'95 Legacy LSI Front End wobble...

[Bill Pelka]

Greetings,

I have a 1995 Legacy LSI with 109K miles. All is well except that at about
65-70mph there is a noticeable wobble in the steering wheel. If speed is
raised above 70, it goes away. The brakes were changed at the dealership
years ago and I still have the original rotors. I also have the same
bushings, all of the rubber suspension parts and wheel bearings. Is there a
good site with info about the parts that might be in need of replacement? I
have had the wobble for a while prior to a passenger side front axle shaft.
Leaking boot over the CV joint.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Bill

 

[KLS]

Greetings,

I have a 1995 Legacy LSI with 109K miles. All is well except that at about
65-70mph there is a noticeable wobble in the steering wheel. If speed is
raised above 70, it goes away. The brakes were changed at the dealership
years ago and I still have the original rotors. I also have the same
bushings, all of the rubber suspension parts and wheel bearings. Is there a
good site with info about the parts that might be in need of replacement? I
have had the wobble for a while prior to a passenger side front axle shaft.
Leaking boot over the CV joint.

Tie rod ends.

 

[jbeaudoin77]

Check your alignment, and tire wear. If the alignment is off, it can
cause uneven tire wear, which causes the wobble at certain speeds. I
had the same problem in my '00 Legacy. Unfortunately, if that is
the problem, even if you fix the alignment, you'll probably need new
tires before the wobble goes away.

 

[Carl 1 Lucky Texan]

How old are the tires. Not just tread wear, age also. Perhaps they have
some seperation going on.

Carl

 

[Bill Pelka]

Thanks for all the replies.

The tires are less than 6 months old. Just had them rotated and the problem
is still there. They are good tires and the cars seems to track well and not
"eat" tires. The wheels were balanced when the tires were installed. These
are the original wheels and are removed during winter. In Spokane the roads
are not heavily salted, so I eliminated the wheels, I do feel that the
problem is front end suspension, bushings or, as suggested, tie rod ends.

Any more suggestion? I love this car and want to get it smooth again. AND
I want to do it my self and stay FAR away from the Dealer...

 

[Edward Hayes]

I'm thinking is the alignment is off as to toe-in or even the caster
is off. Toe in can be check with two pieces of 1X2 inch wood with a c
clamp. Toe-in should be 1-3 mm for my Forester. Caster I don't think
you can do at home so try the toe measurement first. Another area to
check is the steering rack bushings and tie rod ends. ed

 

[ed]

Check the wheel balance, cheap to do and definitely will cause a wobble at
those speeds if out of balance.
Ask the tech to check the balance before he/she re-balances the wheels;
usually they pull off the weights and then balance the wheel, so you won't
know if the wheel was initially out of balance or not (unless the wobble
goes away, which tells you they were in fact out of balance).
Uneven tire wear or belt shift will also cause a wobble, and this can
usually be seen when the tire is spinning on the balancing machine, but
mention this as well to the tech, so they will be looking for a wobble as
the wheel spins on the machine.
Ed B