steering snatching

[quicky106]

can anyone help when i drive along my steering wheel pulls left and right i thought it might of been wheel bearings so i jacked it up but there doesnt seem to be any play in the bearings need to get it sorted as it feels so wobbley when im driving

[1996 328ti]

Originally Posted by quicky106

can anyone help when i drive along my steering wheel pulls left and right i thought it might of been wheel bearings so i jacked it up but there doesnt seem to be any play in the bearings need to get it sorted as it feels so wobbley when im driving

Has this just started?
Wider tires?

[quicky106]

Yer just started haven't changed tyres cars still the same as it was before

[1996 328ti]

Then my guess may be control arm bushings.
You can see for yourself if they are torn.

[E30dewd]

I just replaced my CAs FCABs Sway links struts springs and tie rods, and now i have this same problem, i cant drive on the highway after about 55mph the car become completely unpredictable. I was just caapable of 130mph jaunts down the highway last weekend... my passanger front CA was spent so i figured id do up the whole front end, after all the chassis has like 230k on it and all that stuff was stock. This morning i dropped the car off at Town Fare Tire here in Vernon CT and bought a new set of front tires (blizzaks on the back already, new last year) just some w rated Khumo and had a 4 point alignment done, it seemed to help more for tghe town driving but did nothing for the freeway. Just frustrating, i got the struts 2nd hand from a friend so maybe they were spent, illl go put my squishy stock ones back on tomorrow to see if maybe they had messed up valving ot to stiff ect..

[E30dewd]

So i put my Squishy stock shocks and springs back on and there was only a slight improvement, i could do 60ish on the highway and the car does alot better in the fast lane, presumably because that lane isnt as hammered from semi's driving on it. Now the biggest problem is if i hit a bump the passanger side tire literally skids, feels like a tow in skid and forces the car left. Checked and double checked every component ive installed... still puzzled. I just ordered up some IE RTABS and SubFrame Bushings, so ill get those in aand see if the new tighter front end was trying to evict the mushy back end stuff. My buddy just bought a Mercedes Drive on Alignment machine, and should have it up and running after xmas, then i see if TFT is just terrible as i presume they are.

[3.2TI]

Just a question, do you have your front swaybar installed?

[E30dewd]

Haha, yes I do

[3.2TI]

My next suggestion would be to check calipers for warping and then check your guilbo which could also be torn.

[E30dewd]

I also suspeted the brakes for a heartbeat but i found a bump in the road that produced the same skidding and drove over it over and over trying to check different components, one of the tries i held the breaks as i went over the bump and it actually lessened the pulling. i had recently upgraded to the aftermarket Wilwood bigger breaks from my 328is donor car, vented rotors only not slotted but still decent. Also after i did the M52 swap back around the 4th of July i had both front and rear guibo + center mount bearing replaced while rebalancing the drive shaft.

Im puzzled honestly, unless i have an epiphany , or one of you guys knows what is up, ill be waiting till i get my RTABs and Subframe mounts, pop those in and see what's up.

[E30dewd]

I hate posting things here that make me look like an idiot, cause im pretty handy with a spanner, I finally figured out what i had done wrong and its somewhat embarrassing. i put the tie rods on upside-down, so yeah.. instead of up from the bottom i pounded them in from the top. this is the type of stuff that happens when you tak estuff apart then put them back together weeks later. Hopefully if anyone else does this foolishly down the road this thread may save them some humility

[pdxmotorhead]

Worn tie rod ends on the rack/bad alignment will cause this... (But I see you solved it...)


Dave

[slade13]

Man,the dude that did your alignment didn't catch that.

[E30dewd]

If it was a respectable shop and not just town fare tire, I would have been like wtf, but its not exactly ASE master tec service from there.