So my steering feels loose--I recently had the tranny overhauled (bad synchros) under warranty, and my steering hasn't felt the same since. It feels lighter and looser than I'm used to (and it feels lighter than my friend's TC).

I recently had a clunking sound coming from the front end area while braking, and I thought it was probably a loose bolt--took it in to the dealer, who determined it was a loose steering rack bolt. They tightened it up, and now the clunk is gone.

Well, the steering still feels a little loose (I also had it re-aligned just to make sure that wasn't the problem).

What do you think the problem could be? I'd like to try and check it out myself (dealer's way too far away and going there always eats up about a half day at least). I'm thinking that the bolts that hold the steering rack to the cradle still may be a little loose..any other ideas?

Also, if any you guys live close to Long Beach and wouldn't mind spending a couple minutes, I'd like to have you drive my car to see if it's just me--you see, I acquired a '90 miata while the tc was out getting the tranny fixed, so sometimes i think that i'm just too used to the mazda's steering, but even so, I don't ever remember the tC's steering being this loose....

Suspension mods include: TRD sway, TRD springs and hotchkis strut bar. Also, my front stock struts are starting to leak--will this affect steering feel?

thanks in advance everyone...

 

i got the same problem, the dealership never fixes it bcuz---well actually i donno why they never fix it....

 

well, i just got back from the dealer..the guy who drove it along w/ me thought it was fine...hmm..if i have time today or tomorrow I'm gonna crawl underneath and check the rack/subframe bolts myself.

This is kinda annoying...I don't remember my tC feeling so loose (I just had it realigned twice, and the results looked good)--the bump steer is what's most annoying--the steering wheel moves quite a bit when going over little grooves on the highway.

 

Well, I figured it out--I crawled underneath and found two of the four steering cradle to subframe bolts loose (and one of them cross-threaded!) The hard part is trying to hold the top of the bolt so I can loosen the things all the way--it's hard to get my hand in there...anybody have any ideas?

Those of you that did the hotchkis front sway install, how did you do this?

 

Well, I had the car back at the dealer to have them re-tighten the bolts, then took it home to check the torque w/ a torque wrench on them just to make sure--it looks like they're torqued on there properly (45lb/ft is what i got from the hotchkis front sway bar install instructions that i found on trdsparks.com).

It still feels loose and sloppy...the tech said he didn't notice anything wrong w/ the steering, and my brother says the same--I'm beginning to think that I really am just too used to the miata now. I dunno, b/c this bump-steer thing is really bothering me...

BTW, I'm still getting a loud *click* coming from the front suspension (perhaps the steering rack) while turning slowly at an acute angle in parking lots. Also that same click happens when initiating braking.

This is really annoying..as of right now I don't enjoy driving the car--it just makes me feel way to insecure about its capabilities--seriously, when I hit a bump or am driving on a rough road it feels like the car could wander in any direciton. I also feel like I have to correct a lot while on the freeway. I never remeber having to do this before...

until I figure this out I guess I'll be driving the miata!

any help out there? anything else I should be checking? Maybe I'll crawl underneath again and check the bolts.

 

just touching on that clicking sound during sharp turns and the initial braking, tome that sounds like a problem with the CV's. you might want to check the CV boots to see if one is torn. just an idea to help out

 

getting to those steering bolts sucks.. We had to do that when we did the clutch. It was a pain to get up in there and tighten it all back up.