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Steering wheel angle and front inner/outer tie rods
I went to get an alignment for an upcoming track event and found out why my front end feels little unplanted... they said there is play in 3 out of the 4 tie rod ends and to go ahead and replace them all. Would this also explain why when my car is on jack stands and I turn the wheels left/right from outside the car, the steering wheel doesn't spin in a perfect circle? It spins slightly oblong.
Replacing the tie rods doesn't seem like a terribly difficult job, in fact seems hard to screw up doing it myself. Any gotchas with this job or is it pretty straightforward? I read about potentially harming the steering rack when doing the inner tie rods but others have said that's not an issue to worry about.
Last - any input on what I should replace them all with? I'm inclined to go with my RockAuto selection below based on price and availability:
All GM Genuine tie rod ends from GM Parts Giant. Ignore those nuts in the order, forgot to clear my cart first and just let it ride.
AC Delco Outer and unknown brand inner tie rod ends from Zip Corvette
I didn't see where you mentioned how many miles your C6 had on it. If less than 100,000 miles I'd let another shop look at the front end before I bought any parts. I've never ever had a front end alignment shop initially tell me that I didn't need a bunch of additional work done.
68,000 miles and change, but the front end does feel loose which is why I originally brought it in. Shop has excellent reviews from the track community so I really don't doubt the work. I guess I need to get it up in the air and test it myself though. Just jack up the front and pull on the tie rods on each side to check for slop?
I'm glad you told me to check. Pretty sure it's only the outer tie rod ends on the front that are bad. I took a video, can you or anyone else confirm? It's hard to tell if the inners are actually moving because they are loose or because the outers have so much play.
When I hold the inner tie rod end and yank/pull/push/whatever they are solid. When I twist, I get a lot of movement from the outer tie rod ends on both sides. The rears were totally solid so I didn't take a video.
Based on your video it looks like the inners and outers are pretty worn. When new, you can't twist the installed rods with your fingers like that.
The inner joints usually outlast the outer joints. If you remove the steering rod from the knuckle, it should support itself sticking out sideways from the rack. If it falls down, the inner joint is getting tired.
The outer joints are easy to replace. The inners are more involved.
I haven't done inners on a C6 so I don't know if there are flats on the rack itself. The factory service manual suggests there aren't by depicting use of a pipe wrench, which is pretty gruesome.
The eccentric motion of the steering wheel is completely unrelated. It's normal. Most cars seem to be designed that way nowadays.
Went ahead and ordered the inner and outer tie rod ends from Rock Auto. I called the shop this morning and they said they will install customer supplied parts. Quote for installation wasn't bad at all and I'd rather not mess with the inners or risk throwing something off that would make it unsafe to drive to the shop for an alignment when it's all done.
Thanks for the input guys. Looking forward to having a tighter front end again.
Twisting the tie rod end doesn't mean it's worn, it's a ball joint. Hold the wheel/tire at 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock and move it back and forth while watching the tie rod for movement between the rod and spindle mount. You can also get someone in the car rocking the steering wheel left to right a couple of inches each way and watch for movement at the tie rod end. If in doubt take it to a front end shop to have it checked. Replacing parts when not needed is obviously expensive and very disappointing when you haven't fixed the problem.
Steering wheel angle and front inner/outer tie rods
