My s4 rx7 does this thing that when I am turning into the corner hard (but not loose traction hard) it kinda turns in a little quicker randomly when I hit the apex. I think it may be a ball joint. Does anyone have any ideas or experience with this or may have any other ideas what I should inspect?

 

I think what you are describing is similar to what i'm feeling, I think it's a weight transfer thing. Did this just start. I havnt had mine for long but the dude that had it before owned it for fourteen years and meticulously maintained w/receipts, so i'm pretty sure it's solid.

 

This car has had it since I have had it. But I have driven many of rx7s and owned others that did not feel the same way.

 

check your diff mount and i'm not sure if your s4 has a dtss which gives a little bit of extra lean which could also be worn or you could get an eliminator

 

Yea I shoulda stated everything I have. I do not have DTSS anymore. Rear mounts are all good I checked those for a different reason not to long ago. Its deffintly in the front end. I get alot of feedback in the steering wheel.

 

You should jack the front up.Take Each wheel and grasp them at 9 and 3 O'clock..see if there is play(Number one)..Then take the wheel at the bottom and the top and try to see if it moves(Number Two)..The Wheels should have NO play..if they do..something is Off(wrong)..#1 is tie rods and #2 is Ball Joints.

 

Yes make sure everything is tight.....

FWIW, my S4 TII started doing that at the start of this season. I'm swapping over to a manual rack now...

 

number 2 would be wheel bearing. you need to push from the bottom of the wheel upwards to see if its the ball joints

 

Are you sure it's not your DTSS (rear steer) activating? Thats kind of what it sounds like to me.

 

 

you maybe want to check the steering rack bushings

 

What kind of tires are you running? What are your tire pressures *actually* at right now (Not what you set them to three months ago...NOW)? It could very easily be the sidewalls rolling over and the car setting into the corner. Some people don't know what that's like, so it catches them by surprise and they think something is wrong.

 

I check the tires on a weekly basis and they always area at 35-40 pounds. Its not something stupid, its a mechanical issue.

 

Don't tell me it's not something 'stupid'. You came here to get help and opinions...whether you like it or not, I'm giving you one.

You failed to mention part of my question...what kind of tires are you running? It matters. I've driven on tires that would lag under certain steering inputs and then take a moment to set in before you really started turning.

Also...tie rod ends?

 

FWIW, I have the *exact* same problem as the OP.

My rack is tight, inner and outer tie rods are tight, tires are barely used Falken FK452's and I've driven the car for numerous years and know how it should, and used to, handle.

The anamoly feels like you'll be steering into a corner with no assist from the PS, then it will kick in and cause you to jerk the wheel because its suddenly so much easier then it goes back to normal. It lasts all of .5 seconds and only happens randomly. My car started doing it 3 weeks into the season.

Still completely unsolved, and I'm not saying the OP doesn't have something simple wrong with his car but I'm just supporting the fact that this particular problem is very elusive and impossible to replicate consistently.

 

The O.P.'s car wouldn't happen to be an S4.5 (88) would it?

 

sorry for not posting my tires, they are fuzion zr1s. I appreciate the help and didn't mean to **** someone off by saying it wasn't simple.

I do have an s4.5 it is an 88 GXL swapped to s5/s4 frankenstien motor.

The previous poster explained exactly what it feels like. It is tight then all of a sudden steering gets loose and jerks it into the corner. I couldn't explain it as well. If i hit a corner 100 percent I don't feel it one bit.

I did a quick inspection of the wheel bearings and tie rods and everything looks solid. My steering wheel doesn't even have an quarter inch of play in it.

 

Bingo.

It sounds to me like the variable assist power steering doing it's job. I've got an S4.5 as well...it does something similar. It feels VERY different from my S4 car (RPM sensitive power steering verus the S4.5/S5 being speed sensitive.). Remove your power steering belt and try to recreate the problem...see if that fixes it.

 

Yeah Ive had the power steering make turning feel funky.

Hows it work? While your cornering your probably loosing speed and its making the power steering easier. I think, I can't recall I just played with it a few times but I think the S5 is RPM AND speed sensitive.

 

Yea I guess that is the problem. It is always on similar corners where I am going the same speed.

What is the turn on and turn off points for the speed sensitivity? Anyway I can disable the sensitivity because I like slightly stiffer steering but don't want to have no ps either.