car wanders, pulls.....

[jspec23]

Ok, so one day my car pulls to the right. The next it will pull to the left. Sometimes it just wanders back and forth, just kind of oscillating. Would an alignment correct this? Or could I need replacement of the SFB's?

 

[Denny]

Are you accelerating full throttle when this happens?

 

[jspec23]

either way it does, full or cruising.

 

[ScotSHO]

How many miles on your 95? It could be many things, but I would start with the obvious. Inner and/or outer tie rod ends could be worn, allowing the car to have different steering/wandering characteristics. Also, the steering column pinch bolt could be loose, but that is not as common on 95s as it is on 90-91 shos.

Has the sub frame recall been done on your car? One loose/broken rear sub frame bolt can lead to the problem you are describing.

 

[1slickRED89]

just a few questions how old (time&miles) and what kind of tires are on the car?

COrey

 

[jspec23]

Well the car has 119k on it. I replaced all the subframe bolts with grade 8 bolts when i changed my tranny. The car has always pulled on me ever since I bought it last year with 104k. It always pulled to the left though. When i changed thye tranny it started pulling to the right, and just recently it started wandering in both directions. I guess that's what scares me. I can take my hands off the steering wheel, and it will go from pulling left, to going back to centetr, to pulling right, then back again. I had a blowout the other day, my front tires were junk, so i put a brand new goodyear superstar radial gt on. This is the driver's side. on the passenger it's still a junk tire. But it seems like the problem started before the blowout anyway, so I don't know.....

 

[jspec23]

oh ya, and for awhile I've been hearing a clunk when i turn the wheel when the car is not moving, for example to pull out of a parking space. I replaced those white plastic sway bar stabilizers or whatever they are when i did the tranny.

 

[SHOtimer]

oh ya, and for awhile I've been hearing a clunk when i turn the wheel when the car is not moving, for example to pull out of a parking space. I replaced those white plastic sway bar stabilizers or whatever they are when i did the tranny.

That is probably your subframe clunking. You need to solve that problem before you can start to diagnose this one. Have you had the recall done, if not that would be a good place to start. Also, having two different types of tires on the front, especially one new and one really old can cause a whole bunch of weird things. I would properly secure that subframe and get two equal tires on the front and go from there. Have you ever had an alignment? You speak of pulling in different directions, is this after you've had the car aligned? If you've never aligned it..that could also be a problem.

Doug

 

[n8rsk8r]

I wonder if the old tires were rated for the sho, I once had a saleman at ntb sale me the lesser rated tires, and I was all over the place, never go lower always higher, I can tell you that much! Also, my bro-in-law's stepdad (did you get that?) said that there is a piece on rack and pinions that can wear out, and basically it wants to go back and forth causing the rack to pull one side then pull on the other, it has been several years since he has told me about that, I told him how my mustang was all over the place, and he told me bout how the rack can cause some serious problems if this biasing valve or something to that effect, wears out, it can't decide what to do anymore, and it just "floats". I am going to be talking to my bro-in-law hopefully tomorrow, so I will ask him about that for you.

 

[cstrat]

My 95 will wander right and left on certain roads. High performance tires will do what they call "tramlining" and tend to follow ruts and indentations in the pavement. The supension on my car is perfect but the tires cause it on cetain roads. On most roads there is no wandering at all.

 

[Denny]

Mine does the same clunking at low speed turns, and I wander too on hard acceleration, a couple times it's been downright dangerous. I had new subframe mounts and bolts when I had the clutch done back in spring of 02(months before the motor went). After sitting for two years, could the mounts and the rest of the suspension gone bad?

 

[jspec23]

Well, thanks for the info everybody. I will start on the subframe, get a new tire, and have an alignment done. Hopefully that will do it.

 

[1slickRED89]

I told him how my mustang was all over the place, and he told me bout how the rack can cause some serious problems if this biasing valve or something to that effect, wears out, it can't decide what to do anymore, and it just "floats". I am going to be talking to my bro-in-law hopefully tomorrow, so I will ask him about that for you.

i think mustangs have rubber bushings that mount the rack, the SHO's bolts hard to the subframe.

however, the inner tierod ends can, do and will wear out. your alinment guys will check for that though. do what the other guy said and buy good tires, you can get away with lower speed rating (still, don't go below 110mph), so long as they are no cheap-o's to begin with and good luck!!