Long shot but you've checked everything else: on your strut tops, remove the little round plastic cap covering the center strut top mount and have a close look at the rubber which surrounds the top of the strut rod where the nuts lock it into place. If deteriorated, your strut mounts may be bad which would allow unrestricted bump on that side resulting in bump steer and possibly torque across your stabilizer bar resulting in vague steering.

As an anecdote, when I installed my RB front strut tower brace, on the test drive I made a turn and the corner of the hood bumped up in the air. Thinking that I'd not fully latched the hood on leaving, I got out and it was only ONE corner of the hood jutting upward. Opened the hood, and the top of the shock rod had shot through the top of the strut mount, pushing the hood up. The shock was fine, but needed new mounts, and only took a few miles of driving to make one weak side fail.

This also bolsters my belief that the strut tower braces do work well, by the way.

 

I've got the struts off, and will be taking them apart, what should I be looking for? Just make sure everything is "there"? How common are these to need replacing? I actually haven't checked the linkage yet since I'm waiting to clearance the swaybar. Basically I'm going to get my front struts back on, go for a drive to let everything settle, clearance the swaybar and check all the steering components and then get an alignment. If that doesn't work then maybe it's just in my head.

 

Look to see if the molded rubber of the mount is cracked or separating. Personally never seen this,but have seen the bearings go bad and make a clunking noise going over bumps. I replaced mine when i went thru my suspension with Kyb units,they were the exact same as i took off the car. I probably could have reused them as they were in good condition,but didn't want any issues as i only want to do the job once correctly.Had thought of putting camber plates on while doing all this but didn't for 2 reasons, one my strut mounts were not(from the factory) rotated for most negative camber/most positive caster so wanted to see what alignment results would be after doing so(ended up with -1/4and-1/2 was hoping for a little more) and seemed to be a lack of definitive information about ability to use good quality camber plates with Tokico Blues strut inserts. Installed a strut tower brace when all done and called it good. While not unhappy with the overall results of all the suspension work, i feel some more negative camber would help the car turn in and corner better. Will probably revisit camber plates at some point in the future,focusing on other things with the car at the moment.

 

You won't wear the centers off a steel belted radial. They don't deform like old bias ply tires used to. However, you will suffer from decreased contact patch that is easier to lock up under hard braking.

 

Yep, what you're looking for on the top strut mounts is the rubber donut that the bearing rides within. When the rubber goes out, the bearing blasts out the top and isn't contained anymore. You'll know a bad one when you see it, because there will be cracks all along the rubber component.

 

I'm not sure the issue is really "fixed" or not, but after replacing my shocks and springs all around the steering pretty much felt back to normal. Minimal play, bit numb on-center, good feel and weight everywhere else. In fact I was amazed with how good it felt. Unfortunately I blew my front passenger shock due to my own stupidity during the installation, so things started feeling iffy again. I'll report back once I get it fixed.

I have no idea what I could have changed that would make the difference. Maybe it's all mental, and replacing parts had a placebo effect for me.

 

I ended up replacing the passenger shock and drove the car around again. As I posted before the steering felt back to normal. Probably drove the car for about two weeks and now the steering feels vague and sloppy again. The car is out of alignment, but that shouldn't be the issue since it felt good (albeit misaligned) after changing the shocks, and now it feels very vague and difficult to control, like the front wheels just want to flop around. There is no additional play in the steering, that's not the issue.

 

Get the alignment done. Changing out springs will definitely mess with toe. If you have p/s flush the system.

 

Okay, so I clearanced the frame rail where the sway bar was rubbing a ton (this was the last thing I wanted to do to the car). Took the car for a test drive afterwards, the steering feels absolutely miserable. I pulled on all the steering linkages when I was under the car and none of them had any noticeable play. The steering feels just completely numb, it has absolutely no feel. The car is basically undriveable like this.

