DodgeIntrepid.Net Forums banner

Alignment done, wheel does not always stay centre

2K views 34 replies 10 participants last post by  froggy81500 
#1 ·
I had my wheel alignment done a couple of months ago after a crap load of front end maintenance repairs. When I'm driving down the road the car handles nice and straight and the wheel stays right in the centre where it should be. When I make a right turn the wheel does not always return to the centre position and sits cock-eyed, yet the car still handles straight. If I stop the car, move the wheel back and forth, it will go back straight. It does this when I turn left but not as bad and not as often. I've tried numerous different roads to rule out the pavement. I'm thinking its some sort of worn gear in the steering box, but if thats the case I might just have to live with it. I had brand new tires put on at the same time as the alignment and there is no uneven wear and they still look brand new.
:dunno:
 
#4 · (Edited)
Keep in mind that many roads have a crown. They're not completely flat. Typlically, the road slopes down toward the shoulder to help with drainage. Usually you'll get a slight pull to the right in the drving lane, thus the wheel cocked to the left to stay straight, and visa versa in the passing lane. Also, if you had the alignment done with the same tires on the car as before the alignment was done, then tires have already worn in how ever the alignment was before. I experienced this on the caravan I had before my trep. It had issues with one of the control arms coming loose. The front tires wore a certain way because of it. Once they finally got things straightened out, I rotated the rear tires forward and the van steered straight as an arrow. But everytime I rotated the original front tires onto the front again, it would always have a slight pull to the right. There wasn't anything wrong with the alignment, it was just how the tires wore before getting the alignment fixed. Try rotating the tires and see if it changes things with your steering.
 
#5 ·
The same think happened to me with my truck. I added lowered spindles, new poly bushings, tie-rods, ...

The alignment was so off the mechanic has to turn the wheel away from straight to drive my truck onto the machine. He then tried to center the steering wheel. Apparently he didn't center it completely. I was driving a little to the left. I took it back and they re-aligned it. All was better after the free re-alignment (free within 30 days).

Good luck!
 
#6 ·
#7 ·
I replaced all 4 tires after the alignment with brand new ones because of what froggy81500 mentioned. As for the road, I've tried flat roads and I still get it going on which I find weird. I'm still getting the mysterious front end clunk(ohhh so many causes) so maybe I've finally narrowed down the problem to rack mount bushings cartmanea? Were you getting any noises?
 
#9 ·
I'll throw this out there, even though its a no-brainer, but tire pressure will also affect the way the car steers. A difference in pressure from one side to the other will tend to pull to the side of the lower tire. But its probably not the issue here.
 
#10 ·
froggy81500 said:
I'll throw this out there, even though its a no-brainer, but tire pressure will also affect the way the car steers. A difference in pressure from one side to the other will tend to pull to the side of the lower tire. But its probably not the issue here.
Ruled out my friend, thanks. Sometimes we miss the simple things.
 
#11 ·
Big3 said:
Steering rack bushings need replacing. Item #8 in the following diagram. The left has a different part # than the right one.
http://www.trademotion.com/schematics/images/mechanical/CZP050.gif
Would these worn bushings cause a crunching noise when turning the wheel left to right in really cold weather? It really sounds like mine are shot.

On another note, if I leave these bushings and do not service them, will it increase tire wear or pose any sort of hazard? If they are worn, I will replace them, I just want to priortize them. If they can wait a month or two, great.
 
#13 ·
n0c7 said:
Would these worn bushings cause a crunching noise when turning the wheel left to right in really cold weather? It really sounds like mine are shot.

On another note, if I leave these bushings and do not service them, will it increase tire wear or pose any sort of hazard? If they are worn, I will replace them, I just want to priortize them. If they can wait a month or two, great.
Bushings are usually steel sleeve surrounded by a rubber piece. Typically what happens is the rubber (or whatever they might be made of) deteriorates over time and then there's play between the sleeve and whatever fits arond the outside of the rubber, in this case the inner tie-rod. As far as cold weather goes, many things tend to contract when they are cold so I can see it possible for them to make more noise in the cold.

As far as leaving them and affecting tire wear, consider that your toe setting will randomly change as you drive because of the play from the worn out bushings. So not only will you notice the car wandering a bit as you drive down the road , you will experience tire wear that is consistent with a worn tie-rod end.

