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Steering Help

Old May 2, 2013 | 11:58 PM
  #1  
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Steering Help

everytime i drive in a highway i gotta hold my steering wheel with 2 hands because i get scared its going tip over, the steering is so sensitive, how can i make my steering wheel more stiffer when driving????
Old May 3, 2013 | 01:11 AM
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Go through it and check to see if anything is loose in the steering column. But, of yourse you're driving a mid to late 90's sedan, its going to be a little wobbly.


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Old May 3, 2013 | 01:55 AM
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thanks bro. is there any performance parts that I can add for the steering to be stiffen??
Old May 3, 2013 | 03:30 AM
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I know on the 5th gen there is a bushing of sort behind the steering column that is rubber, and can be changed out to the custom metal one, but im not sure if that would work for our cars or not. Just do a run through of the steering and all of the joints and such at the wheels and make sure nothing needs replaced. You could lower the car/stiffen suspension and that would reduce body roll, which in turn gives a little tighter steering, but it will still feel anout the same unless you're flinging the car around a corner at 60mph. The car was designed to handle smooth and not take tight turns. Lol. Those are really the only things I can think of right now, but it is 5:30 am, and I could be forgetting something.


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Old May 3, 2013 | 09:55 AM
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Stiffer steering is even more sensitive. Mine is loose because I suspect a worn bushing in my driverside LCA. I want my steering to be tight without a lot of play. Easy enough to check. But like Aflion said, these cars are from the mid to late 90's there's gonna be some wobble.

Our steering wheels are just trying to be relevant and starting to get in line with all this Dubstep everywhere with it's WOBBLE WOBBLE WEEEVE WOB WOB WOB WEEEVE. :]
Old May 3, 2013 | 04:06 PM
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Originally Posted by Phromethius
Our steering wheels are just trying to be relevant and starting to get in line with all this Dubstep everywhere with it's WOBBLE WOBBLE WEEEVE WOB WOB WOB WEEEVE. :]
Thats amazing!




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Old May 3, 2013 | 06:24 PM
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Get an alignment+ tires balanced.
Old May 4, 2013 | 12:41 AM
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I got alignment n tire balanced already. Thanks guy.. I wish i had that bmw sport package handling.. U can do a 100 mpg and steering wheel wouldnt even budge.. Lol thanks alot guys..
Old May 5, 2013 | 07:53 AM
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If you are talking about how much the steering wheel shakes when you are driving (it can be a mild shake on relatively smooth highways or a downright shake fest on bad concrete sections) then I have been going through this for quite some time now.

The best I can say is that our cars are very sensitive in the steering department, they transmit a lot from the road to the steering wheel...which is great...until you start getting information that is over exaggerated, which is what a lot of us are going through.

I chased this dog for a while and here is a list. I replaced the springs and struts, stabilizer bar end link and mount bushings, new larger rotors, wheel bearings, '99 SE steering rack, '99 steering pump, tie rod ends, and steering mount bushings.

After all that work was done I noticed a difference with each piece that was installed, but the steering still shook, less so..but still did it.

I then replaced the Lower Control Arms/ball joints with OEM and that helped more. The final straw was to replace the right side axle and boom, all of a sudden it was tight and smooth...finally!!!

But right after that I started to get a light bang noise in the front and it has the slightest shake their again...I never replaced my strut mounts when I did the strut/spring combo because they were good at the time, well...it's the only thing that isn't new and they will get changed out next weekend-ish.

My point to all this is that you can replace just one part but it doesn't resolve the whole issue. Your steering is representing what is going on at the front of your car and many different things effect the performance, I recommend replacing things one at a time with the most obvious and failure prone items first and work your way out from their if you would like to keep this car for a while yet...or just suffer with it the way it is.

I will tell you this car handles fantastic and the steering is very smooth and reacts quickly and accurately to changes at the wheel when everything is as it should be (not as quickly as the newer cars like the BRZ, but quick just the same).

Good Luck and happy hunting.

If you do the work yourself it isn't that bad in cost, just remember that OEM is your best bet, cheap parts save you money up front but cost you more in replacement and poor performance in the future.

Last edited by back2basics; May 5, 2013 at 08:01 AM.
Old May 9, 2013 | 04:26 PM
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getting aligned with worn parts isn't a good idea. most shops will have you replace parts before touching your car. too much slop in your steering isn't good. start looking for worn things under the car. search thru the forum a bit, read here and there. you'll learn a thing or two.
Old Jul 17, 2013 | 05:05 PM
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Thought I'd update this page from the last time I posted above about the steering issues i was having.
I did replace the strut mounts and bearings with OEM parts and new end links on the stabilizer bar, these were the last things to replace on the suspension and steering, literally every single part is brand new...but yet I still have terrible steering wheel shake at 65mph and up with it being worse as the speed goes.

Wheels and tires are good, just had the balance done and it made no difference.

Only thing left is the left axle, don't know if that would cause a vibration at only highway speeds and not on local roads or not. 65mph and below it's solid, above that it sucks and i still have the popping noise in the suspension even though i re-torqued every single bolt and nut and have a completely new suspension.

The only other possibility would be the upper and lower plates that go around the strut mount bushing, they looked fine so I didn't replace them...is it possible that something is wrong their? I just pulled it apart last weekend and double checked my work, it's in properly and facing the right direction, but yet I still get a popping noise over mild bumps but not on more harsh impacts.

It's driving me crazy and I'm close to selling this thing...I'm that sick of dealing with it.
Old Jul 17, 2013 | 05:48 PM
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Originally Posted by Phromethius
Our steering wheels are just trying to be relevant and starting to get in line with all this Dubstep everywhere with it's WOBBLE WOBBLE WEEEVE WOB WOB WOB WEEEVE. :]
Old Jul 18, 2013 | 07:19 AM
  #13  
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Fakie I've seen that before! Key & Peele are hilarious. I like some dubstep but a lot of it I do feel like my brain is leaking somewhere when I hear it! lol
Old Jul 18, 2013 | 07:45 AM
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Originally Posted by back2basics
Thought I'd update this page from the last time I posted above about the steering issues i was having.
I did replace the strut mounts and bearings with OEM parts and new end links on the stabilizer bar, these were the last things to replace on the suspension and steering, literally every single part is brand new...but yet I still have terrible steering wheel shake at 65mph and up with it being worse as the speed goes.

Wheels and tires are good, just had the balance done and it made no difference.

Only thing left is the left axle, don't know if that would cause a vibration at only highway speeds and not on local roads or not. 65mph and below it's solid, above that it sucks and i still have the popping noise in the suspension even though i re-torqued every single bolt and nut and have a completely new suspension.

The only other possibility would be the upper and lower plates that go around the strut mount bushing, they looked fine so I didn't replace them...is it possible that something is wrong their? I just pulled it apart last weekend and double checked my work, it's in properly and facing the right direction, but yet I still get a popping noise over mild bumps but not on more harsh impacts.

It's driving me crazy and I'm close to selling this thing...I'm that sick of dealing with it.
Did you by any chance use a remanufactured axle? They absolutely suck. I've never used one that I didn't have problems with.

How old are your tires? They may have been worn improperly by the bad parts and are causing you a problem.
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