Front end steering

LAURA321

MEMBER
1998 CHEVROLET S-10

Have a 98 chevy s10 6 cly ext cab, ive replace ball joints tie rods iner and outer wheel bearings new tires bushings on front end a brake cylender and had it aligned, when I left the ntb with 2nd alignment it slowly got worse still pulling to right the steering got worse when you move over to change lanes it moves over but then it trys to keep turning the wheels, im not driving it because im afraid of it, ive been told about the gearbox maybe or could it be a idler arm? By the way what is feathering on the tire? I rem when we were doing the wheel bearing we noticed a tire that looked like you ran along side a curb but I dont rem doing this since I got the tire it was just one side of front? Also can you tell me were to go to get help with this im not so sure about ntb anymore, I just dont want to keep guessing on what it might be if you know what I mean. Thank you so much

1 Reply

CARADIODOC

MECHANIC
33,737 POSTS

What is "rem" and "ntb"?

Did you get a printout of the alignment? If so, post the final readings for front left and right caster, camber, and toe.

If the steering wheel stays where you put it and doesn't return to center by itself, that's called "memory steer" and is usually caused by a tight or binding steering component. If this started before any parts were replaced, most likely the offending part hasn't been replaced yet. If it started right after parts were replaced, it's more likely proper installation procedures weren't followed. That's hard to mess up on that vehicle.

"Feathering" of a tire is due to incorrect total toe. That means the fronts or the backs of the two front tires are too close together. They aren't perfectly parallel when you drive straight ahead. The toe on either or both tires can be misadjusted. If both are misadjusted equally, the steering wheel can still be straight.

Incorrect total toe will cause the leading edge of both tires to scrub off. If you exaggerate it for clarity, suppose the left tire is toed out and steering left when you want to go straight. Imagine it turned more, ... And more, ... Until it's turned 90 degrees to the car. Now it's easy to see that the inside edge is in front and is the leading edge of the tread. Now imagine holding a pencil upright with the eraser on the table. Put a little downward pressure on it, then drag it straight across the table. You'll see the leading edge scrubs off and makes eraser crumbs, but the trailing edge lifts up off the table so no wear takes place on that part. That's what's happening to a pair of tires when the total toe is too much toed out. On each block of rubber in the tire tread, you'll see part of it is scrubbed off and the other side is higher. If you rub your fingertips over the surface of the tread one way, they'll move relatively smoothly. They'll tend to catch on the high spots when you run your fingers the other way. Alignment mechanics can "read" the tire wear and determine which adjustments they can expect to find incorrect.