sprslug_182

Alright guys, I really need an answer to this question without having to get to the dealership, which probably wouldn't service my car anyhow due to being so low.

My box was fine the other day until I had two new tires put on the rear. I left the tire shop and proceeded to get on the freeway, after driving up to the speed limit, I started noticed a sloppy feeling in the car, almost as if I had 4 wheel steer. At first, I assumed it might be some kind of coating that was put on the tires so I drove a bit longer to see if it would wear off, nothing.

So I pulled over and check the air pressure in all four tires, all where they should be.

I then proceeded to drive to the alignment shop and within the hour, they showed me the printout of everything being way within spec. The guy at the alignment shop then told me the swaying would be most likely from my negative camber in the rear, which is complete crap given the fact that I have had camber on the box for a year now.

So the alignment is good and tight, toe is right, tires and all that are fine, no vibration at all.

I figured a sway bar might have broken it they jacked my car up incorrectly at the tire shop, but then thought that the sway bar wouldnt really come into affect until I would be cornerning.

So I went to test it on the roundabout today.

If you know what it is, please stop me here

I was driving in a left circle on the roundabout and noticed that every couple of seconds, the car would be tracking fine and then the front would drift to the right, which caused the motion that I thought to be the back end swaying.

Would this be something in the rack possibly?

I really dont have anyone to come over and turn the wheel while I can look underneath.

PLEASE HELP!!!

swartzautoman

iTrader: (3)

wow, that sounds like a problem.
you realy need to get it up on a rack or some jack stands and check everything real good.

could be alot of things realy
i would check to make sure the rear wheels are center on the hub and thet the studs are proper torq ( loosten and retighten all )
what elts would the guys at the tire shop have messed with?


im sittin real low with negative camber also and ive never had any problems like that.
i hope you find something
keep us posted

cobb

Low tire pressure? Have you tried moving the wheels up front in all 4 directions while jacked to see if tie rod, ball joints are worn?

sprslug_182

***UPDATE***

Last night:

I took off every single wheel, replaced and retorqued to spec - No change

I put the front in the air and checked every single bushing, be it sway bar end links, ball joints and what have ya - no problems

I then had someone turn the wheel while up in the air - nothing.

Then I put it back on the ground and had someone turn the wheel just a tad each way, there was no play in wheels whatsoever, but a loud clunk everytime the wheel was turned to the right.

After calling a few different places and giving them the rundown on the symptoms, the consensus seems to be the steering gear, or rack as most would call it.

So, now I am on the lookout for a take off, as new is like 900 dollars.

swartzautoman

iTrader: (3)

how meny miles are on your box?
i wonder why the rack would be bad?
id get a second opinion befor you go replacing it.

sprslug_182

I have 47,000 miles on a 2005. I bought it used from some A-hole in City of Industry, CA. He lied about a lot of things, so as far as I know, he could have messed it up a bit by hitting curbs and whatnot and it just took this long to go out.

I am going to take it to another alignment shop before the end of the week, hopefully.

swartzautoman

iTrader: (3)

man that sucks............ well just keep us posted as to what all happens

cobb

Sounds like one of the teeth in the rack is stripped. Not good news.

What, what, what? An a-hole driving a box? NO, way!!!!

sprslug_182

Hey cobb, from my understanding, it wouldn't be a pump or hydraulic problem, correct?

Because if that were the case, it would feel as though I were driving my old beetle again.

swartzautoman

iTrader: (3)

thats correct.
if the pump was bad the straring would be real stiff at low speeds like you just didn't have PS

cobb

Yupper, it sounds like he hit a curb doing 90mph and strip a few teeth in the steering rack. Basically the rack inside the steering rack housing looks like a wide saw blade and the bump where the steering shaft goes in is a small round gear that moves it left and right to steer. If anything is wrong withthe power steering, usually they leak before any performance issues are felt. When they are not working or working well its harder to steer at slower speeds. Just try steering with the engine off to get an idea.

Black_Sheep_xB

Sounds correct (curbing), but also dont rule out that it could just be defective as well.. I work as a dealer tech at Acura we do racks on new cars all the time.. though Toyota is awesomer ..lol

sprslug_182

I can tell you that I have never hit a curb with my box, way too expensive to replace my rims to be that careless. But, I did buy it used, and the guy's wife drove it daily, so I won't rule it out.

