Possible steering issue

[Gforcefd]

My car has new ball joints, new tie rod ends. I did the aspire swap about a month ago.

When I am turning the car around it feels like one wheel is turning in or out more than the other. Kind of like you can feel possibly one side stumbling to turn instead of rolling easily. Does that make sense? I feel this at slow speeds. At higher speeds the car does drift to the right but thats just the alignment I think. My mechanic used the tap measure method and made sure both tires are parellel to eachother.

The only thing I can think of is my front tires are 185's and my backs are 155's but I wouldn't think that would matter at less than 5 mph. Could my steering rack be bad, or something else?

[jglutz]

Re: Possible steering issue

When I am turning the car around it feels like one wheel is turning in or out more than the other.

Hard to visualize your explanation...turning problems though...could be differential or severe allignment problems.

My mechanic used the tap measure method and made sure both tires are parellel to eachother.

Crude method for caster only... will only show something way out. can not be used to diagnose toe on camber.

Are the tires the same? are both the lower control arms the same?

[FB71]

^^^ tape measure method works very well for total toe settings, too. I often set rough total toe with a tape, them bring it to work to set individual and center the wheel. Almost perfect everytime.

And agreed that setback tell you notheing about parallelism, which can cause exactly the issues you describe. Find another alignment tech.

[Gforcefd]

Well he isn't any sort of allignment tech, but usually does a pretty good job of getting the toe close. I just didn't want to spend the 60 bucks to get an allignment if I didn't have to. I guess thats my next step

[jglutz]

Jim...to do toe with a tape only...how do you measure from the top of one wheel to the top of the other? Also...if one wheel is toed in and the other is toed out, both the same amount but in opposite directions...the wheels wheel be parallel and a tape measure will not show that. If I'm wrong, please explain.

I also do alot of allignments myself on the garge floor after strinking lines on the floor and using a framming sqaure, level and long straight edge. For some stupid reason after I do it at home, I still send it to a shop to have it double checked, fell likes a waste of money.

On the first weekend of every month...I pop all the hood in the stable and do the full visual check and this also includes tread wear....the best sign of alignment problems. At 1 k per month...it won't take long for the problem to show up. From my experience, steering wheel pull is a severe or secondary sympton of allignment problems.

[Pocket_Rocket]

Did you use Aspire or Escort GT tie rod ends for the swap?

[FB71]

Joe, I only check total toe with a tape measure, not individual. to chaeck toe, you don't need access to the top of the tire, you need access to the front and back of the tire. Checking top to bottom would tell me camber. To check total toe, center the wheel and lock the steering. Check the distance between the center of the tread on the front of both front tires, then check the distance on the back of the front tires. Zero total toe would show the same distance, positive total toe will show a greater distance in the front, negative toe will show a greater distance in the back of the front tires. If you can find a point in the center of the vehicle, you can use that to measure individual toe.

[gottafesty]

It sounds like an alignment really needs done. My car steered funny immediately after I did an aspire swap but as soon as I got it aligned the problem was gone.

[scitzz]

ahhh, but is a festiva supposed to be zero toe, or what?

[Gforcefd]

Yeah I am sure my car needs an allignment, just haven't had time to get one, I will before I put the new tires on though. I used the aspire tie rods. Is it true that from factory all cars are setup to pull slightly to the right so incase of someone passes out the car will drift away from on comming traffic, rather than into it?

[FB71]

^^^no

the alignment is set to pull very slightly left to compensate for road crown. Think of a two-lane road (one lane each direction). The center of the road is the highest point, and the shoulders are the lowest to allow rain water to run off. Because of that, a straight-ahead alignment would cause the car to creep towards the shoulder. So, some left offset compensates for the road crown, allowing the car to track straight.