Steering rack
 

I dropped the X off at the dealer this morning. When braking hard my steering wheel was going wild. I thought it was warped rotors. They called and said I need a new steering rack. I seached and see there are threads on replacing steering racks but there's no mention of my problem. The only time I had an issue was with hard braking. No clicking noise, so shimmy. Can someone explain in girlie terminology.

TIA :)

Hmmm, is it your tie rods that has gone bad?

Can someone explain in girlie terminology.

The thingy that turns the wheels is broken, it's to loose. Mine was done a year ago also.

For God's sake get your thingy fixed! Seems early though.

They're fixing my thingy now - I don't even have 25K miles.

Laura - let's see if I can describe this in such a way that you can picture it...

Your steering wheel is connected to a rod that runs through your dashboard and fire wall to somewhere between the front wheels. At the end of this rod is a round gear called a "pinion gear". The teeth of the pinion gear mesh with the teeth on the steering rack. Keeping it simple, the steering rack is also considered a gear, but it's not round like you might think a gear should look, it's a straight bar with gear teeth on it. The steering rack is perpendicular to the rod that I described earlier and it sits between the wheels like this ()====(). The front wheels are connected to the ends of the steering rack. When you turn the steering wheel, the pinion gear moves the steering rack back and forth to make your wheels turn. This is where the term "rack and pinion steering" comes from.

Did I do OK? Did that help? ;)

I got that but why would I have an issue only when braking hard, she is pin straight the rest of the time. I have been noticing a 'skip' when I go over uneven road seams lately.

Thanks for the girlie explanation :thumbup:

I don't know that answer, but I'd guess that the steering rack bushings are worn out and when you brake, the force is causing it to move in the wrong direction or to vibrate. My question would be "why is it gone so early in it's life?". Steering racks should last waaaaaaaaay longer than that! It was probably defective to begin with...

When you brake the load changed to the front of the car and the steering rack is responcible for the stability during that time, if the pinion (worm) gear is worn the rack will move back and forth causing a vibration

Thank you! :)