Steering issue, please help !

[Fester's Quest]

Hey everybody, I've had this steering issue for almost a full year now because i just can't seem to figure out whats causing it to happen..

Here's the problem:

When i make a left hand turn, the car will start to turn smoothly, but then it suddenly jerks to the inside of the turn and i have to counter-steer a little bit to compensate for it & keep it on the road. The steering will stay in this whacky position for afew seconds after the road straightens out, then the steering wheel pops back to where it should be. When the steering wheel pops back to where it should be, this also causes the direction the car is headed in. The car makes right hand turns just fine.

I've replaced all brake components, so it's not the brakes grabbing. I replaced the passenger lower control arm and the problem got better but still not fixed, so i replaced the driver side lower control arm and after replacing that, now the problem also happens while i'm going straight down the road, usually when i hit the gas a little bit.

The car does have a bad tie rod but that shouldn't be causing this to happen right ? ( i'm waiting to fix the tie rod because i'm going to be lowering the car soon and need to wait until i do that to get the wheels aligned ) Maybe it's some kind of bushing on the strut ? thats the only other components i can think of that hold the wheels straight. A friend told me that it could be the CV axel, but that didn't sound like it could have anything to do with it to me. I know that one of my CV boots is in very bad shape.

I'm really at a loss on this repair. Any help is greatly appreciated !

[Movin]

You are letting known maintenance issues stack up!! They always sneak up and compound on you, and get weird!

With the car jacked up grab the front of both tires and push and pull the toe. You will see worn parts moving as the toe should not change if all was well.

Jack the rear and make sure things are tight back there too.

Tape the tires with a tape measure to rough in the toe until you can align it.

[Fester's Quest]

You are letting known maintenance issues stack up!! They always sneak up and compound on you, and get weird!

With the car jacked up grab the front of both tires and push and pull the toe. You will see worn parts moving as the toe should not change if all was well.

Jack the rear and make sure things are tight back there too.

Tape the tires with a tape measure to rough in the toe until you can align it.

As soon as the cashes start to roll in, i'm gonna get my festy in perfect mechanical shape. With all the repairs i've done so far, i'm already up to 42.5 mpg on the highway and i can't wait to see how it does when the alignment gets in ship shape

I'll put force on the front end toe & check the back wheels tomorrow. Then post my findings.

[TominMO]

Get that tie rod fixed now, would be my advice. You can use the money you will save by doing your own alignment. All it takes is a piece of string. I'm sure someone on here can give you a link on how to do this.

[Fester's Quest]

Just fixed the tie rod. That tape measure trick works great ! It's almost spot on !

The tie rod didn't fix the problem, but i found where the problem is coming from. My front driver's side wheel bearing is going bad. The wheel bearing wouldn't wobble while testing it by shaking the tire when the car wasn't up on a jack. It would only wobble when it was up in the air.

I had replaced this wheel bearing about 18,000 miles ago and i was curious whether a bad tie rod and a bad lower control arm would cause the bearing to go bad prematurely ?

[rmoltis]

If you go to firestone you can pay a little extra for a lifetime alignment service.
Where you can go and get your vehicle aligned anytime for the rest of its life.
I even moved to pa, and I paid for my lifetime alignment in Washington but it works at any firestone location.
I even had it on my last aspire and it paid for itself after all the suspension mods and replaced items over the years.
while also saving my tires from deterioration.

[XFSE71]

.... i was curious whether a bad tie rod and a bad lower control arm would cause the bearing to go bad prematurely ?

A bad tie rod and LCA (lower control arm) will not take out a wheel bearing, only eat up your tires and cause you to white knuckle drive everytime you go fast. There is a selective spacer in your wheel hub which must be selected when replacing the front bearings. Wrong size spacer will take out your newly installed wheel bearings. The spacers are selected by testing turning torque during assemble. Most times you can get away with using the old spacer with no problem. Apparently not in your case.

[Chobobulous]

If you go to firestone you can pay a little extra for a lifetime alignment service.
Where you can go and get your vehicle aligned anytime for the rest of its life.
I even moved to pa, and I paid for my lifetime alignment in Washington but it works at any firestone location.
I even had it on my last aspire and it paid for itself after all the suspension mods and replaced items over the years.
while also saving my tires from deterioration.

I got this service for around180. bucks, way I see it at 80 bucks an alignment it has payed for itself 6times over.I bought the life time alignment in Tennessee and it works here in new Mexico.

[Movin]

Bad seals can cause the bearing to go out. It can let water in to ruin the grease, and it can let the grease out until the bearing overheats.

Setting up the bearings to tight will overheat the bearing. Setting up too loose will wear the hub and cause good seals to go bad quick.

[Fester's Quest]

Thanks for the help everybody !

I'm going to be replacing the wheel bearing tonight. Luckily the Timkens i got from Autozone had a one year warranty. So it looks like i'll just have to do this repair on a yearly basis. I wish i had a new spacer but i have no idea where to buy one. I've been using a spacer that was fabed from an old inner race.. ugh ! Seems like i heard somewhere that a Kia Rio spacer would work, but couldn't track down a specific year or part number for it.

[nitrofarm]

Thanks for the help everybody !

I'm going to be replacing the wheel bearing tonight. Luckily the Timkens i got from Autozone had a one year warranty. So it looks like i'll just have to do this repair on a yearly basis. I wish i had a new spacer but i have no idea where to buy one. I've been using a spacer that was fabed from an old inner race.. ugh ! Seems like i heard somewhere that a Kia Rio spacer would work, but couldn't track down a specific year or part number for it.

Fester you cant do it that way at all. You are going to keep eating bearing's and AutoZone is gona look at you cross eyed. There are numerous tutorials on this subject. But if you dont have the correct inch pound torque wrench you are just poking around in the dark. I believe the member "Shadetree" is offering this service. Search him under the members list and give him a pm,I'm sure you guys can work out something.

[koRnhead]

You cant just put any spacer in there......you can make one if you have a lathe and proper messuring tools.

[Fester's Quest]

You cant just put any spacer in there......you can make one if you have a lathe and proper messuring tools.

After grinding it down to size, i measured it with a micrometer.

I know i'll keep eating bearings but since Timkens have a warranty, i don't mind doing it once a year. I'm glad that my rotors have a warranty too since it warps them every time the bearing goes bad as well.

On a side note, I recently found out that O' Reillys price matches with Rockauto.com and i got my lower control arms for a third of the price !

Parts stores love me

[koRnhead]

Grinding it down to size, is not a substitute for actually making a spacer. Half-as@ing it is a poor way to work on cars. But to each his own i guess.

[drddan]

There is a shim kit available for the front bearings. Get one and do it right! The search function is your friend!

Get the right setup on there and the bearings will last for years.

BTW, the spacer is specific to the hub it is on and cannot be switched, I say this as maybe when you had your bearings changed, the spacers may have gotten switched. The spacers have to stay with the hub they were with.