OK, I brought my 92 to my mechanic because the front end felt really bad. It almost feels like the wheel is going to fall off. He found both axles had torn boots and a bad ball joint. He replaced all of the above and says the front end looks perfect, yet the car still has that wheel falling off feeling. His hands are in the air. He has admitted defeat. Meanwhile, I can't drive my VE. Does anyone have any idea what else could cause it to feel that way? I mean it's scary to drive. He questioned the tranny, but he's ot convinced. Neither am I. Someone please point me in a direction! Thanks.

btw...I just replaced the front struts also, so they are new. This wheel falling off feeling started after that.


HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

did you put the struts back on correctly??

also when you jack car up can you wiggle the wheels by push and pulling on them while facking the side of the car??

what struts you put on it?

 

It almost feels like the wheel is going to fall off.


you feel it when driving in flat road or going over bumps???? more detail please.

 

Could be anything in this picture. Your mechanic hasn't even scratched the surface:


Or here:

 

is it speed dependent? what kind of noises is it making?

bad tires? tie rod ends? bent axle (I've even seen remanufactured replacement axles with wobbles straight out of the box.)

when you say the vibes started happening after you changed the struts, WHEN did it start? immediately after changing them, or is this something that slowly started, but didn't get bad until after replacing the struts?

 

i vote control arm bushings.

 

Speed doesn't matter. I put the struts in and it was fine the next couple times I days I drove it, then it suddenly felt weird. This feeling happened with the old axles, as well as the new ones. These are new axles, not remans. I installed GR2s and have ST springs. The previous owner had the STs installed with Monroe struts. I swapped them out the same way I did my struts in the 4th gen and it seemed pretty straight forward. I think they went in right. I'm picking it up tomorrow. I wanna see if I'm seeing whjat they are. They say everything looks excellent, yet they are the ones saying "it almost feels like the wheel will fall off when you hit a bump." I'll keep you all posted once I'm back behind the wheel. Thanks for your suggestions.

 

oh yea....the tires where fine the whole time they were on the 4th gen, and they said the tie rods looked good.

 

after extensive searching and research, this very much sounds like it could be causing my problem! How can I check this myself??? Anyone got pics?

I read this post in another thread and it sounded just like me!.....

"my front passenger control arm bearing was...NON-EXISTENT! this caused major clunking when going over bumps and turning hard, particularly pulling out of my drive way...I also believe it to be the root of my steering prob where the steering wheel would change position while I was driving...check your control arms..."

there were others too, but we'll see.

 

Probably your power steering fluid is leaking and ruined that side's bushings. Check that ps hose too.

 

Yup....My ps hose has done the same thing to my passenger side c/a bushings

 

Ditto. And I'm in the process of putting the energy bushings, new tie rod ends and new ball joints. Might even have to replace the d side hub assembly with a spare that I happen to have. I might have a bad wheel bearing.

 

ok, got the car back. it doesn't seem as bad as they described. it's clearly obvious the alignmnent is way off after replacing the struts. I think that is most of my problem. I got it going good on the highway and the tires were humming. It's clearly out of wack at the moment. I think what I had felt before may have been taken care of when they replaced a ball joint. I'm gonna get it aligned and see, but i think that may be all that is left. more to follow!