Novels have been written and produced on this one .................... depends on your viewpoint and what you consider to be more dangerous in this typical chicken and egg situation.

I subscribe to the argument that the fronts on our vehicles have both power and braking/steering inputs to contend with that needs to be transfered to the road - imo if you are able to point the vehicle in the right direction and somehow still end up with the rear of the vehicle "whipping around" you surely do not belong on the road because you are not reading and compensating for road conditions ................... but as I said - novels have been written on many arguments associated with both options of best tread location

didn't read the novel.
lived the life, studied the theory behind, realized that panic maneuvers on less than ideal conditions cause rear end swaparound.

Thats fine

I want to give an update, I took the car for an alignment this weekend, and the guy from the shop did the aligment and after a test drive he told me I have more problems, he says rack and pinion are my problem and estimate the job for $650, he did not charge for the aligment because he said my problem was not fixed and I could take it back whenever I'm ready to fix it, this could be very kind of him or a hook to do the other job, I know $650 for rack and pinion is way overpriced, autozone sell it for $220

The question is, how do I check if I really need a new rack and pinion, every shop I can take it it's going to charge for the inspection besides I don't really trust them, I know suspension is way out of my knowledge but I'm looking for my options, Thank you!

Ugh ...............

The rack and pinion's only job is to keep a pre-set (set during alignment) distance between the 2 steering ball-joints connected to the wheels. If the alignment was done properly, then there is no way the guy could not have detected a faulty rack and pinion assembly on the alignment rig already.

How far can you "wiggle" the steering wheel without the actual wheels on the ground moving at all (have somebody hold the wheels and tell you when they start feeling you wiggling the steering) ............... if there is very little or no play through the whole range of travel of the steering then you don't need a rack

I can tell while driving straight if I move the steering wheel approx 1 inch I have no movement at all on the wheels, I have to steer more to actually have movement even for a small change of lane, I don't know how bad is the 1 inch and is just a guess, I'll do what you suggest and have someone grab the wheels.

steering response about like this? (ignore the um... lack of topend power at the end of the video haha. and the fact that my car was still a/t then ). had to turn the wheel to the left about 30 degrees just to straighten it back out after a lane change. my problem was the mounting bushings though, not the rack itself.



this is what my car was doing. rack moved first, THEN wheels moved

why would you do that if the front tires steer.... drive the car forward ....and do most of the breaking :S wouldnt you rather be able to controll all of that and take the chance of the car spining out????

plus tailhappiness is fun

also i'd rather back into something at speed than hit it head-on... the big broad seat cushion is alot more comfortable to be restrained by than the seatbelt and airbag (or the steering wheel if you don't have airbags) And if you back into something you won't damage your radiator or anything.. just gotta hope the engine doesn't get spun backwards if it's a manual.

that it is
i have good all seasons on the front with lots of tread and slick summers on the rear for this whole winter havent spun or anything.... but i sure have had alot of fun

Yes Exactly like that caped! you save me shooting the video, I would say a little bit less play but I have the same issue, about 30 degree angle to get straight back on the lane I just get into.

I also forgot to mention that I hear some noise, like when you are hitting something everytime the wheel spin, like when your tires are unbalanced or when they have a bump, the tires are new, just balanced and aligned, this noise becomes stronger when I make right turns at high speed (curves on highway)

You have the vehicle with you and we cannot see what is wrong - every vehicle's failure mechanisms is different from the others - all we can do is suggest the obvious and normal issues associated with the 3rd gen steering system. As I said before, if you cannot find the funky bits by yourself, then a professional should take a serious look at both the steering and suspension components.

look under the hood at the steering rack and see if it slides around like my second video shows.

what kind of noise??

same $hiit happened to me till i replace my whole front end and got an alignment. so ur lookin @ new control arms and new inner and outter tie rods.

doesn't necessarily mean HE needs those parts replaced. any one of those parts going bad can cause a bad alignment, doesn't mean that all of them are bad.

dont bother replacin everything waste of time and money take it to a proffesional if you cant find the part that has gone bad.... but make sure he knows what hes doing and talking about unlike your allignment guy

true but since the car is old and most likely the parts are original stock he should replace them if he plans to keep the car

I know it's bad practice bumping old threads but I wanna ask anyone who had this problem if replacing tie rods or the whole rack and pinon solve the issue? When I went in to do alignment the mechanic told me the same thing, that he can't do anything because rack and pinon is so worn out. I've seen a refurbished rack and pinon assembly on eBay for $150 (as long as I mail in my old one, otherwise it's $200). So I'm thinking is that really nessessary or it it just a matter of replacing some bolts, washers, bushings, etc., parts generally small enough to fit in one's pocket?