Zebadee

Hi

After an unsettling loseness felt in my steering i got the car up on a rack and had a good push / pull around.

What i found was all of the bushes and links around the suspension units appear to be fine. (woo hoo)

however there seemed to be loseness on one side of the car, and the loseness appeared to be coming from the steering rack.

My questions are:
What would be the approximate cost to replace both bushes on the end of the steering rack.
Whats the time involved in doing this job?
is this doable by me, or dont even touch it? i have average mechanical knowledge, but do have use of a ramp.
Is there something else that could be causing this sensation?

Thanks :-)

Ultra_Nexus

The steering rack bushes are pretty solid and i'd be surprised if they're gone.

Are you on about these ones?

eSeM

Changing the 4 steering rack bushes isn't a particularly difficult job .... but as Ultra_Nexus says I doubt that they are your problem.

(If they have perished and need replaced I should have a set of them somewhere in my garage)

Zebadee

Now im really not sure.

When putting lateral force onto the wheel, ie a cornering load.
There is a slight give from the passenger side of the car.
Whilst it was up on the rack i checked through every bush i could see with a better knowledged friend there

We both came to the conclusion that the movement itself appeared to come from the steering control arm, not where it connected to the wheel, but definitely from coming out of the rack.

My car only has 38k on the clock, but i have to drive along a cobbled road everyday for 200m.....yes that part is lovely not!

Anything else i can check fairly easily? Otherwise ill just have to send it in for repair....and repairs here are extremely expensive!

Ultra_Nexus

Tyre pressures, geometry, tyre type etc.

Could be a tie rod or track rod.

Much greater chance of it being one of these than steering rack bushes.