Why would steering feel loose when brakes applied?

[mancini_mark]

Hi guys,

Long time no post. Anyways, I'm trying to track down an annoying steering problem. It seems to feel loose when the brakes are applied. Also, the car is affected by cross winds more than it used to.

Any ideas?

Mark

[Raz]

How about warped discs? This would give you a vibration through the steering when braking
:)

[George M]

brakes front and back are connected to the car body through the suspension arms. Generally these cars feel loose when braking due to worn ball joints be it, outer tie rods, thrust arms/thrust arm bushings...lower control arms...rear pitman/rear sub frame bushings etc.
Shore these up and your car will feel tight when stopping. A common symptom of worn suspension components.
George

[mancini_mark]

Thanks George

I suspected it might be one of those remaining bits that I didn't change. My front-end is all new except for the center rod and the pitman arms. The subframe and dogbones were also done last year, but I haven't got to the trailing arm bushings yet.

So what do you think? All of the above?

Thanks again,
Mark

[winfred]

if they are more then a year or two old id vote on the thrust arm bushings, i've seen the crap orignal blue ones die in 6 months. the thrust arm bushings take most of the load under braking and when bad will allow the front wheels to move back almost a inch under braking, which screws with the alignment, more so if only one side dies

[George M]

agree with Winfred that the thrust arm bushing are the biggest contributor to loose steering under braking. But other stuff does matter. If your pitman arms are shot...you will notice an improvement there as well. Check your center tie-rod/drag link and idler arm but normally not that big of a player as long as your outer tie rods are in good shape.
HTH,
George

[mancini_mark]

Wow, I hope that it's not my thrust arm bushings. I've got the 750 bushings in there...and maybe they're just over a year old. That would be upsetting if they're already gone. I tightened them under load too (on ramps).

In all honesty, I haven't had a chance to get under the car yet. I've been drowning in the books lately.

Thanks,
Mark

[George M]

keep your nose in the books. I always tried to find time to do both, but not easy if working as well. Would say of all the suspension components that the thrust arm bushings seem to prematurely fail or before the rest of the components. A good run is about 60K. Of course failure is not binary...there are many shades of grey as to was is considered functionally acceptable.
If your other components are suspect and you don't have a lot of miles on your thrust arm bushings, look elsewhere.
George