do these wear out? how often should they be changed?

 

Yes they do, mine were bad at 88k miles. Didn't notice any symptoms just took it into a shop and they noticed it.

 

I have never seen a Honda inner tie rod fail at 88K miles!

COT damn, boy, what did you hit? A moose?? And what did the shop notice?


OP...are yours loose? If not...then just go on living your life. If they are loose....buy a new set from Honda.

 

when my car is off and i snap the steering wheel back and forth i can hear some noise . i am not sure if that is more just a electric steering rack or if they are bad. i have 161k on my car so probable better to just change.

 

When they go bad, you change them. When they are worn, they have excessive clearance, which results in excessive play in steering. They don't typically make noise.

The usual test involves grabbing them and rocking them around to feel for any play, then grabbing a tire at 3 and 9 and trying to force it to steer it one direction then the other, while you feel for and watch for any movement at joint.

 

Steering racks have gear slop. Almost any car with a reasonable amount of miles on it will make a knock if you rock the wheel back and forth rapidly.

CHECK for worn components.

If you need them, buy them from a Honda dealer.

At 161K, you're probably still good on tie rods. Its a Honda...not a shitbox.

 

Bringing this back, they do go bad, and you'll never notice. If you grab the tie rod and can twist it at the ball joint without much force, they're bad. When they're a little bad you'll feel some slop and wandering on the steering, but it'll still be rigid, when they're a little more bad, you'll start tearing boots on the tie rod ends, that's your cue to replace them. Although when they start getting loose you will notice it on your tires, they'll start wearing unevenly, more on the inside than outside. A lot of us likely won't notice since we typically replace tires after a year or two, and the rears will still wear faster. I'm about to replace mine with new factory ones, at 255k miles. I probably bought the car with bad front inner tie rods and just never bothered changing them until now, since they're chewing through the tie rod end boots, and front tires.

Anyway, they do go bad, but the way the car is designed, you can drive with bad inner tie rods for a long time and never notice until you really look. If you pop the ball joint off the knuckle and the inner tie rod can't support its weight and the outer tie rod, it's bad, and you should change it for ideal steering feel and so your front tires can mock your rears at how little they last by comparison.