[BadlandsGhost]

A couple of months ago, I replaced my front tires, and since then the car hasn't been tracking right. I initally put it down to paranoia, but recently my fiancee has noticed it too, so apparently I'm not crazy.
Its kind of a hard feeling to explain, but here goes: First off, the car pulls, but not in just one direction. It seems to depend on the road conditions. (For instance, theres one spot on the way to work, where the car pulls to the left for a few seconds, and then swaps and starts pulling to the right, then evens out. Every day.)
Second, the steering feels almost like theres a "flat spot" going straight, and when you turn the wheel slightly it feels like it tries to resist a little initally. Kinda like youre driving down a trench and try to run up on the side a little.
And finally, sometimes it seems like the steering has begun to wander a little, not like its loose, but more like its gotten hypersensitive, every little correction seems magnified.

I'm already planning on doing the suspension this summer, including new ball joints which I think may be part of the problem, but anyone got any other possible culprits? I just did the tie rods last summer, and they appear to still be good. I havent gotten it alligned again since this started, since the only place convenient is also ridiculously expensive, and this doesent seem like a "normal" allignment issue.

Thanks
J

[meangreen92]

Tie-rods will upset your toe setting. Toe-out will cause dartiness, that's why you dial in some toe-in - so it doesn't toe-out under braking.
I dunno, but maybe you'd better check out those ball joints soon. My left one was always creaky, but right before it broke, it was adding some resistance when you tried to turn the steering wheel, and causing the wheel to not center. I replaced the ball-joints and tie-rods, and it wasn't that difficult - it was alot of work, but not really difficult.
Autozone rents a balljoint press. It's the only way, don't use a hammer. I didn't need anything special to do the 'rods, just a few wrenches, some P.B. Blaster's spray, and a hammer.
Car felt much better.

[BadlandsGhost]

Originally Posted by meangreen92

Tie-rods will upset your toe setting. Toe-out will cause dartiness, that's why you dial in some toe-in - so it doesn't toe-out under braking.
I dunno, but maybe you'd better check out those ball joints soon. My left one was always creaky, but right before it broke, it was adding some resistance when you tried to turn the steering wheel, and causing the wheel to not center. I replaced the ball-joints and tie-rods, and it wasn't that difficult - it was alot of work, but not really difficult.
Autozone rents a balljoint press. It's the only way, don't use a hammer. I didn't need anything special to do the 'rods, just a few wrenches, some P.B. Blaster's spray, and a hammer.
Car felt much better.

Did you get creaking from them when they went bad? I started getting creaking from my front end last summer/autum, and it stopped during the winter and/or when it was wet out. And the creaking's started again as soon as it warmed up.

I thought you needed a machine press to get the ball joints in? Hell, if you can do it by hand, that could change my situation considerably. How do you get the old ones out? same tool?
And thankfully, I already did the tie rods (a pain best not remembered, but it handled a lot better).

J