if your having loose steering feelings 99 times out of 100 on this car its going to be one of these things
-subframe bushings
-rack bushings/not bolted in good
-bad inner or outer tie rod
-bad rack
-sometimes a loose pinch bolt where the column connects with rack can give you a loose feeling in the steering as well.......
one way to tell bad things is to turn the car off, leave the wheels touching something so there is weight on them. wiggle the steering wheel to where you feel it is how it acts when loose, at that time start looking to see what part of the steering mechanism is moving and what is not. For instance, if you had a bad rack, your column would be moving just the same as your wheel, but the tie rod ends comming off the rack would not be twitching at all.... its harder to tell this on a rack n pinion type gearbox.
You can pick the tires off the ground and shake them at the 9 and 3 oclock position gently and have someone else or yourself inspect the inner and outer tie rods for any movement. If your moving anything the slightest bit in a perfect scenario.. the other tire should be moving as well. If you can move that wheel a 1/4 inch lets say, and the other one doesn't twitch, something is loose, next u would see if the outer tie rod on the tire u are shaking is moving, if it is and the other side isn't, its a bad inner tie rod. If the inner isn't moving and u see slop on the outer one, its a bad outer tie rod. Also have someone move the wheel generously to check rack bushings... the rack shouldn't travel sideways the slighest bit..... you can pick up car by body and see if the subframe bushings are gone/destroyed/sloppy... I advise aluminum subframe bushings, they make the steering feel much nicer just by themselves.
control arm bushings, balljoints, strut mounts... those kinds of things aren't going to give you a loose sensation in the steering.......
