Ever since last year, I've had this bad wobble and pull to the left in the steering wheel which has been bothering the hell out of me. So about a month ago, I checked the steering rack and that seemed fine. I replaced the steering fluid with Mobil 1 ATF. Yet I still had the wobble and it kept on pulling to the left on the steering. So right after, I got all of my tie rods replaced with Moog and went to Firestone to get a Lifetime Alignment done. After the alignment, the car still had a slight wobble and the pull to the left but it wasn't not as bad before.

The day after the alignment, I had to drive about 650 miles to SC and on the way, the car seemed to return to the problem gradually. So upon arriving in SC, I went to Firestone to get it aligned again. . At this point, the wobble and the pull is back to the normal degree or maybe even worse. So I finally had some time today to get under the car and check to see if the tie rods were bad but I saw that the boot had come off (not on the inner tie rod side, but the side towards the rack). I don't know when this happened in the past couple of weeks but I snaged some pics. (after the jump. Sorry for the bad quality).

Signs are pointing towards a bad steering rack but there isn't much leakage inside the boot. There is slight dark fluid on the rod coming out of the rack but nothing substantial. What do you guys think? Time for a replacement? Where is the best place to go for a good quality reman? How much am I looking to spend here if I get it replaced?

 

Looks like the normal grease / fluid film you see on the rack bar inside the boot. Based on you description, it sounds like you have some crappy tires. A bad belt in one or more tires can cause a wobble / vibration and a pull.

Big zip-tie ftw to put the rack boot back on with.