Steering on center slop/shake

[ScaryFatKidGT]

So my steering has a lot of on center slop and its really spooky/annoying when driving fast in a strait line or on the highway any turning more than a lane change about 10 degrees either way and the steering becomes nice and responsive and tight, point and shoot, but keeping it in a strait line while going 75 on the highway is weird its like the car wanders a bit and the steering is really imprecise, until you get past the 5-15 degree mark then its normal. Also the steering wheel sometimes shakes or wiggles about a half inch back and forth but then after I go around a corner or something it stops it just comes and goes away every once and a while at speeds over 40 mph and increases speed with the speed of the car going 75 its more of a vibration than a wiggle.

My tire pressure is good I'm wondering could this be due to warn out steering rack bushings? I'v heard a lot of people have gotten new steering rack bushings and had in increase in NVH and thats about it so idk. Or maybe worn bushings in my endlinks?

[jey]

Could be an out of balance tire. Or worse, loose lug nuts??

[impreza_GC8]

My old Legacy with 150,000 miles on it has some slop too. I think its just a matter of bushings.

[ScaryFatKidGT]

Na its not lug nuts but Ill double check to be sure. Well I had my rear axles done when I got my engine and tranny replaced and they really fucked it up and I got a more competent shop to fix it and then got an alignment cuz it was impossible to drive in a strait line and they said it was way out of wack and that they fixed it up but i don't think its felt quite the same sense.

I get my CV joint fixed next week. So I'm thinking I get poly steering rack bushings then get an alignment and (if i don't get new tires by then) get my tires balanced at the same time?

[hallowpoint]

My old Legacy with 150,000 miles on it has some slop too. I think its just a matter of bushings.
+1 on that. sounds like bushings im starting to get it

[ScaryFatKidGT]

My old Legacy with 150,000 miles on it has some slop too. I think its just a matter of bushings.
+1 on that. sounds like bushings im starting to get it

I just think its weird cuz its not all over its only on-center steering thats affected really.

So besides endlinks and steering rack bushings is there any others that would be a major cause of this? I don't really have money to go through and replace every bushing there is.

[track8]

My first thought is inner tie rod ends, next would be the rack & pinion itself, unless the rack bushings are REALLY bad. There just isn't a lot of room for the rack to travel within the clamps/bushings.

[jey]

If the tie rod ends are going out you'll be able to see the play if you physically check the front end with the car parked. That said, have you done the simple check yet? It might help identify the source of your problem.

[impreza_GC8]

If the tie rod ends are going out you'll be able to see the play if you physically check the front end with the car parked. That said, have you done the simple check yet? It might help identify the source of your problem.
Jey can you explain this procedure a bit more? I wouldn't mind fixing all the slop on my Legacy but similar to the OP, I didn't want to spend a lot of money on every bushing but I have been too lazy to pinpoint the problem bushings.

[jey]

Jack up a corner of the car, take your hands, grab the tire and try to pivot it. There should be no play and you should not be able to pivot the wheel at all. When my tie rod was going out I could move it just a little and you can visibly see where the tie rod was loose and could move around independently of the rest of the steering.

[ScaryFatKidGT]

So Jack it up and try to grab the tire and turn it right and left like the steering wheel would do? What if this is it? Do i need new tie rods or just bushings?

And the vibration is starting to get really annoying more so than the sloppy steering. I just drove home having the steering vibrate and make the whole car shake a little the whole way home. It feels exactly like my warped rotors do but I'm not braking. I can feel the warped rotors make the car vibrate as soon as I brake so its 2 different things unless I have a caliper that is locked up but I highly dout that. And the driving vibration isn't as affected by the speed of the car. With warped rotors you can tell how fast you are going by how fast the vibration is, the vibration while I'm driving isn't that precise.

I'm getting my CV join done friday so that will take that out of the equation.

[jey]

Yes. If it's the tie rod you'll see it move a little even though the steering system is not moving. If it's a bushing that is way busted you'll probably see the play there as well.

[track8]

And the vibration is likely some other semi-related ailment like, wheel balance, bent rim or an out of round tire. Swap the tires front to back and see if there is any change in the shaking.

