sway bar bushings, ball joints?

[getsidewayzdrift]

I have one super cracked sway bar bushing on my passenger side and I'm 90% sure my lower ball joints are toast, my question is, would either of these things prevent my steering wheel from returning to center in mid corner or after a corner? Or is that a whole 'nother problem.. just bought the car a week ago

 

[greensteeda]

They could.

They are super easy fixes that should be corrected anyway. I would do them first before you spend money on other "fixes".

I would also check the steering rack bushings (where they bolt to the K-member). These have a lot of flex in them so I always recommend switching to the Maximum Motorsports solid steering rack bushings ($30). They keep the rack from floating when you turn the wheel and will give the steering a much better feel.

 

[tec_41]

My 03 does the same thing. Mine obviously needs an alignment after lowering and installing camber bolts, but I've done a shakedown and visual inspection and everything seems A-OK. I know my sway bar bushings are good, and there is no play in the ball joints or tie rods...yet my steering wheel will not re-center after turning. It makes for a sketchy highway drive :/. If you figure anything out please share!

 

[getsidewayzdrift]

They could.

They are super easy fixes that should be corrected anyway. I would do them first before you spend money on other "fixes".

I would also check the steering rack bushings (where they bolt to the K-member). These have a lot of flex in them so I always recommend switching to the Maximum Motorsports solid steering rack bushings ($30). They keep the rack from floating when you turn the wheel and will give the steering a much better feel.

thank you I will definitely check the rack bushings aswell when I'm under there before I order anything, so I can order it all together if need be

My 03 does the same thing. Mine obviously needs an alignment after lowering and installing camber bolts, but I've done a shakedown and visual inspection and everything seems A-OK. I know my sway bar bushings are good, and there is no play in the ball joints or tie rods...yet my steering wheel will not re-center after turning. It makes for a sketchy highway drive :/. If you figure anything out please share!

this is exactly what is happening to me, there's no clunks or anything it just doesn't return to center, then it developed a small squeak so I jacked it up, no play in joints or tierods, got underneath and lower joints have almost no boot and looked super dry hence the squeaking I guess lol and yeah highway driving is super sketchy in my car, the tie rods and ends looked good, all other bushings look good so looks like I'm just gunna replace both lowers and the sway bar bushings at the very least, ill keep updated

 

[greensteeda]

Adding more caster will help the wheels point straight after a turn.

When you have the steering wheel straight, does the car pull to one side or the other?

 

[getsidewayzdrift]

Adding more caster will help the wheels point straight after a turn.

When you have the steering wheel straight, does the car pull to one side or the other?

nope its weird there's no slack no shakes no pulling either way under accel, coasting or braking it just refuses to slide through my fingers back towards center after exiting any kind of corner, and recently she developed a slight squeaking, like metal on metal when I make left turns or over slight bumps while making a left turn

 

[getsidewayzdrift]

nope its weird there's no slack no shakes no pulling either way under accel, coasting or braking it just refuses to slide through my fingers back towards center after exiting any kind of corner, and recently she developed a slight squeaking, like metal on metal when I make left turns or over slight bumps while making a left turn

and it feels and sounds like it is coming from the passenger side right behind the wheel

 

[Frige]

I had a lot of those same problems with mine and bought a kit off of ebay with ball joints, inner and outer tie rod ends, and sway bar bushings all for 53 bucks. It made a heck of a difference. I would start there.

 

[Frige]

Being new here not sure if its ok to post links, but here it is.
Ball Joints Tie Rods Ford Mustang 94 98 | eBay

 

[getsidewayzdrift]

I had a lot of those same problems with mine and bought a kit off of ebay with ball joints, inner and outer tie rod ends, and sway bar bushings all for 53 bucks. It made a heck of a difference. I would start there.

yeah I ordered new prothane sway bar bushings and new lower balljoints from Americanmuscle.com a few days ago, they're scheduled to be here tomm before the end of the day, ill take pics of the installs and post em, I also have a right headlight that's cracked so I grabbed smoked headlight and tailight covers as well, and a mach1 chin spoiler didn't think to get brighter bulbs until today lol what do you guys suggest for the brightest non hid bulbs I can buy?

 

[Phil II]

For smoked headlights, run the brightest bulbs you can get. I find that smoked headlamps put form too far from function.

