Steering Issue – Rapid Jerk in a corner

[willyg1997]

1997 Bonneville SSE

Issue, when turning the car to the right through a curve doing 30 plus mph the car will jerk rapid to the right than jerk back to the left when I correct it, and the faster I go the worse it is. This will do the same thing when turning to the left but no were near as bad. The car also tends to wander a little driving in a straight line down the highway, kinda like getting hit with a side wind from each side, not much just always correcting the straight line. But the steering seems to be tight. The car has 350k on the clock, I know. But it is in great shape and comfortable to drive, plus a new tranny

I just finished installing a new rack & pinion with new inner and outer tie rods, along with an alignment and 4 new tires. I went back and re-check that everything was tight (lug nuts, tie rod assembly, rack mounting bolts, sub frame bolts, steering shaft bolt, ect…)

I have had the car since 180k, and as far as I know the ball joints and struts are still stock (never been replaced). The front hub I replace, but didn’t log the miles at the time of replacement. The ball joints seem to be good (no wheel rock). I am getting a real light howl from the right front, more than likely the wheel bearing. My plan is to replace the ball joints, front hubs, and also the struts.

So my questions are:

1. Could this be in the new rack & pinion I just installed. Maybe a broke tooth on the gear or rack.

2. If the rack was not bleed completely could this have an effect on the jerk? I did not bleed the system with a pump, just rotated the wheels back and forth a dozen times. It doesn’t whine and seems to be good.

3. I’m sure if the wheel bearing is on the verge of going out it would have some effect on the jerk, but just doesn’t seem to be the root cause. Both wheels seem to be nice and tight when rocking them side to side or up and down. And I never seen a car jerk like this with a bad wheel bearing.

4. Could a bad strut cause this jerk? Not likely but maybe?


I will be replacing the ball joints, hub asm, and struts this weekend, but I just wanted some feedback on if the rack & pinion could be bad causing the jerk. Really don’t want to go through the pita to put another one in.

I know it is hard for anyone to solve my problem without driving the car and or digging into it with a wrench. Just looking for some advice and opinions.

Sorry for the book, just wanted to be as descriptive as I could.

Thanks !!
Bill

[crash93ssei]

Ball joint, control arm bushing, or sub frame bushings are my thoughts.

[willyg1997]

Thanks crash,

I will check the lca bushings tonight. The sub frame bushing are far from new but not that bad.

Maybe I will just do the ball joints and hubs this weekend.

[Hj2392]

I had a 2001 gtp for a while and that had this exact issue. Things I know we're bad were the tie rods and the rack leaked pretty bad. Things you could think of would be when you put the new rack in did everything look very solid with nothing loose. I'd be putting my money towards a rack issue. The bleeding could be the cause of it also. I'm not familiar with steering problems much but if you think of it as brakes air in the lines makes for pedal play and uneven braking. Your getting steering play and uneven steering.

[spoiledred94]

Ive got the same floating L-R, constant correction. IIRC bleeding the steering you just turn the wheel to the chock and back the other way a bunch of time 30+ I think. I will try it./ I also get a lot of pull to one side or the other, mostly under acceleration, though. I figured it was "Torque Steer"

[1oldman]

I think Ryan and spoiledred94 have the most common causes. If after checking all of those issues out, and it's not any of those, the only other issue I have personal knowledge of possibly being the problem is the proportioning valve for the variable ratio steering, if you have it. It was on the son's 'burb. - BC