aren't bad to do at all, as long as you have the right equipment...

I have essensially completed rebuilding my entire front end, shy of the almost new struts that have already died (Gabriel), and the strut mounts...everything else is new...

The struts are under waranty, and will be replaced...but i am waiting until i can afford the mounts, as well.

As for the car itself, it's just awaiting a front motor mount...already have a great deal arranged, I just have to get the money to them.

 

Wow, thanks for all of the info.

I never thought that the wheel bearings might cause the vibration. Damn, looks like another thing I'm going to have to get done now. I just had the left rear ones done about six months ago in order to pass inspection, so I'm guessing that these ones are probably going bad too. I don't think that they checked them because I told the mechanics that I thought it was a front end part that was causing the problems that I was having. I'll have them take a look at it whenever they do the CV joints. I'll also make sure they double check all of the components that you mentioned.

-C-