I don't know about the first gen's but the ones for the 2nd gen's don't appear to be too hard to replace. Ther emight be a how-to posted for them, as I know there is one for the 2nd gen's. I don't think they are very expensive for the parts and probably should be on your priority, especially since you put on new tires. Oh, and it wouldn't be a bad idea to re-align it after they are replaced. Since it was aligned and you suspect they are a problem, then your toe setting will most likely be incorrect. Good luck.
 
#14 ·
#15 ·
Don't get the inner tie-rod bushings confused with the rack bushings. I replaced both in our '96 Concorde and it really isn't too hard - just time consuming. :)

Rack bushings How-To ... http://dodgeintrepid.net/forums/showthread.php?t=39825


PS - Be sure to read through the discussion thread at the end - lots of good info there!
 
#16 ·
D76G12 said:
Don't get the inner tie-rod bushings confused with the rack bushings.
Woops. Something got lost in translation. Thanks for the correction, D76
 
#20 ·
I brought my car back into the tire shop that did my alignment a little bit ago just to see where things were at. The alignment on the right side wheel was way off. They said I probably hit a pothole or a curb, but I think they didnt tighten things down worth a ****. My question is - would a shifting steering rack because of worn bushings or worn inner tie rod RACK bushings cause my alignment to be thrown off? They still couldnt tell me where my clunk was coming from. I got a second free alignment out of the deal, but I still have to rectify the problem and they are not helping. They mentioned that my steering rack has a small leak near the inner tie rod mounting location and that I *may* possibly have a dead spot on my struts. 6 trips to this place and now they think it MIGHT be a steering rack issue or strut related.

Should I just do the damn bushings and bring it back to them? I'm starting to second guess myself a bit here.
 
#21 ·
Sounds like the strut mount bushings are your culprit.
What component off your alignment was "way off"?
Toe, camber or caster, and by how much?
I can see toe being a bit messed up if one side of the rack is moving around on a bad bushing and the other side is good, thereby shortening and lengthing the distance the between the rack and the steering knuckle. Has to due with the angle changing between the rack and knuckle, not the actual length of the tie rod itself.
If it was camber, well, they either did it wrong, left something loose, or you may have indeed hit a sharp bump too hard.
Caster? not really adjustable if I remember. Well, a tiny amount. If that was out, something got bent. Of course, the fix for that would have been parts replacement.
Camber adjustments can effect caster slightly, a good front end man can often find a happy medium between all the adjustments that brings them all "in spec".
Also, if you've got bad bushings, ball joints, strut mounts, etc, any adjustment they make is futile. As soon as you put it on the ground and drive it, everything shifts out of whack.


Cheers

BJ
 
#24 ·
Great White, here are the alignment specs.

9/16/05 - After the alignment was performed.

Left wheel:
Caster 3.3
Camber 0.5
Toe 0.00"

Right wheel:
Caster 3.4
Camber -0.3
Toe 0.05"

Total Toe 0.05"

Check up 1/24/06:

Left wheel:
Caster 3.0
Camber 0.5
Toe 0.10"

Right wheel:
Caster 3.2
Camber -0.7
Toe 0.30"

Total Toe 0.40"
 
#25 ·
Great White said:
Also, if you've got bad bushings, ball joints, strut mounts, etc, any adjustment they make is futile. As soon as you put it on the ground and drive it, everything shifts out of whack.


Cheers

BJ
Absolutely true. The caravan I had before the trep, had a bad passenger side control arm. They'd align it and it'd still pull to the right. For whatever reason, even after they replaced it, it would wiggle loose and you'd be able to shake the wheel side to side, like a loose tie rod. Took them several tries to finally get that sucker snug where it wouldn't work loose. But yeah bad bushings definately will affect alignment, except sway bar bushings. They'll affect the handling of the car, and long term can affect the wear on the steering components, but as part of an alignment, they don't do anything that I know of.
 
#26 ·
Rack and pinion insulator bushing

I would say you should replace these following the procedure in the "How To" link D76G12 mentioned. I had replaced EVERTHING else and didn't get rid of the sloppy and off center steering wheel until I replaced these. Heres where I got mine:
http://www.partsamerica.com/Product...CQ&mfrpartnumber=FA7360&parttype=1243&ptset=A
Each $7.99 kit contains two bushings. I did both ends of the rack- so with the S&H it cost me about $21.00.
Good luck.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top