Slight inner tie rod play

[stevie16v]

I've had a problem recently with the car feeling a little vague on the road and a vibration around 70ish (definitely not the balancing, that's spot on 100% sure about that), had it up on the ramps and checked it but no apparent play. Brought it for a hunter alignment yesterday and the guy said that when he was adjusting the n/s tracking that the inner had a slight bit of play, it was showing up on the machine but he couldn't really feel it that much. Given that it is so little, could this be causing the vagueness?

[plasma]

my steering has been vague ever since i got ran off the road onto hardcore via a drop.. Finally got round to checking it properly.. turns out I've got slight play in what i first though was my wheel bearing but turns out its the inner tie road... so gonna renew both tie rods and tie rod ends... then that should be the steering sorted.

my symptons are vibrations like wheel out of balance/flat, wandering and just no 'feel' to the steering.

[stevie16v]

Yeah, that could about cover it. I tend to find aswell that when turning the wheel at motorway speeds eg from left to right, through the centre (12 oclock) that there is a bit of a notch in it aswell. Got to make almost constant adjustments aswell

[wickedwillie]

My car failed its last MOT on inner and outer tie rod play. For ages (even when it passed its previous MOT) there was a slight steering wobble at 70 ish but I put down to slight wheel imbalance. However, with tie rods replaced, now there is no wheel wobble. You can draw conclusions from this.

[stevie16v]

Thanks, Kinda confirms what I had thought. Just need to get the part and fit it, For all the cost it's worth a try

[Sk1pr@]

I thought this hence having the tie rods replaced yesterday and wheels balanced a few days back and i still have the same problem.....stumped!

[06sri]

bottom ball joint or drop links maybe.

[fistymus]

I had play in the steering rack that made mine feel like that.

[stevie16v]

Replaced the tie rod and track rod end today. Got it retracked and the problem still exists. My mate who is a mechanic checked over all the steering and suspension and it is fine. The only thing we found was that one the first pull of the drop link out towards the wheel there is a slight knock. It only does this on the first pull. Then it will do it at the other side on the first pull. Im going to go out tomorrow and swap the wheels back to front as I had a snapped spring a few weeks back which may have caused some uneven tyre wear. 1.5mm difference between the outside and the inside. I'll make sure all the dropp link bolts are nipped up. They are in good condition only a few months old and its the uprated ones. Shocks are only 6 months old and the springs are only a few weeks old.

[logi6260]

I have the same, a friend of mine is a senior technician for the police and well used to dealing with vectra's.

He stripped mine down and found absolutley nothing wrong, wheels, tracking etc all done and double checked.

Turned out to be a result of cheap tyres, it was much more noticable when the car had been stood for a number of days, when i returned from a week in turkey and drove home from the airport it was hurrendous. It seemed to come and go at other times as the tyres wore.