Wandering steering / 1987 190E 16V
 

The car seems to track straight at speed but if I hit road ruts, expansion joints (where the car gets unweighted and then comes back down it seems to want to wander all over the road. It like to follow road imperfections much more so than before.

I have 17” EVO II with 215/40/17. I have just had the front end aligned when I replaced all the control arms in the read end (4 on each rear wheel). The Idler arm, struts, damper, tie rods are all only a few years old. The car can be a hand full on the road. If the road is smooth, there does not seem to be a problem. The steering box was rebuilt about a year ago. Steering fluid was a bit low but no visible leaks. I filled it back up.

I was just under the car and everything seems tight. The only movement was ont e steering damper and the bar that it is attached to. I could rock it from the front of the car to the rear but it is on ball joints and that seemed normal. It was not loose per se but I could rock it a few degrees each way. Side to side it was firm with no movement. I rocked the wheels and they seemed pretty tight.

It did not always do this. I do not recall if it was this way after the alignment (about 3 months ago). My wife hardly drives the car and she said it was much looser than it used to be.

Thanks as always for your input

It sounds like the allingment was done recently but are the wheels a new upgrade? and are they the 17x7.5 or the 17x8.5 ?

First verafy that they didn't leave the tire psi at 50 psi or something.

The wheel upgrade also widends the wheel track #s not that that change is bad for the car but may change some of the alingment angles so you may want to get it re-alinged. I experenced the same behavour with the 17x7.5 eve11 wheels on my 16v with conti tires, but dont drive it much so it will be done after the springs and pads are finalized. Also keep in mind that the wider the tires get the easyer it is for that condition to acure and not sure if you are using a $75 tire or a $220 tire.

Keep checking this threed other members may have some good info to add.

I have had the tires and wheels on for over 2 years. The tire pressure is at 32psi. The alignment was done about 3 months ago or so. I have Yokohama AV es100 They are worn on the out side edge more than thr center (hence the alignment). Could the tire wear be causing the wandering? Never really thought about that till now.

Well in a way they could, but knowing you had them on for some time before the wondering started I would think the miss alingment that caused the tires to wear that way would be the problem.

Maybe the alingment went bad. Excentric bolt not quite tight enough or maybe some part (balljoint/lower bushings/ etc) that might have needed replacment and was missed before allingment was done.

Maybe call the place that did it and tell them your wife sayes its been strange recently and you just drove it and yes it is. Can they do a quick check to see if its ok/safe ?