None of the parts listed will cause the symptoms described. The most common cause is a worn inner cv joint housing. That will cause a shimmy in the steering wheel and the entire car that is felt in the seat. The clues are it only occurs when turning and it only occurs during acceleration. Turning changes the orientation where the rollers run back and forth inside the housing, and acceleration puts a load on it which helps the rollers bind on the worn rolling surfaces. That binding limits the freedom to change length and angle during each tire rotation so the half shaft pushes and pulls on the spindle and lower control arm, and therefore the steering linkage. Anything that changes where those rollers run will change how the symptoms occur. Turning affects the free length of each half shaft but mostly it's affected by the suspension's ride height, meaning added weight, (passengers).
Replacement of the half shaft is the least expensive cure. Rebuilt shafts cost less than new cv joint housings from the dealer. You have to disassemble the joint to determine which side is worn. Feeling the six rolling surfaces with your finger is not sufficient. You have to clean out the grease, then look at the reflection of light on those surfaces to see the very minute imperfection, similar to looking at a car body reflecting the ground and looking just the tiniest bit wavy.
Wednesday, May 16th, 2012 AT 1:09 PM