So I did another check on everything. My power steering fluid was full, but the dealership probably topped it off the last time they changed my oil. I did noticed that the seal down by where the steering shaft goes into the steering gear is saturated with power steering fluid. It isn't dripping or anything, but enough to noticed that it isn't sealed completely. When I have the car off and start to the turn the wheel back and forth, it feels like vw tight, but also clunks everytime I turn it right from going left.

Every alignment shop I have been to cant even find the problem, so I guess I will replace the rack and hope for the best.

Oh yeah, when I had the box running but sitting still, I can turn the wheel two full rotations to full lock it stops, but when I turn to the left two full rotations, it gets a little hard to turn, but will continue to turn more. What does that sounds like to you?

CHPRBOX8

i had this problem on my kia that was new the seal on the colum busted and was leaking into the colum. basicly put in 2 qts of fluid never driped but was inside leak...they had to replace the whole rack

365Motorwerks

I have a similar issue going on right now as well, see if it sounds familiar….

I replaced both rear tires with new budget Kuhmo Ecsta AST’s, as I put a ton of miles on the box so I wasn’t going to spluge for pricey tires!
Lets go back and start off by saying that before I swapped the balding rear tires there was absoluly no issues with handling in fact the box rails pretty good! Ok so tires are mounted, lugs torqued and the car is back on the ground, all is gravy right?
I take the car out, great smooth quiet ride no problems….until my first nice curve! Rear end feels loose, VSC kicks on and starts braking the car! Double check lugs, make sure PSI is cool in all tires and rear sway bar is not loose then I test by going down a straight road and swerving to the left then quickly overcompensating back to the right and dam if the rear doesn’t feel like it is sliding around?! I was replacing the shocks and struts anyways so went ahead and did that which made the ride nicer but didn’t fix the VSC popping on. I did read some reviews on the tires I got with people saying that they felt like they didn’t track right and were unpredictable so I am going to swap back to my OE wheels when I have a chance and see what happens. I don’t have the clunk but the other stuff sounded similar!

swartzautoman

iTrader: (3)

any up dates Sprslug
very interested if finding out what this is.

sprslug_182

DUDE!!!! Holy ____, you totally have the same problem that I do!!

So I had an alignment shop say that it was tie rod end that was stripped, but wouldnt show it to me, so I was back to square one.

I drove down the mountains the other day and the VSC did the same damn thing with these stupid new tires that were put on, as the other tires tracked freaking awesome with a loss of tread even!!

So this Saturday, the tire shop is going to warranty to new tires I had put on and replace it with the tires that I have always had on the car, which were the Nankang NS-II's.

These piece of crap tires that are on there now are Z-rated and are supposed to be from the same company that makes the Nankang's, but I don't like them one bit. So I will post another update as soon I get the other tires put on this weekend. At least someone else has the same problem, not a good thing for problem's sake, but so i know that I am not crazy.

THANKS!!

cobb

Sometimes tires do funny things. I use to work at sears tire america and saw this first hand.

One of the shocking things I saw was a new tire with broken belts inside them. Sometimes you can see this as bubbles in the trear area.

If it helps and you are near Richmond, VA, I have 2 stock goodyears with 20k miles on them that rode well, not that stickie. Dealer recommended replacement since one had a nail in it and the other some sidewall damage. The bridgestones are great. Quieter, grippier and no hydroplaining, 115 bucks each.

sprslug_182

I am in Phoenix, and I have 18's, so I don't think the goodyears will help, but thanks though!!

365Motorwerks

My problem is all fixed!!! Turned out to be the front swaybar endlinks!! Easy fix 1000% better. Here is what I did. The stock bushings have been showing signs of wear for some time now but have slipped under the maintenance radar for a while, the time had come! No more worn parts would live here! Armed with nothing more than a few assorted wrenches both the socket and open ended variety and a trusty hammer for good luck it was time. Removing both front wheels and un-bolting the original endlinks was first up followed by a quick read of the Energy Suspension instructions and it was zero hour! Installed by turning the wheel to full lock to gain clearance then placed the new bushing in place with the nut on the lower side and loosely bolted together before doing the other side. Tightened up both sides and went for a test drive! Results were no more wandering while attempting to go straight down the freeway and no more VSC light coming on at ordinary corners! Overall this has tightened up the feel of the car Energy Suspensions rocks!