Hi,

I have S60 (driven 356000km) that have somewhat 'vague' steering in high speed (if you can call 100-120km/h high speed). Steering seems to go too sensitive and it's bit hard to drive straight. Almost like there is a play in steering.

So far I've replaced front shocks and lower steering arms, because bushes were shot and shocks were bad. I replaced the turning bearings on the same time. Also steering has been aligned after that.

Car has been inspected not long ago and no play was found from lower ball joints nor outer steering link ball joints. I tested those myself as well and didn't see play. Inner ball joints are bit harder to check because of the protective boot.

If one turns steering wheel left and right I can hear clicking(?) noise. I couldn't pin point it where it's coming, but if I touch steering arms I can feel the noise from them. More on left side than on right. I tried to push/pull wheels apart/together, but couldn't get noise to change so I still can't say that the noise is coming from inner ball joints.

Is there any common place what could cause those symptoms? I'm trying to avoid unnecessarily changing good parts. I'm hoping it's not steering rack.

 

clicking noises are usually the CV joints in the axles. Did you inspect the boots recently for tears or grease leaks? Vague steering is caused the the alignment. This can be due to worn parts or the shop didn't do a proper four point alignment (front, rear, thrust angle etc). I've had to return my car more than once for a poorly done alignment, which is why I always request the print out to see what specs were used.

 

Ah, my bad. I meant that turning steering wheel right/left about 45deg when car is stationary and engine is not running. I know the CV joint clicking and this is not it. I can actually _feel_ the clicking (click happens every time steering wheel changed direction when turned enough that wheels turn a little ie. there is load in steering system) in steering control arm that goes from steering rack to knuckle(i'm not sure English name of the part).

I have printout of the values that was used and what car was aligned to, but because the noise I'm thinking there might be something worn out/loose and just re-aligning might not fix the problem. One possibility is to replace outer and inner joints of steering arms on both sides since they are not _that_ expensive, but still doesn't give that warm and fuzzy feeling changing parts randomly.

 

I changed both (outer/inner) tie rod ends on both side and got wheels realigned. Seems running okay now so for me this issue is closed.