[ScaryFatKidGT]

And the vibration is likely some other semi-related ailment like, wheel balance, bent rim or an out of round tire. Swap the tires front ot back and see if there is any change in the shaking.

Rotate them you mean front to back?

[track8]

And the vibration is likely some other semi-related ailment like, wheel balance, bent rim or an out of round tire. Swap the tires front ot back and see if there is any change in the shaking.

Rotate them you mean front to back?

Yeah, that's what I mean't. Had a dyslexia moment there. If the rear tires/rims have a better (or worse?) roundness and balance situation, you should feel the change and home in on the source of the shake. Since you shouldn't feel the out of round/balance in the steering with the offending tire(s) out back, that will be the tell.

[ScaryFatKidGT]

I'm getting my CV done right now and I asked him to look at the tie rods. When I get it back I'm going to clean all the shit from the CV join off my rim and then rotate the tires.

[ScaryFatKidGT]

CV's done but the vibration is still there (haven't rotated the tires yet). The mechanic said there was a little play in the tie rods but not a lot and that they looked ok, (new ones couldn't hurt then??) but he was concerned that my strut was F-ed up because when every thing was disconnected and the strut moved freely (just the strut brake rotors and caliper) he said most cars there is some resistance, it takes some force to move them around and twist them, and mine was really lose and just flopped around, is this a subaru thing or is my strut bad? I asked him if he meant it was blown and he was like "maybe but there is a lot more than that wrong with it" and showed me how it was hard to move around on another car they had on the lift.

Also that "On center slop" has now shifted a little left and the steering wheels centered but the car seems slightly more eager to turn left than right could changing the CV mess up the alignment a little? I'm going to get an alignment done soon anyway probably after I fix what ever this vibration is and get new tires.

[track8]

An alignment shop will inspect all the ball joints, tie rod ends and like that before doing the alignment since any loosness won't allow them to align things accurately, and to sell parts and labor. If your strut is blown, that will amplify any out of round/balance issue on the wheel in question. Also, the oscillation of a crappy wheel will accelerate the wear of it's attending damping unit (strut) and links (ball joints/tie rod ends).

And yes, dis-assembling and re-assembling the suspension will likely alter the alignment.

[ScaryFatKidGT]

I take it they could also tell if a tire was out of whack? I'm going to take it to the alignment place I took it to before then.

[ScaryFatKidGT]

So I never rotated the tires cuz I got new ones and that took care of the vibration but the slop is still there, I'm going to have and alignment shop check it out soon and also get some negative camber idled in. Its just really pissing me off when I'm driving sometimes its ok not perfect but acceptably tight and responsive and then all the sudden, like when changing lanes or something, it feels like my wheels just move independent from the steering wheel.

[Soul Shinobi]

Zeroing out your front toe may help a bit. I just put Whiteline steering rack bushings in mine, one of the old ones was a bit damaged. On center dead-spot was was reduced by roughly 70% they certainly helped, though install was a bitch (rusty bolts, bushings rusted to rack).

EDIT: Oh yeah, and the Whiteline bushings produced no noticeable NVH, but they do give much sharper steering response. :grin:

[ScaryFatKidGT]

So I just took it to an alignment shop but they said before they can align it I have a rear wheel bearing out :smt013 I replaced these when I bought the car! and that my front break caliper is hanging up which is causing the shaking...il have to have a shop do the wheel bearing but if I have changed my break pads you just take the bolts off the other side and the caliper comes off right? and then just disconnect the lines after I bleed the system then il probably do SS lines and fill it up with motul RBF600...but I'm looking to get a newer car 2 idk

[jey]

If the axle nut is not torqued correctly a brand new wheel bearing can get ruined. Same with aftermarket wheels with weird offset.

[ScaryFatKidGT]

how many foot lbs is the nut suppose to be at?

[jospgut]

like 2 monts ago my car was doing the same. i thought about balancing the 4 wheels. but it was still shaking in hills and a high speed. I replaced the front axels and the shaking was gone..

[jey]

137 ft lbs

[ScaryFatKidGT]

137 ft lbs
thx jey!