How to tell if Tie Rods, Control Arms, Sway Bar Links are Bad? Topic is solved

WhatAmIDoing · Post by **WhatAmIDoing** » 17 Dec 2018, 13:44

Last alignment shop told me my tie rods are bad. Inclined to believe them, because the car can't hold an alignment, wavers everywhere, tire wear is getting bad, and there's a lot of slop in the steering. When I had the front end up today though, I could not find any play in the tie rods, or control arms, or sway bar end links. All the bushings look good. I could not find play anywhere or hear anything a miss. Only issue I found was an axle boot clamp had failed.

I Would rather not replace everything if all of it isn't bad, but I'm not sure what else to do if I could not find any play. Local indie said he would inspect it for $25, so I guess I'll give that a go. Is there a trick for testing out these components I'm missing? Should I just replace everything?

Post by **Ozark Lee** » 17 Dec 2018, 18:30

I just jack it up (one side at a time) and try to rock the wheel back and forth while I have one hand on the joint in question. Any movement is too much.

...Lee

dj_v70 · Post by **dj_v70** » 17 Dec 2018, 18:38

End links mainly give rattle/clunks over bumps, not steering issues. If you don’t have that, they are fine.

Jack up car so one tire is off ground. Wiggle tire with hands at 9 and 3 o’clock positions on wheel. Look at steering wheel at the same time. If you can wiggle tire some without steering wheel moving, you found a problem. Take wheel off and put nuts back on without wheel. Wiggle rotor back and forth to see if play is in tie rod or lca bushings. If outer tie rod joint boot is ripped, there is likely going to be play there.

Post by **erikv11** » 17 Dec 2018, 22:20

WhatAmIDoing wrote: ↑17 Dec 2018, 13:44 ... the car can't hold an alignment, wavers everywhere, tire wear is getting bad, and there's a lot of slop in the steering. ...

Sounds an awful lot like bad ball joints in the control arms. Get a pry bar or large screwdriver in there with the front end up in the air, can you get any play in the ball joint? Any at all, is too much. This kind of wear is more obvious if you drop the two control arm bolts at the subframe, you will see the ball joint is floppy and loose rather than tight and resistant to movement. But dropping the control arm may be more than you're willing to do for diagnosis.

Post by **abscate** » 18 Dec 2018, 03:53

If the lower control arms are more than 100k old, replace them. Unless your roads are pancakes, ball joints live for 100k, not much more.

Post by **jimmy57** » 18 Dec 2018, 12:40

The ball joints are tough to evaluate when it is jacked up. The balls rotate in sockets and the joint will not always have looseness. Drive it up on ramps or homemade ramps of 2x8 scraps. Now put your hand in there by ball joint so you can feel the lower part of strut/knuckle and the control arm at the same time and have some roll car fore-aft. Now have them push the car left right. The wear can be from side load or from the fore-aft load of front wheel drive actually moving the whole rest of car by leverage on the BJ. The steering joints an sway bar links also suffer from false positives when the wheels hang and changes those joints out of their normal ride height wearing positions.

WhatAmIDoing · Post by **WhatAmIDoing** » 20 Dec 2018, 12:52

Took my car to a buddy's shop. Jacked the one side up at a time. Found play in the inner tie rods. Everything else felt solid. He offered to replace the tie rods and give the car an alignment for $150. He had it done within the afternoon. I forgot what tight steering feels like. Tracks straight. No more wobbling and looking like I'm drink driving. Next stop new tires.