Handeling Problems

Just reciently my VX has started to wander alot on the road and there's alot of play in the steering wheel. I've had 31" tires on for about a year, do you think the bigger tires have somehow worn out the steering or that maybe my camber is off? More often then not I find myself steering opposite the pitch of the road to keep moving in a straight line, it's not really pulling to one side more then the other. I've been doing alot of highway driving lately and the floaty feeling is very scary. Any suggestions would be helpful, Thanx.

-Rick

How much tread do you have left on the tires? Most of the sets of tires I've ever had would tend to follow the pavement imperfections/grooves more and more the farther they wore down.

They've got loads of tread left, I've only put about 5k miles on them. It's not the fact that they follow the road that bothers me so much (wide performence tires tend to do that) it's the floaty/unresponsive steering thats scary. I cant feel the road through the streeing wheel anymore so it's hard to tell whats going on till I notice the car swirving.

The Power Steering - Diagnosis section of the VX CD-ROM suggests a few possible causes of:

Too much play in steering.

Possible Cause: Wheel bearings worn
Correction: Replace wheel bearings

Possible Cause: Loose steering gear or linkage
Correction: Retighten or repair

Possible Cause: Steering gear misadjustment
Correction: Inspect and adjust steering gear preload

Possible Cause: Worn or loose steering shaft universal joint
Correction: Retighten or replace steering shaft

Possible Cause: Worn steering linkage ball joints
Correction: Replace ball joints

Possible Cause: Worn upper or lower ball joints
Correction: Replace ball joints

There's also a section called Wandering or Poor Steering Stability.

Possible Cause: Mismatched or unevenly worn tires
Correction: Replace tires or inflate tires to proper pressures

Possible Cause: Loose steering linkage ball joints
Correction: Replace ball joints

Possible Cause: Faulty shock absorbers
Correction: Replace shock absorbers

Possible Cause: Loose stabilizer bar
Correction: Tighten or replace stabilizer bar or bushings

Possible Cause: Broken or sagging springs
Correction: Replace springs (pairs)

Possible Cause: Steering gear misadjustment
Correction: Check or adjust steering gear

Possible Cause: Improper wheel alignment
Correction: Adjust wheel alignment

A good alignment shop (possibly one that specializes in 4x4's) could probably at least check most of the items listed.