Steering problem

[thatguybryan]

Hello, a while back I hit a curb at around 15-20 mph.

The damage done was only a curbed wheel, bent front right LCA, and a broken tie rod bushing.

Today, I replaced the tie rod and bushing with brand new OEM pieces, I replaced the LCA with a brand new OEM piece also, and of course the ball joint was included in the LCA.

Now I have a problem. The right wheel does not turn at the same angle as the left wheel does. If I turn all the way to the left, the left wheel is at an extreme angle, but the right wheel is not at the same angle. If I turn all the way to the right, the left wheel is once again at an extreme angle, but the right side wheel is not nearly at the same angle.

I searched and was not sure if people had the exact same problem as me. Any ideas of what it might be? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[abunai the drifter]

are both sides oem lca and tie rod if not that could be your problem or you may have damaged your rack

[Hashiriya415]

wheels never turn at same angle, example, you turn right or left, the inside wheel has shorter distance to travel at a greater angle while the outer wheel has longer distance with less angle

[thatguybryan]

Yes both tie rods and LCA's are OEM.

I did not know that the wheels always turn at different angles. Interesting...

It's really, REALLY hard to drive otherwise I would have got an alignment already. I'm still wondering why when I turn the wheel, all of a sudden the steering wheel starts turning super fast in the same direction. I'm assuming this won't be fixed by a simple alignment? Thanks for all the input so far, I really appreciate it.

I noticed also in some of the threads I found in the search where similar stuff happened, they said it could be a balljoint problem. I just put the nut on the balljoint and put the cotter pin in. I didn't tighten it super tight for fear of damaging it, but it is on there pretty snug. Is this fine as far as installation goes? Thanks again for any input. :sadwavey:

[Hashiriya415]

sounds like you get the balljoint on there good. Only other thing that could be bent is knuckle or strut, get it on alignment rack and check SAI, most of the time the knuckle bends, I bet your Caster is also off, time to buy the adjustable tension rods.

[Jayb0206]

When your steering wheel is straight are both wheels straight, or is one pointed out or in excessively. Quick tempory way to set toe is find center line of vehilce and measure out to the inner edge of each rim and try to get them even. try to get the right side to match what ever your left toe is already. should be a good enough base to get it to drive and steer a little better so you can get it properly aligned. Does the right caster look off, like wheel is pushed to back off wheel well you may still have other damage

[thatguybryan]

Caster looks fine after I fixed the parts that were bent.

When you say most of the time the knuckle bends, how would I be able to check that out/replace that?

Also, Jayb0206, yes; the passenger wheel is pointed in a little bit which might be part of the problem. It's a lot better than it was when it was down, but still a little pointed inwards. How do I go about adjusting the toe?

Would any of this stuff affect the steering wheel turning so fast when it gets past a certain point? And would this make it hard to drive straight? Thanks very much for your help!

[Hashiriya415]

You telling me you looked at it and caster looks fine. ALIGNMENT MACHINE, ALIGNMENT MACHINE, No eye balling shit, and 12" ruler measurement, get it on an alignment rack.
caster changes steering feel, SAI changes steering feel.

[thatguybryan]

I plan on getting it aligned tomorrow, I was just wondering if there was something seriously wrong because it seems like there is something seriously wrong to me.

I guess an alignment may be able to fix it though, it's just the steering in my case is way worse than previous times my car was not aligned properly. Then again, I've never had an incident like this occur with any of my previous cars.

So you're saying it's possible that an alignment will fix my problem? Could my car not being properly aligned make the steering wheel turn super fast in certain directions when I'm turning the steering wheel slow?

[Jayb0206]

Yes they all play a role when driving straight. Bent knuckle will cause bad camber angle which will cause toe to be out. This can also cause the steering wheel to spin itself at a certain point. Take a close look at your strut. they tend to bend before a knuckle, but they do bend. Check the gap between the top of the wheel and your strut. Is the right wheel closer then the left like its leaning in. Try to get your toe a little striaghter and get over and get it aligned. When your camber shows up out of spec and the shop is unable to get it back to spec then you have a bent strut or knuckle. But if your lucky it could just be your toe adjustment is way out of adjustment. To adjust that toe, you need spin the inner tie rod.

[thatguybryan]

How could I really tell though if the knuckle was bent?

Hopefully its just really out of alignment..lol we'll see tomorrow I guess.

[thatguybryan]

Alright fellas, I tried to drive it to the alignment shop today which is ~6 miles away. About 1/8th of the way there (lol..) I realized that my tires squeal like crazy when driving down the road normally at anything over 20mph.

When I drove the car down the road, it does not feel like anything is wrong besides an obvious alignment problem, and I've looked at my car again and again based off of all your advice and it seems as if everything should be okay besides the alignment.

I guess I was just wondering if it's honestly worth getting a tow to the alignment shop to see what happens? Because around here it's about a $75 minimum I believe for a tow.

Does my problem sound like an alignment only problem?

EDIT: also, where is the inner tie rod? my car is a 98 btw. thanks!

[Hashiriya415]

Ok heres what I can tell you, go to youtube and find out how to make a home alignment, easy, not hard, you will be able to get your camber and toe with same accuracy as on an alignment rack, get that done and drive the car to an alignment place

[thatguybryan]

Ok, will do.

Also, I checked if the wheel is bent and it doesn't seem like it is at all. When I spin it by hand, it doesn't wobble or anything; I also gave the front right wheel a good shake and the front left wheel has about as much play in it as the right one does, so I think the wheel bearings are fine also fwiw.

[thatguybryan]

Drove it to a pretty close alignment shop and getting it aligned right now. Thanks everyone for the help, will post updates.

[WhiteTE72GT]

any updates? I'm having a somewhat similar problem and doing research. From what I read, is what happening is that when you turn the steering wheel slowly, it will suddenly bite and turn harder? Because thats what happening to me and I just replaced my rack and its still the same.