bump steer

[karl210]

Im pretty sure this has developed more the longer ive had the car, so thought id ask on here because its starting to get a bit un-nerving now.
I can be driving down a straight piece of road at 30-40mph, and the road might be a bit rough/bumpy, my car will pull one way or the other and its getting quite bad now. When being driven fast on country roads it requires a lot of input and you certantly have to be on the ball, sometimes the back end feels light, sometimes it doesnt, its quite unpredictable really. The suspension and wheels are standard, the front right top mount it knocking and if i grab the front right tyre at the top and wobble it there is a small amount of play, the top of the wheel probably moves around 1mm would this be enough to make my car move around this much?
The car also pulls to the left, im not sure if this will be related or not but i thought id write it down anyway. Im not in the best position at the moment financially wise to be spending £80 on full wheel alignment to find out thats not the problem. The tyres are wearing very evenly but im not exactly saying tracking isnt the cause, but could it be the top mount or anything else? thanks

 

[jojo]

It should be tight mate, I'm guessing something is worn.

 

[karl210]

yeah it has done a lot of miles, but it only seems to have developed in the last 2 months

 

[jojo]

yeah it has done a lot of miles, but it only seems to have developed in the last 2 months

Tell us more mate, age and mileage? If the suspension is standard, then the shocks would be past their best after 60k odd miles, but up until the point you put fresh shocks on, most people wouldn't notice this! Standard anti roll bars crack at the collars, a common MOT failure, standard springs snap eventually over time, irrespective of mileage covered. Worn bushes and topmounts etc, all general wear and tear stuff.

It could be a number of things basically!

 

[karl210]

60k? that happened a long time ago mate haha, shes covered 180k on the queens finest roads and its a 2002 car.
Yeah im definately looking at replacing the suspension with the ap kit in a few months and while im at it top mounts will be done with any nackered bushes and ball joints then will be getting fully aligned.
I just thought id ask on here incase there was any common failure points like you've mentioned about the arb which i will check on monday, just seems weird to have come on quite quickly. Ive checked the springs and there all fine

 

[jojo]

180k miles?! That's good going! My car is only on 61k miles, and I've had to change my uprated suspension after a snapped rear coil.

 

[karl210]

haha tell me about it, engine still pulls like a train most of the time. i reckon shes got a fair few miles left in her yet

 

[Grale1]

Hi, I'm having the same sort of issues as you are describing, I had a lot of movement in my wheel when a wobbled mine, I replaced the ball joints which cured a knocking noise and stopped the wobble quite a lot, but I still have a little movement in both wheels but that is down to needing new wheel bearings, mine also pulls left but I think I need new suspension and a new stub axle, I was thinking of poly bushing the front to stiffen it all up also.

 

[colicabcadam]

track rod ends ? inner and outer would be a good start