Heres what Ive got... I changed my tires today, got the car on the lift for an alignment, and the mechanic tells me I have loose tie rods (both side on the front).

My steering wheel was getting a little shaky for the last couple of weeks, but I thought my winter tires where not balanced right anymore...

actually, the shake in the steering wheel is gone now with my new tires, but the mechanic did tell me my rods needed to be changed.

Im looking for any advise, what to do, what to change, how much for tie rods, DIY job?, those kind of comments.

My car is stock, manual Maxima SE 2000.
(Ill be spending the evening looking at old posts for that, but I wanted to post first to get your ideas about it).

thanks a lot!

 

if they were in fact loose and not worn he shouldve tightened them when doing the alignment.

 

I think I might have the same problem. Had my tires rotated (Falken Ziex ZE512) and I still have the problem. Look at my post in the General Forum and tell me if you had the same problems.

 

he told me he couldnt do the alignement, so they must be worned out...
is it safe to drive the car?

 

could or couldnt. if they were loose he could do it and tighten them if they were worn he could still do it but shouldnt and it could be dangerous if they break you will loose steering of the wheel it breaks on. you should speak with him and clarify the trouble.

 

I meant couldnt... updated my post.
either way, ill be checking that very soon.

what exactly can be worned out on a tierod?
anybody has changed it recently?
is there aftermarket tierods orshould I stick to OEM?

Im still learning here, so any advise is appreciated (and I didnt find a lot of info on that on the forum, and I looked in 1st to 30th page of topics)

thanks!

 

the ball and socket could be galled, hence becoming "loose". its not that the tie rod is becoming unscrewed. could this be what he meant?

 

maybe! ill be looking into it with my mechanic tomorrow

 

tire rods aren't going to fall out, they become worn out from driving on bad roads, or just over time for wear and tear on the car. It's a very simple job but its not a DIY or atleast I dont think so. It should cost about 50-80 bucks for a new tire rod on each side but make sure to get the complete set with bearings and bushings all that stuff its easier to install and it will fit and make everything much tighter. The fact that the guy didn't want to do the alignment is that he saw the rod being not good enough to do it on, so he actually saved u money on not doing it again because fact is your car would still drive the same. See what the guy charges to change the rods. shouldn't be too much money but someplace will over charge on the labor.

 

thanks a lot joe for your comment.
for the alignement, thats exactly what the guy told me... "I could do the alignment but its not gonna help you until the tierods are fixed".

thanks

 

I had front wheel alighnment done and they told me that my tie rod was bent. I didn't believe him and took it to an alignment specialist. I told him what the dealership said and he verified that nothing was wrong with them. You would have to hit a pretty big pot hole! Anyways, the mechanic that told me that no longer works for nissan because of this.