The alignment is definitely off, but I don't see how it could cause this nasty steering. The car has been lowered and both struts replaced, so yea it's off, but I can't see that creating such terrible steering. I'm going to get an alignment on Monday. Only things I could think is that somehow the wheel bearings are misadjusted (perhaps that would explain why the steering felt good after replacing struts but is crappy again now) or that the steering box is dying. I think the steering box is fine since there isn't excessive play (although the steering does feel loose everywhere). Very frustrating, I'll check the wheel bearings tomorrow morning I suppose.

I know what good steering feels like in these cars, and this isn't it.

 

Second the get it aligned suggestion-get a before and after printout,post it here. As to the steering box,if i recall correctly your car has low miles,not going to be good,bad,good,bad again. In the time period you've been posting about your front suspension overhaul,can't have put a lot of miles on the car,seriously doubt steering box is cause. Check level of lubricant(think you said you changed it) in box. Did you adjust it?Ever put wrenches on that box to make sure it's tight to framerail? While you have it up in the air checking wheel bearings,have someone turn steering wheel back and forth while you put hands on all steering components to make sure nothing's loose.

 

Yea, I've put only about 5,000 miles on the car since buying it, and all the suspension components are lower miles than that. Steering box is unadjusted and I haven't changed the oil. I don't want to mess with the box since the play is minimal. It just feels very vague and like it wants to move around while steering.

I checked the wheel bearing preload and it seemed lower than when I set it, was like ~.5 ft-lb less than when I set it on the crappy fish-scale I used. But it didn't feel loose or anything when I spun the hub.

Will be getting an alignment next week and will post back. Hoping this fixes the problem. I'll check the whole linkage if this doesn't fix the issue. Not sure why the steering felt good after replacing the shocks and feels crappy again. I dunno maybe everything settled and through the alignment further off.

 

You need an alighment again now that the sway bar rubbing issue has been addressed and you
put a new shock in.

You might want to do it yourself, as the alignment shops seem to be hit or miss these days. I
think its because modern cars don't really need alignments much anymore. I know the 2001
BMW I have didn't need one when I changed out the struts or the control arms. Due to this
the shops are seeing less and less work on alignments, so the skills are rusty or lost.

 

Getting an alignment tomorrow, hoping to learn how to do it myself after this since I tend to be often fiddling with the suspension quite a bit.

 

Okay, so attached is the print-out from my alignment. Things I've done since last posting: 1) I dropped the tire pressure to 32 psi all around, 2) the steering box was only about half full with oil so I topped it off with 75w90 transmission oil, and 3) got said alignment.

I'd say the steering is 90% back to normal. On-center feel is pretty good, the car tracks perfectly, the car tracks straight with the steering wheel centered, feel and steering effort are both pretty good. In other words, it feels like a sports car again, BUT that nasty numb feeling still persists. Basically if I'm driving straight the car feels fine. If I turn to the left the car turns in quickly with no discernible play in the steering, perfect. If I turn the car right, there feels like there's maybe a 1/4" of play, but it feels numb for 1-1/2" even though the steering is actually reacting and doing something. Some play and numbness is normal for recirculating box steering, but why would it only be when turning one direction? At first I thought maybe the shop messed up and my steering was uncentered, but when the steering wheel is pointed straight ahead the car tracks straight ahead with no issues. Does anyone have any ideas? My thoughts:

1) alignment shop messed up and the steering is fine, but uncentered.
2) some component is misadjusted or worn that's creating numbness when turning right.

The only thing I could think is that I accidentally destroyed the passenger's side strut top when removing the shock I broke. I ordered a new one from Atkin's which was slightly different but had the same tapers and everything as the stock unit. I still have the stock unit on the driver's side. Maybe the "new" strut tops are of a poorer quality than the stock unit? Almost there again.

 

First off, as expected your toe was way off. As the car sits lower than stock I assume, this caused the wheels to toe out. Same thing occurred to mine. The alignment specialist fixed it for you which is why you are now claiming it feels 90% better.

