whats wrong with my suspension

[bowlofturtle]

Stock S14 everything. On low speeds everything is good nothing loose or annoying. At highways speeds when taking a turn at 65-70mph the car shifts. It feels like the front is shifting, say i'm taking a RIGHT turn, it turns right smoothly and then DARTS to the right and back to smoothly again.

Its very random and sometimes doesn't happen, i looked over for anything obvious and didn't see much.

I see a lot of posting about tention rods, not sure if that something. Someone told me to look into replaceing tie rod ends because one might be going or possibly ball joints.

I'm only interested in daily driving this S14, so no drifting stuff, just want this to run nice and safe with little investment at all.

[Hijacker]

Toss the front in the air and wiggle the tires. You can check them for play by doing that. Case in point, my wife's car had bad ball joints and tie rod ends and when you unloaded the suspension by raising it, you could see the suspension move in places it shouldn't. Also, given how old the S14 is, it's very likely those components are failing anyways. If you're really uncertain, just take it to a shop and have them put it up on the lift to check it.

but yes, the suspension is loading and binding in weird ways mid-corner, which is why the car feels darty. The tension rods set the caster, which has an effect on forcing the wheels to want to point forward depending on how much caster is set in. Now, the 240 doesn't have caster adjustability from factory, and the bushings are notorious for dying horrifically. Your options are to order new tension rods from Nissan, press in hard rubber bushings, or change to an adjustable rod with a metal heim joint.

[bowlofturtle]

OK so tension rods are mainly for caster settings. That worn bushing... cause bad tire wear and thats it?

thanks for the in-depth posting. Will jack up the front and wiggle both wheels.

[compactfean]

No, itll cause bad Tire wear, a wierd phantom ” lane change”, the famous 240 ”death wobble”

[bowlofturtle]

I'll search for those terms when i get home.

Question about the Balljoints. They are press in/outs held by a Snap ring correct? Most sites are showing me i have to get whole arm with the ball joint already there.


What are good or bad brands to go with in terms of tie rods. I might just do them as general maintenance. I normally go with Raybesto service/prem grades or MOOG stuff pending on pricing. Then i was reading how some tie rod ends will not fit on some inners tie rods and not its all confusing.

[SoCal-S13]

do you feel the jerk in the steering wheel?


my car does that sometimes because my steering rack is blown. ill make a turn and then feel the power steering kick in hella late

[Hijacker]

I'll search for those terms when i get home.

Question about the Balljoints. They are press in/outs held by a Snap ring correct? Most sites are showing me i have to get whole arm with the ball joint already there.


What are good or bad brands to go with in terms of tie rods. I might just do them as general maintenance. I normally go with Raybesto service/prem grades or MOOG stuff pending on pricing. Then i was reading how some tie rod ends will not fit on some inners tie rods and not its all confusing.

You can buy balljoints from MOOG that are direct replacements. Most other shops will sell you the control arm and balljoint together.

As for tie rod ends, I used MOOG rod ends when I replaced my rack last year. Very good quality part, which is what I expect from MOOG. Just make sure you get rod ends for your generation S chassis. The people mentioning fitment issues probably were trying to hyrbidize parts. S14 and Z inner rods are thicker than S13 inner rods, but they'll attach to an S13 rack. But then S13 outer rod ends won't fit.

[liquid_cool]

you can get compleate arms off of ebay for $50. bucks..thats what i drift with...its the same price as just the ball joints..of course i weld and box mine in..but thats me..cheep is cheep..

[bowlofturtle]

found out its my pass side tie rod end. Boot has a little tear but you can see that its the only thing moving.

How are ebay tie rod ends? Seems i can get a pair for $20 shipped. Compared to just getting one Raybesto tie rod end. I should replace both right? How is the alignment going to be if i count how many turns i made.

[liquid_cool]

alighnment will be off..you might get it close..but not perfect..as for the ends..you could get wicked ends for 30 bucks sometimes off ebay..i use wicked ends and tierods..awsome stuff for the price imho.

[BigBoss]

i had a ford focus with the same issue and it turned out that my alignment was wayyy off.