 

[getsidewayzdrift]

yeah I ordered new prothane sway bar bushings and new lower balljoints from Americanmuscle.com a few days ago, they're scheduled to be here tomm before the end of the day, ill take pics of the installs and post em, I also have a right headlight that's cracked and couldn't afford new lights so I grabbed smoked headlight and tailight covers as well, didn't think to get brighter bulbs until today lol what do you guys suggest for the brightest non hid bulbs I can buy?

For smoked headlights, run the brightest bulbs you can get. I find that smoked headlamps put form too far from function.

yeah right after ordering i immediately started thinking about how much of a diff in light output it was going to actually make, guess i shoulda thought about that first, it was sort of an impulse buy, none the less ill be happy in the daytime until i get stopped by the fuzz lol

 

[getsidewayzdrift]

so I replaced the front sway bar bushings and followed step by step in the Haynes manual how to do so, however now my car has developed what I can only describe as a creaking noise when I make slight steering adjustments at low speed, maybe I made everything too tight? There were no torque down specifications..

 

[getsidewayzdrift]

and i bought silvania zxe bulbs and they made a world of difference in terms of lighting, still a tad dull though, but i can see better than with the take outsk

 

[Phil II]

Glad that you improved you're illumination in spite of the smoked shells.

It's possible you over-torqued the bushings. I think its more likely there will be a break-in period. Did you use lubricant? Ideally it would be the prothane stuff, white and sticky. When I swapped my front bar I did not hear this noise you're describing, but my car makes more than enough noises to drown that out.

 

[greensteeda]

Lubricant is a must for the bushings. And the bushings only need to be tightened "snug". No need to get crazy tight with them.

 

[getsidewayzdrift]

Glad that you improved you're illumination in spite of the smoked shells.

It's possible you over-torqued the bushings. I think its more likely there will be a break-in period. Did you use lubricant? Ideally it would be the prothane stuff, white and sticky. When I swapped my front bar I did not hear this noise you're describing, but my car makes more than enough noises to drown that out.

yeah I used the grease packet that came with the prothane bushings and lubed the crap out of them it doesn't sound like its coming from there its only in the driver front tire area I haven't replaced the lower balljointsyet could maybe having had the car on stands then sitting it back down make them move and make noise? Everything LOOKS ok as far as the bushings being tight enough or too tight they're not squished or anything

 

[getsidewayzdrift]

ok update
there has been no grinding creaking popping going on when I turn the wheel either way for the past two weeks now! So obviously the new bushings did something there. Score!
my steering wheel still refuses to return to center while/after cornering it almost feels like somethings binding it up im hoping its the balljoints, i get a clunk every once in a while at parkinglot speeds
I have new solid steering rack bushings sitting in a box in the car right now as well, hopefully that will firm up the feel, it feels like jello now lol
Now just to replace the lower ball joints since I know they're ready i think I've decided on getting the steeda X2 lower ball joint kit, but have a question I can't seem to find an answer to. I read that these lower balljoints have a spacer of some sort that prevents lowering the front of you car o.5inches since I guess the joints sit lower in the a arm or something. I've decided almost solely on the fact that ill get a half an inch lower in the front with these balljoints, my question is, is there any drawbacks to installing these without the spacers? Everything is stock as far as suspension goes, is this going to cause any problems with say getting an alignment, or throw off the overall geometry to where it wouldn't be worth it to not use the spacers?

 

[Phil II]

I do not have any hands on experience with the X2 joints. It is my understanding that those ball joints space the spindle up relative to the control arm, which lowers the front of the car. I don't know if spacers are used, or if the ball joint stud is tapered to provide that spacing. Steeda tech support should be able to answer your question.

Caster/camber plates can also help greatly with alignment. Naturally, I recommend the maximum motorsports cc plates.

 

[getsidewayzdrift]

I do not have any hands on experience with the X2 joints. It is my understanding that those ball joints space the spindle up relative to the control arm, which lowers the front of the car. I don't know if spacers are used, or if the ball joint stud is tapered to provide that spacing. Steeda tech support should be able to answer your question.

Caster/camber plates can also help greatly with alignment. Naturally, I recommend the maximum motorsports cc plates.

thanks man, duh, I didn't think to just email or call steeda directly