98 Maxima SE 5 spd. Stock suspension/wheels. Ball joints and control arm bushings appear to have no play. Replaced the inner/outer tie rods on both sides. Had an alignment done on a Hunter system.

Now the weird part: The steering wheel was positioned perfectly. The car ran almost perfectly straight (slightly followed the crown in the road). One week later, I am driving down the highway at 75 and notice a slight shudder, the steering wheel is tilted counter clockwise a few degrees while driving straight, and the car is pulling to the right a bit (even on a banked highway fast lane). I double check my jam nuts on the tie rods and everything else looks good. Another 20 miles with the same thing. I hop in the car the next morning and she shoots perfectly straight down the road with the steering wheel in the center position. A couple days later (maybe 80 miles), the same issue happens. Tonight, I am returning home and it's perfect again. Even up to an illegal rate of speed. What gives?

Sorry for the length. I sacrificed brevity for detail.

 

Did you have too much to drink? That would be one explanation...

 

i like that can i use it?

no but seriously i think im having the same issue, its one of those your almost too embarrased to admit to like its got to be me! not the car...i should clarify i did not have prob w/steering wheel being straight ahead tho.

 

nice

lets this question answered before anyone else responds. J/K man.


First thing that comes to my mind is that one of bushing is ripped in half and sometimes acts up and sometimes doesnt. What material of bushings did u get. Did u get OEM or Poly. Did u get cheap poly?

U sd everything was bolted up tight. U suuuuure?

 

The shudder might be saying warped disk. Check that you don't have a caliper siezed up, dragging a bit will cause the pull and as the disk heats up - there's your shudder.

 

What bushing would act up only sometimes if it was ripped in half? I've never had that experience. Either the bushing is causing problems, or it's not. All bushings are stock and everything is tight. Spent quite a bit of time under the front end checking.
Shudder from a warped disk doesn't go away. I like the idea of a caliper siezed, or dragging, but that doesn't address the issue entirely.

The steering wheel turns to the left, the car pulls to the right with a slight shudder at speed over 60. Then the issue disappears for miles. The fact that it is intermittent is frustrating me a bit.

 

hmm... have you noticed any wierd camber issues when its pulling? jw... havent tied anything to the opposite direction pull yet, just thinking.

also, what about the actual power steering system? everything tight on that? if it was shifting at some point in your travels it may explain the pull... right...? oh n do you ever park on somethin slanted?

just throwing some stuff out there...

 

Something you might want to check for is whether or not both ball joints are still secure in the control arms. I recently installed some aftermarket contol arms and this was the result http://s800.photobucket.com/albums/y...ljointfail.mp4 Though I would consider this scenario very unlikely on an OEM CA, it's worth looking into.

 

i put my money on ball joints.

 

Thanks for all the ideas and advice. Drove it today with no problems. I've had it up on stands a few times and there is no play on ball joints. BTW-stock CA. Periodically park on a downward slope, but it has happened after level parking for hours. PS pump, rack, and linkage is tight. I thought that the rack may be sticking, but it is independent of prior steering. The best way to describe it is to say while traveling straight the steering wheel is at the 11:00/11:15 position and the vehicle has a slight pull to the right. The pull to the right.
I would take a photo of it, but it's back to normal. LMK if anyone thinks of anything new. Thanks.

 

Check the bushings that hold the rack. After oil leals or age they will allow the rack to shift slighty and result in a canted steering wheel,most noticable after a full lock turn.

 

Good idea. I was just reading kevlo's rack r&r and thinking that I should have looked at the bushings. I'll definitely check that out. It seems like those bushings being bad could cause intermittent shift of the steering wheel. I'll let you know.