WARNING SEMI LONG THREAD...

Alright, i dropped the max on AGX and GCs...And i was driving it for like 2 days untill i got an alignment.

Everything was perfectly fine untill I got an alignment, After the (first) alignment everything seemed fine untill i turned the wheel to the right and then the wheel flopped over and slanted right...very wierd.. then i made a u turn and the it flopped ALMOST back to straight...

I thought maybe they just forgot to tighten something or they just set the alignment on the steering wheel wrong so they hooked it up with a second alignment for free. after that second alignment the same thing happened...The guy at the shop sugested i check my rack and pinion bushings...or the rack and pinion..

I took it to the dealer, and they checked everything and couldnt find anything wrong with the bushings and sujested that my rack and pinion be replaced with a new one...

Concidering the car only has 113k miles and it was babied for 110k miles by my mother, what is the rack and pinion goin out on me for?

i was thinking that maybe the camber bolts i installed were the cause of the problem, i have heard of peoples bolts getting loose and flopping over the steering wheel...could this be the problem?

another thing that is wierd is that whenever i turn the wheel all the way in either direction and push the gas, i have to manually move it back straight more than b4 i had this problem...Usually when you make a u turn or something like that the wheel wants to fight to go back straight, now that is going away or WENT away, could that be a cause of the camber bolts as wel? or is that only something a bad rack and pinion would cause?

I really need help with this, its either something really dumb like the camber bolts or something expensive like the rack and pinion...i dont really have an extra 500 bucks laying around for a new rack and pinion so anything i can do would be VERY HELPFULL!

cmon orgerz... dont let me down

 

A bad camber bolt would turn up during the alignment process as sloppy camber and wouldn't hold its alignment, so it's probably not that.

 

well, i just got word from the dealer...

the bushings were fine from what they saw...

They tried to tell me that the Rack and pinion was shot and that it was gona cost me 2 grand to replace it (parts and labor) i told them to **** off...lol

but how would a bad camber bolt show up on the alignment machine?! I was thinking maybe the place gave me the wrong bolt? cause i have asked quite a few peeps on the org and alot have told me that the camber bolts replace the bottome bolt on the strut spindle...i read the directions on the box and they said to replace the top one..which i did...'

maybe since they were cheap bolts, the move around? i dunno, i guess it still doesnt explain some of the other problems that i have, like the stearing when i make a u turn...

This is frustrating me...cause this all happened right after i got the alignment.. i dont know what to do... should i go ahead and spend 400 bucks on a new rack and pinion? any more tips?

 

camon, no one can help me? what else could the problem be?

 

i wast thinking, when you replace the struts and springs all around, do you have to get a 4 wheel alignment on the car? could this be the problem since i only got the front aligned?

 

I didn't even know there were places that would align just the front wheels, are you sure they didn't do all four?

 

all 4 wheels have to be aligned (the front have to match the back), but only the front can be adjusted

 

Sadly, I have to say that almost every 4th gen has a bad R&P. When you make a turn in a parking lot a low speeds, the steering wheel is easy to turn. When you make a turn at high speeds the steering wheel is suppose to be stiffer as you increase speed but, for most of us it is as loose/soft as it is at low speeds.

 

lol...

alright one other thing that i noticed today was that, *sigh* (this is gona be long again)

While i straightened the wheel and looked at the wheels the toe was off slightly, it wasnt like that when i got the alignment. But when i drove it around a bit and then i left the stearing wheel crooked (it slants to the right to go strait while driving) i looked at the wheels and the toe was really off majorly...and the camber on the front right was off alot more, i think the possition of the steering wheel has something to do with the problem like some set of linkage isnt in place? or maybe the geometry was changed by lowering it causing something? i dunno anything about cars, im just basing this on what i have learned so far and by some common sense....

Still open to ideas, let me know what you guys think...

 

Bad R&P only affects toe. Any change in camber is due to something else. Do you see that the top of the wheel either tilted outward or inward? You want the wheel to be straight up. Check the upper and lower strut bolts (2) and retorque. Also make sure the camber bolt washer (the one with the metal tab) sits flushed with the strut surface. This washer has a little nub inside that has to be inside the strut hole.

 

yea the toe is all messed up, but the aquard thing is that the toe and camber change is only there when the wheel is turned at certain directions...

like when i am in park after i just got done driving around, the wheels look normal, but if i turn the wheel all the way to the right, and then all the way to the left (repeat like 2 times) then i go and look at the wheels and the front right is crooked, by crooked i mean both the TOE and the CAMBER...as well as the front left but the front left has a normal camber but the TOE is still off...

 

how do i check for that?

 

Take the coilovers out, there's something wrong with them or the installation.

 

Fix the camber problem first. It looks like something is loose on the right side. Since the car was working fine before the new stuffs, I would look closely at whatever was touched during installation. The first place I would look is the 2 strut bolts. Then you may to to take out the right strut and see if anything is missing. Pay attention to the strut bearing. It has a tendency to pop out of its hole if the strut mount is turned while the center nut is being tighten.

If you jack the right side up and wiggle the tire (hands on the tire, one hand push, the other pull), does it move? Top and bottom? Front and back?

 

well when you ask me to move the tire, do you mean "look for movement" in the wheel that doesnt effect movement of the steering wheel?

like if i were to jack it up and wiggle the tire and there is movement or play in either direction that doesnt effect the steering wheel, thats what i am looking for? or what...

thanks for the responces so far guys

 

what would i be looking for? and what would be wrong with the coilovers?

how could i check for this?

 

the two bolts that you are talking about are the to bolts holding the strut to the spindle right?

as for the bearing...i dont c how that could have poped out, and if it did, what would that have to do with the problem i am having, cause member i had NO problems whatso ever b4 i got the alignment, as a matter of fact my alignment was dam near perfect b4 i got the alignment done...at least it was alot better than what it is right now lol

 

bump...................

 

Yeah. Those two bolts attach the strut to the spindle. About the strut bearing, I was just guessing that if it is not centered in its hole, it may move around while the wheel is turned. Probably unlikely. Since the problem happened after the alignment, and I assumed the shop would have to loosen the strut bolts to adjust camber, that is where I would look first.

 

Alright, i tighened some stuff, and i took the camber bolts off and replaced em back to stock ones..

the right side was a BITC-H! i shattered 2 sockets trying to take the bottom bolt off..

had to have my friend go to walmart and buy me a new set LOL...

but so far the problem is fixed...as for the steering not coming back as hard as b4, when im taking a u turn for instance, that is still there...although i might just be trippin lol

ill drive it for a few days and see if its back 2 normal...

THANKS for the help guys! BTW dont ever get the specialy products camber bolts..

THEY SUCK!