Extremely twitchy steering

[edudu77]

Hey guys, I could really use some help. I had the festy aligned after I put the new tires/wheels on. The car was kinda twitchy before the alignment, now it is very much so. The slightest input on the wheel causes sharp reactions at the tires. I crawled under her yesterday when I had it up in the air putting the studs in, and the sway bar bushings are shot...but at the chassis, and at the suspension ends. From my limited knowledge of suspension geometry I am pretty sure that caster can cause a very twitchy feeling...do these bushings have any effect on caster? The alignment guy said the caster on these cars is non-adjustable, but I believe he said mine was off a bit. Do you think replacing the bushings, which I plan to do soon, would help this situation? Also, could worn struts have an effect? Mine seem fine, but I planned of replacing them in the spring anyway. BTW, i never noticed this sensation with the factory 12"ers.
Thanks,
Donovan

[gdawgs]

Yes(to the bushings)! When the bushings are bad, it will throw you all over the road. We have been seeing lots of this issue lately. The bushings must have a 15ish year lifespan.

[edudu77]

Thanks gdawgs. I'm gonna crawl under it again tonight, if it's not raining/snowing/throwing trees all over the place, and check the ball joints and control arm bushings too. Might as well get everything in one fair swoop. Gotta replace the boots on the rack too, argh.

Donovan

[wrestler3025]

Hey Donovan,

The sway bar bushings are definately the issue. I had the exact same problem on one of mine after I purchased it. I replaced the bushings, and voila! the issue was resolved. How's that alternator working out for you??

[fastiva1988]

Thanks

Ive been having the same problem ima go out tmmrw and fix it.