'loose' steering?

[CherryVimto]

I'm pretty sure I have an issue but it's going to be a bit hard to explain......

To initially sum it up, my steering feels 'loose'. By this I mean it feels a bit too easy to steer at higher speeds. Almost like the power steering pump is uprated and makes the steering a bit too easy.

Then there is how the steering feels at speed. It seems that every tiny imperfection in the road and even driving over the edge of a cats eye, it wants to pull the front wheels round and pulls the steering wheel over.
I have to constantly do small corrections to the steering to keep it in a straight line. I can feel the front wheels constantly trying to pull or turn to either side with every tiny lump and bump in the road. It's actually quite scary.

I'll be getting the car up in the air at the weekend, so am looking for some ideas of what to look at/for.

I'm currently experiencing balding on the inner edges of the front tyres due to lowering and plan to get the tracking done in a couple of weeks when I get paid, so not sure if this will be contributing to the 'loose' steering.

As always, any help or advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[quest63]

I think the tracking being out would account for it feeling light confirmed by it wearing out the inner edge of the tyre.

But perhaps there may also be additional issues such as wear in the track rod ends, steering rack or wheel bearings which is causing the steering to pull over.

 

[orchid66]

Funny you should say that CV....I was thinking just the same yesterday when I was giving my engine a bit of a work out.....I found the steering excessively light the faster I got with minor corrections to the wheel necessary but causing seemingly more errors in the steering!!

Like you see it almost seemed as if I was battling to keep the car in a straight line at high speeds and minor corrections were constantly needed...

And yet my tracking was done 4 weeks ago and my tyres have less then 200 miles on the them......be interested to hear what you find,,,,,

 

[CherryVimto]

I found the steering excessively light the faster I got with minor corrections to the wheel necessary but causing seemingly more errors in the steering!!

Like you see it almost seemed as if I was battling to keep the car in a straight line at high speeds and minor corrections were constantly needed...

I think that basically sums up my issue!

 

[orchid66]

I'm planning an upgrade to my suspension as I think mine is old and tired now and contributing to the lack of roadholding capability

 

[CherryVimto]

I've had the front of the car up in the air and checked all of the suspension components.

Everything is solid, bolted up and no movement/play where there shouldn't be.
I tried to wobble/move the front wheels to see if there appears to be any play/slack in the steering components and nothing moves, knocks or squeaks.

 

[CherryVimto]

I've just had the wheel alignment/tracking done....

What a difference that's made. The car feels normal now...!