Clio 172 ph2 play in steering wheel

[Alain46]

Hello,

I've recently purchased a 2002 clio 172, really love the car so far. There seem to be some issues with the car that I hadn't noticed when buying it though. It pulls to right a bit and the wheel vibrates above a certain speed (around 120-130 km/h). There's also more wear on the outside of the tires. Therefor I wanted to get the wheels balanced and aligned to fix this.

Yesterday I noticed a slight amount of play in the steering wheel. When driving in a straight line I can slightly move the wheel left and right without changing the cars direction. This doesn't seem normal and it makes the steering feel less sharp and responsive than I expected from the car. Does anyone have an idea what could cause this issue? Or maybe this is normal and I'm just nitpicking?

Thanks

 

[dml6881]

I'd like to know this too about the play in the steering wheel. I recently also bought a clio 182 and I've had it in twice composing about it. They did the tracking on it and apparently it was 6mm out! Is that a lot?
I've owned one before and I agree with everyone else on hear. The drive and handling was epic. This car seems to be a BIG FAT FAIL.
I'd love someone to help me on this as I'm exhausted in getting the garage to do it right!

 

[Wilky0302]

Tie Rods require replacement if the steering has a lot of play even to say possibly rack bushes also

 

[dml6881]

Thank you! I'll have to look in to it. Is this an easy job or is it something a mechanic/specialist needs to do?

 

[Martin_172]

yep id replace inner track rods and outer track rod ends.

inner ones are a bit of a pig unless you have a tool to remove them such as one of these....

with one of them its a doddle.

1. jack up and remove wheel.
2. loosen off track rod end securing nut from tie rod
3. remove track rod end to hub nut
4. remove track rod end and securing nut from the tie rod
5. remove inner gaitor
6. use your tool to remove tie rod

Then refit as a reversal of the above and have the wheel alignment re setup.