My front end is starting to really wander...
 

I have noticed that my '89 911 is starting to really wander on the road. I used to only notice this on the freeway and thought it was just following cracks etc in the pavement. But now I notice it all the time even driving as slow as 20 mph. Any ideas? I had the alignment done about 3k ago but the problem is getting noticeably worse each time I drive and it's making me nervous.

Thanks,

-David

Double check your tire pressures...this time of year with temps changing can cause some weird quirks.

How may miles? Hard or normal driving habits?

Check front wheel bearings for correct adjustment. Look at tie rod ends, ball joints and steering rack for play. Top shock mounting for tightness?

ianc

Sounds like tie rods or ball joints. Do you have turbo tie rods? Might be a good excuse for an upgrade!

could also be castor or toe out - have you checked alignment?

mine is doing the same thing and a mechanic told me the shocks need replacing? could that be right?

Mine was solved with new ball joints. You can check by jacking the front up and turning the wheels lock to lock listening for gross sounds. Mine made a pop and creak on the a drivers side. Easy to check for broken boots over the ball joints. If they're split, the ball joints need replacing.

Toe in and out definately plays a role with stability. If your ball joints are out, you can't get a good alignment.

Shocks? I'm doubting that is a factor.

Brief how to:
Cut the nut off the old ball joint. Tighten with the tool only. You'll get the info if you search. You're gonna need a long pipe extension to tighten the nut and have a small jack to hold the tool and breaker bar against the NEW nut.

Get all new fasteners- like the pin and nut that holds the shock to the ball joint.

An air hammer helps split the cut nut. ***** star difficulty.

Definitely check the ball joints. I had replaced both of mine 2 years ago (about 5k miles) and found one of them to be shot this past summer.

Not sure what caused it but once replaced problem solved.

I saw another post not too long ago where someone said he replaced his front shocks and it totally transformed the way his car handled. Mine has 120k and I drive it aggresively on the street. Never done any track time. Every day it gets noticeably worse(!).
-David

Shocks do transform the car, but they don't make the car wander. If you do decide to replace the tie rods and ball joints, it's a good time to do the struts and sway bar bushings too....

My tie rods were causing my car to wander at 63K miles. I did ball joints, TTRs and bushings. No more wandering. I also did struts. IMHO, rear shocks did more to improve handling than the front. I did the rears first. Big difference.

If the car is wandering worse every day, there is something wrong. Stop driving the car until you find out what it is. It could be very dangerous. If a ball joint fails at speed it could kill you.

Let us know what you find.