A common issue customers come in with is a steering wheel clunk. It could be caused by various suspension and steering components, but most common cause of the steering wheel clunking tends to be the outer tie rod ends. The outer tie rod ends receive the most abuse when you turn your car and hit potholes.
Steering systems tend to receive a lot more ware and tear when you do city driving versus highway driving. A new tie rod end is supposed to be tight and have zero play between the ball socket and stud. In the video below you can see a completely worn outer tie rod where the protective boot deteriorated and allowed water, dirt, and other contaminants into the ball socket and stud in the tie rod causing it to get loose and develop play.
Worn Outer Tie Rod
In this case the car had a clunk and a suspension vibration cause by a bad wheel bearing and bad outer tie rod. There is an inner tie rod as well, but they were perfectly tight, clean, and had zero play. So we opted to not replace the inner tie rods, just he outers. Whenever you replace steering components you are required to need to get an alignment, because the new components will be a slightly different size affecting the car’s ability to drive straight down the road.
Once tie rods are diagnosed and replaced the clunking and vibrations will be gone. Then your vehicle will be ready to provide you tens of thousands more mores of reliable transportation.
If you are experiencing vibrations or hear clunks when you turn your steering wheel feel free to Contact Tolima’s Auto Center.
