I swapped a manual rack into my s5 gxl about a year ago. Its never felt right alignment wise since. The biggest issue is when I drive in the rain it will be straight and then suddenly (and quite violently) will jerk to the right for 2-3 seconds and then violently jerk back to the left. Sometimes it throws me into the next lane. It has never spun out or anything , but still pretty scary. It forces me to keep it around 50mph on the interstate.

I used the tie rod ends from the power rack since the rubber was in better shape. They looked identical at least. I did not swap the tie rod inners. Could this be a problem? Maybe one side is longer on the manual opposed to power?

The car pulls a bit to the left in the dry and has a slight shimmy while turning left.

 

if its an actual manual rack and not a depowered one then the tie rods are absolutely the problem. the s4 manual racks had a different tie rod on the right side.

 

So can I swap the tie rod inners from the s5 power rack? I'm not sure what series or model the manual rack came from...

 

manual rack was s4 only

 

So what do I need to do? Swap tie rods? Or just get an alignment?

 

you need to get the proper tie rods for an s4 manual rack. provided you actually have an s4 manual rack and not a depowered p/s rack. you can find the parts here Front Suspension and Steering Parts

 

If The OP changed racks and never aligned the front then that could be a problem.
Why would the rack need new tie rods if it is just going from one car to another?The s4 and s5 have the same front end.
Am I missing something here?( I went manual from power rack and changed nothing.Car drives great.)
One thing that I can think of is when you install the rack that you need to make sure that the rack is angled properly so the Knuckle of the Steering shaft(clamp and 12mm bolt on the steering rack, going to the Rag joint and up to the steering wheel) is not hindered in any way.It can hit the frame if you do not install the rack properly.
If that happens the steering can bind.

 

The manual rack I bought had the manual tie rods on it. The manual outer rods had torn boots so I swapped the power outer rods onto the manual rack. The outers looked identical except maybe one had a service port for grease. I just put masking tape where the old outer ends were so I coul align the new power outer ends and bolted it to the car.

I thought the same way though... It's going from one rx7 to another so it shouldn't matter.

So I think it just needs an alignment?

 

when I put the manual rack in my vert all we did was put the rack, I didnt change the tie rod ends

I do see they list a different one , honestly until this week this is the first time I have heard of it

 

The difference is the threads/length of the inner tie rod, the spindle ends are all the same.
You can swap racks with no issue IF they are complete, trying to mix/match inner/outer tie rods is the problem.

 

I had a brand new rack from the dealer in the box, unless it came with the ends already on it I 100% did not buy anything but the rack

when i swapped one into my s5 car it was used and might have already had the ends on it, only thing I needed for that was a mount- used a swaybar mount from another car.

 

I Honestly think that it's not a tie rod problem that he is going through.It is something binding,or hitting,or mechanical.If the input on the rack( to the steering shaft) isn't right then it can hit the drivers side inner frame.It happened when I installed another rack(like of 4)you could hear it.Just barely click.That was the edge of the Clamp,where the shaft goes into the Rack from the steering shaft.
The car should be put on a Rack or jacked up and looked at.The things that he is saying that the car does is dangerous.If my car did that I would park it,until fixed.

 

it shocked me that he said he has been driving the car like this

 

Nothing is binding. If a front wheel breaks loose due to hydroplaining the other wheel will over compensate naturally. Then when it regains traction it throws the car to where it was before. It is a very brief hydroplaine that causes the car to be thrown yo the right usually about a foot max. Then it always bounces back to where it was. So it's not a binding issue. It's something inside the rack or just a plain alignment issue.

If the tie rod is longer on the passenger side wouldn't turning the outer end in more fix the problem? I've been meaning to take the car to a shop for alignment for awhile but I work 60 hours a week so just no time.

It only does it in the rain. I avoid driving it if it calls for rain.

 

Then the only way you are going to know is to put the car up on a rack and check it.
It could be anything from loose shock to spindle bolts to a bad ball joint.