Second, your camber is off and they didn't fix it. You've got 0 on the left and almost -1 on the right. Negative camber is usually good if you are on the track or autocross or enjoy very spirited driving. However, it wears the tires faster for daily driving which is why stock settings are 0 camber for both sides. Decide what you want, and you'll have to adjust the strut tops accordingly by rotating them.

If you look down on the strut tops, you should see an arrow which points at one of the bolts. If your strut top doesn't have an arrow, you can pretty much look down on it and see which corner the top is closest to....

Outside and toward front of car = Min Camber / Min Caster
Outside and toward back of car = Min Camber / Max Caster
Inside and toward front of car = Max Camber / Min Caster
Inside and toward back of car = Max Camber / Max Caster

Your driver's side is set to min camber and your passenger side is set to max camber right now and that could very well be the issue. Moving these around won't affect your toe so you can make the change at home by lifting the car, supporting the lower control arm with a jack, removing the 4 bolts, and lower the jack a little so you can twist the top of the strut.

 

Thanks for the help so far. The toe-out would explain why the car was basically miserable to drive before the alignment, it wandered all over the place and didn't even turn well, since it wanted to wander mid turn. The steering was also extremely light and didn't have much feel at all. The steering feels a lot better now, but it's still numb turning right, and you kind of have to "guess". I took a picture of both strut tops, with an arrow pointing towards the FRONT of the car. I'm a bit confused because it looks like to me, I have both strut tops in the max camber / max caster position. Is it possible that there is a big difference between the old strut top and the new strut top. As you can see the new strut top does not have an arrow (I matched it up with the old broken one and put an arrow on the tape).

Passenger:

Driver:

 

The strut tops look right for setting up for max camber max caster, so that isn't the issue. They may have gotten a bad reading, or perhaps your car doesn't sit level, or didn't have equal air pressure when they took the reading, or no one was sitting in driver's seat. Who knows. You replaced the springs right? Did you check the height of each side of the vehicle to see if you need shims on one side?

Personally, I would have replaced both strut tops at the same time for consistency. You mention turning right is the issue...which puts weight on the left side of the car...and the left wheel will give you the most feedback. If I'm looking at your photos correctly, that means you're having trouble with the old strut top on the left side. It could be the bearings are worn out.

It could also be any of the other bushings in the front you didn't replace yet. These cars are old. If you want them to run like new, all the rubber bits have to be replaced. If you're going to swap out that strut top, you may want to just plan to replace everything you haven't already as you tear things down. I was in the same situation as you. I've been replacing things one at a time and I should have just done it all in one go. The amount of time I spend pulling the same parts off is ridiculous.

 

Yep, I've taken the same things off a million times now, in retrospect I would have done everything at once like you said. Since it may be helpful, here's what's new:

- Moog inner and outer tie rods
- Moog idler arm
- Rare Parts pitman arm
- New OEM lower control arms (both sides)
- New wheel bearings (both sides)
- polyurethane lower control arm bushings
- Racing Beat front swaybar
- polyurethane swaybar endlinks
- polyurethane tension rod bushings
- passenger side strut top
- Tokico Illumina shocks
- Spec RX-7 springs

So literally, I've replaced everything with the exception of the driver's side strut top, so I think your theory may be good. There's really no reason I should have bad steering at this point. I'm not expecting perfect rack and pinion steering, but I'm expecting good steering given the original design of the car. Since literally the entire front suspension is new, it's quite frustrating to have it like this. And I did have pretty good steering for awhile, but it's crummy again.

Part of me is leaning to the steering just being non-centered. Is it possible that the steering wheel is straight and the car tracks straight, but to be slightly off center? There is very little play in the steering now, but the vagueness to the right of center almost feels like what I would expect on-center rather than off-center and to the right.

Is it possible that having an uneven amount of torque on the shock nut could cause a difference in feel depending on the direction? Their the same height down the thread (approximately), but there's no way to get an exact amount of torque on that nut, due to using an impact wrench.

