Sloppy steering advice

[Ken Mikos]

My 1985 911 has 50,000 miles. 4 years ago I replaced the front struts, rear shocks and had a 4 wheel alignment, the car handled great. Earlier this year I replaced all four tires using Continentals Pro-Contact All Season radial with each wheel touqured to spec.
After installation of the new tires I noticed a lack of response. When turning the steering wheel, I can move it 1” to 1 1/2” before the car responds. In addition, there is very distinct noise from the front suspension that sounds like bad rubber bushings. Looking from underneath the car, the sway bar bushings and tie rods all look good and solid without any cracking or movement. In fact I can’t find anything that looks warn.

One other area I been considering for this lack of steering response is the rubber steering coupler, could it be broken?

Hoping you fellas can give me some direction before I start tearing things apart. Thanks in advance for all your advice.

[r lane]

Yes, and while you are in there, there is a needle bearing and bushing to replace. Bob

[GH85Carrera]

Many new tires haave a mold release agent on them. It wears off after 30 or 40 miles. Go for a drive down the highway for 40 miles. Then make some turns and see if it gets better. I had one set of tires that felt like the road was wet oor almost icy. It cleared up after several miles.

[Ken Mikos]

Thanks for the reply Glen. I have over 1000 miles on the tires so any coating is worn off by now.

[Cory M]

The rubber bushing you speak of can wear out and break. When it happened to me it wasn't a gradual thing though, it was very sloppy all of a sudden. Another thing you can consider is upgrading to turbo tie rods. The standard tie rods have a rubber bushing on the inboard side, this is replaced with a metal spherical joint on the turbo tie rods.

[Ian Comerford]

From experience I would check the rubber donut and also your steering UJs first. I found a lot of play in the donut and replacing it removed 95% of the problem. A UJ was also showing wear and it was an opportunity to grease the roller bearings as mentioned above. Not complicated or costly