sloppy steering

[ger]

My steering has become a bit vague and quite light at motorway speeds.
There does not seem to be any significant play in the rack.

I have changed most of the suspension parts over the past year or so.
I am fairly sure i can eliminate the following.

Wishbone bushes.
ARB bushes
Lower wishbone ball joints
Fitted new boots and lubricated upper wishbone ball joints, they seemed ok.
New shocks/springs 1yr ago.

I have ordered new trackrod ends today.
Do the tie rods wear out, anyone had a problem with these?

Any advice welcome.

[Richie L]

It could be the rear.Back is pushed down at motorway speeds and makes the nose lighter.Couple this with soft rear springs or some other problem on the back and you will get vague steering.Does the back move at all under hard acceleration apart from the obvious sideways tendancy?

[Steve]

Do the tie rods wear out, anyone had a problem with these?

Yes, mine were worn, I replaced inner and outer tierods/balljoints earlier this year, it made a big difference, really tightened up the steering, it feels new again. The lock washers on the inners are a little fiddly but both sides can be done in a morning. If you are VERY careful you might get away without having to have an alignment..

[ger]

It could be the rear.Back is pushed down at motorway speeds and makes the nose lighter

I have 1yr old up rated springs and KYB's set to 6 on the back and 5 on the front, good roads around my way.

Steve, is this all i need then, i have already ordered the trackrod ends from mx5 parts, 20 euro each, got a price from 2 motor factors in dublin for 65 ea each and 78 ea from mazda, crazy.

http://www.autolinkmx5.com/steering-arm-tie-rod-pas-mx-5-mk1-138-p.asp

£12.50 seems very cheap?

[Steve]

Yup, thats them.
Take your time removing the old ones so that you can reuse the locking washers.

[franksm]

Think I need to do the same job, the car is tramlining a bit despite being 100% in alignment. My trackrods have 132,000 miles on them so I don't feel bad about how they have lasted !

[ger]

finished the tie rods, not a hard job except for those lock washers, you'd think they'd throw in a couple of new ones with the tie rods, dropped in some mild thread lock just to be on the safe side. Well worth doing though steering feels much better now.

[Steve]

yeah makes it feel much better, strange that they wear though..

am still getting a v.slight/annoying clunk/looseness somewhere in the steering.. haven't found the source yet. Must see if the rack can be tightened.

[franksm]

heh heh "rack"

[Steve]