The other thing I've noticed, which is maybe just the "way it is" is that the steering will sometimes go from heavy to light while turning, usually when I'm in a parking lot, and I've turned a lot to one direction or the other. This is my first car I've maintained on my own, and my first small car, and my first car with manual recirculating-ball steering so there's a learning curve for me, so some of the things I'm mentioning may be stupid or uneducated, so just bear with me.

 

It is possible that the wheel is not quite centered and given the play, you have more wiggle on one side than the other. The solution to this is to shorten one tie rod and lengthen the other. This will move the wheel closer to true center while not affecting the tracking. Make sure you are very careful with the rotations of each side as to not affect the toe.

I don't think the torque on the strut top has anything to do with this. The bearings in the top are what spin, not the shaft and bolt you spun with the impact wrench.

Can't really help you with the full lock issue, but I wouldn't worry about it. Its not like you need perfect feel of the wheel when you're pulling into a parking spot.

 

So in my case since the steering feels like it's cranked slightly to the left, I would lengthen the left tie rods and and shorten the right tie rods? Maybe if I got some toe-plates this would be easier to maintain a consistent distance?

 

Irrespective of what it is causing the steering phenomenon you are describing, that cross-camber is seriously out. The last time I got an alignment done, the difference L vs R was 0.04 deg. 0.8 deg difference is massive.

If the strut tops are both aligned the same way, it could be something more fundamental: bent struts? Warped strut towers/tops (they can bend easily at the top)? bent lower control arms? bent chassis? damaged crossmember?

 

Where would you start to fix this? I assume I probably ought to replace the driver's side strut top with a new one, since I've done that on the passenger side? I hope none of those other issues.

 

After going for a drive in the mountains yesterday, I'm pretty sure the only thing is wrong is the steering is off center. In general the steering felt really good with the exception of the numbness to the right. My theory is that since there is a tiny bit of play, and a larger area of numbness (but not actual play), the steering is in the left area of the play, meaning the numbness is to the right. When the steering was loaded up in the mountains, it became more obvious that the steering is slightly cranked to the left, rather than on the highway, where I can pretty much drive normal with the wheel centered. I'm debating whether I'll take it back to the shop or try and fix it myself. It seems like something they should have done at the shop.

 

maybe this has been covered, but try moving the front tire in and out with your hands at 3 and 9 o'clock position, then at 12 o'clock position.

Note, at the 3 9 position, there will be slight movement corresponding to the steering wheel.

 

Okay, so I've got an update on this. I decided to replace the driver's side strut top, since that was the only old piece left on the front suspension. When putting the new one in, since I didn't know how to get the strut over the lower control arm, I decided to jack the strut up. This was a big mistake. Since the springs are so stiff, it didn't want to compress and the strut top rubber cracked. Deciding I didn't want to reuse that part, I replaced both sides since I had previously installed the passenger side using the same method of jacking up the strut to get it onto the lower control arm.

I ended up disconnecting the swaybar and the tension rods from the lower control arm, so that I could get the strut in place. I also went to the smaller swaybar bushings provided with the Racing Beat front swaybar (switched from the larger Energy Suspension bushings, which are just about impossible to get on). While I was at it, I re-greased the wheel-bearings. I set the preload on the wheel-bearings a little higher than I have before since they seemed to be backing off after driving for awhile. I put everything back together and have been driving for a few days.

I'm very, very pleased to say the steering feels better than it ever has on this car. I'm totally confused with what I did however. There is very minimal play in the steering, and the steering feels very lively and responsive. There is definitely a bit of toe-out, or at least more than there previously was, since the car does wander a very tiny bit. However, I like how quickly the car turns in, so I think I'll just keep it like this. The steering may be a very tiny bit un-centered, but I don't want to screw with anything anymore, so I'm going to leave it alone. On-center feel is the best I've ever had in the car, I get very little of that nasty "loose" feeling anymore. What's more, I feel I can feel the contours of the road through the steering wheel while turning, it feels very nice. Any thoughts on the dramatic improvement? I'm just hoping it stays like this.