[wardhorn]

Hi all,
I recently picked up a 98 Deville W/ 110k miles to replace may battle weary 91 Deville. The only complaint I have about this great car is the steering. The car rides perfect and does not pull but it wants to wander around mainly noticable at highway speeds. Way too much steering is required to keep this car on the road. The driver is required to constantly correct.

I took it in to my mechanic for a 4 wheel alignment. The car is aligned properly (I made him do it twice). And steering linkages are tight.

The feel at the wheel is that there is several degrees of very easy steering wheel movement in either direction before you can feel the firm resistance of the power steering system (it gets harder to turn). The driver is constantly bouncing the steering wheel back and forth between these abrupt boundaries to keep the car on a line (straight or curved). Not very fun.

My Mech. said that it may be strut bearing plates getting tight or the hard compound Michelins (in cold Michigan) causing the poor performance, or some other magical combination.


Is the rack system adjustable to tighten down this dead spot?
Does anyone have any other ideas to improve this condition?
It bugs me so bad I'll sell the car if I can't figure it out.

Thanks

 

[Krashed989]

Here, this thread might be of use to you:

http://www.cadillacforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=58996


Also :welcome: :wave:

 

[wardhorn]

Thanks for the tip. I'll discuss this with the new mechanic I am going to try next.

I've seen a lot of threads with front end issues that involve "clunks". That is one thing that I do not have as a symptom whatsoever. The car rides extremely smooth and quietly with no clunks or abnormal steering feedback.

The cost to replace the strut bearings is about $450. Has anyone had experience with these?

I also saw another thread somewhere where rack preload adjustment was discussed. Any comments on this?

Hmmmm