Steering help

[peanuthead]

Right guys

I know this has been cover a lot recently but really need help on what my car is doing specifically.

Firstly after a week or so of picking my car up the steering felt a bit light and was picking up any groove in the road. this then got worse leading to the steering pulling on bumpy roads. Also during icy conditions I held the steering wheel dead straight but the car felt like it was swaying from side to side ( almost as if i was wobbling the steering wheel)

shortly after Fred picked up worn ball joints during a service. these have been change along with TREs and wishbone polybushes. Now the car is even worse, pretty much up drivable. it pulls all over the place, but very randomly. Also if I go over a big bump or manhole cover the steering pulls massively.

now i know the geo will have been knocked out by the work done, but I just don’t see it having this much of an effect. So really need some advice as I don’t want to get the geo setup for it not to fix the problem and then become misaligned again.

any help would be brilliant

 

[bozothenutter]

Been back to fred?

Could be a nmber of things, maybe not even the front suspension.

 

[Fred@BTM]

get the geo checked, i've got one here that was verging on dangerous when it came in, the geo was a mile out, its now perfect

who did the polybushes as we've seen some dodgy ones recently

 

[peanuthead]

It has had new shocks and springs about 10 months ago so should be ok. And the polybushes were fitted by a local mechanic but have been welded etc.

Would take it to Fred but I don't fancy the 150 mile drive with its driving so bad. Guess I'll get the geo setup and take it from there.

Just worried it might be something like the rack bushes. Although I remember Fred shaking the wheels on the lift so I'm sure any play would have shown up?

 

[Fred@BTM]

unless you introduced yourself to me as peanuthead i have no idea who you are or your car haha! I only invoice people with real names

 

[peanuthead]

Sorry Fred my bad. Real names stephen James and I'm the plonker that made you work on you bday!

 

[peanuthead]

Just to check what would people do?

1) get the geo setup then if it continues get it checked (mainly worried about wasting money on the setup)
2) get it checked first then setup

 

[Martin!]

Having the same issues with mine, I've done everything besides steering rack bushes. Just picked them up from the stealers tonight. Had it on the lift Sunday to do the dogbone mount and one of the old bushes is poking right out the side, so hopeful this will be my fix.

 

[peanuthead]

Just to add the steering feels a lot lighter with a bit less feedback than my old 172. Would that point to something like rack bushes?

Also I have arb bushes to put on does this need to be done before the geo setup?

 

[Martin!]

Quick update, I done my rack bushes yesterday....the car is back to handling like it should. On closer inspection, the rack had been moving about 5mm side to side judging by the marks on the rack.

The steering did feel lighter compared to now too, yeah. You want the geometry doing after you've done any work on the suspension really yeah.

 

[Chri5]

I've still not got round to doing mine

It just doesnt LOOK like they move when I put the steering lock and pull the wheel about but I guess there's alot more force involved when driving. It certainly seems to be getting worse though whatever it is

Martin, dont suppose you got any pics of the marks etc and old bushes condition?

 

[peanuthead]

I got mine in the air the other day and bushes looked ok so got the geo setup and it's fine now. Have you got the wheels/steering aligned?

 

[jack_davey]

Here's pics of mine if it helps anyone

Above pic is one of the old bushes I removed before fitting new ones