Hi,
my firend had almost a fatel accident with TIE ROD END failure in his car, thing actually flipped over and went into a 5ft high snow bank which saved his life..i got a 95 MAX 120K never done TIE ROD ENDS, anyone know when these should be done or has anyone had expericen with replacement ?

thank you

 

Usually when a tie rod begins to get lose you feel it in the steering wheel. You car will start to wonder around the road a bit.

As things progressivly get worse and the failing end gets loser, holding the car straight begins to get tough. By now you should be thinking, there's something not right with my car. Usually tie rods don't let go just like that.

You can always check for play by giving your wheels a good tugging while your car is parked. If something is lose, you'll feel it clunking aound by moving the wheels back and forth a bit.

Another sign of a lose tie rod is uneven ware on your tires.

Some cars are prone to lose tie rod ends. Ford was one of them, the inners used to go a lot. I don't recall to many people on the org reporting tie rod end failures. The Maxima is pretty tight up front.

 

tie rods are one of those regular maintenance items that people never know about.

you can only usually feel the actual rod going back when you get steering wheel feedback.

but the best way to check them is to take the wheel off. make sure the grease is still packed in and there is no physical damage.

tie rods are cheap and easy to install so for peace of mind change them out with high mileage or older cars.

especially where snow/salt are factors.

 

on newer cars, you can expect a great deal of mileage from tie rods. even Ford and GM are getting better at this...having a life of 150K or better, even in northern states where i am. I have had a number of high mileage imports and tie rods ends lasted me 180+.

a good test for your tie rod is squeezing it with a big channel lock...it should compress a little (a tie rod has a spring as part of a wear-take-up mechanism)...but if it moves like a quarter inch you should replace it...there may be a spec on this in the haynes or factory service manual....this will be before you notice "something is wrong with my car" in the way it steers...once the wear take up mechanism has gone as far as it can, the rod end will begin getting loose....

parst are perhaps $80 tops for both, and hour to put in an $50 for a front end alignment.

some one else mentioned tie wear....its a good idea to glance your tread wear over with every oil change (or more)....if you bring your car in for service, they should be looking them over as part of the service....but i rarely trust anyone but myself when it comes to my vehicles.

 

I'm asking because I will be dropping my car in the spring...so, why not replace these too?

I figure I will completely re-do my suspension with new parts (everything rubber, re-grease, etc) and wonder if it's worthwhile to
do this?

thanks,
FLO_BOY