Uneven tyre wear/Tracking...

[Kneel]

My cars tracking has been out for a while, I've just replaced the wheel bearing, track rod ends and a bottom ball joint however there appears to be a little bit of play in the steering rack. Its not causing the steering wheel to wobble, so its not a big amount of play but with the wheels of the floor you can move it by about 1mm side to side..

I know the rack needs changing ideally, but I'm short of money. My question is can I get the tracking done and will it stay aligned with play in the rack or should I wait until I have replaced the rack?

There is uneven tyre wear on the tyres, the outside edges are wearing out a lot quicker than they should be (near bald after 10-15,000 miles!). Is this again a symptom of the rack and tracking or is it likely to be something else. The camber etc looks right to the eye after putting my coilies on and the tyres were badly worn before they were put on...

 

[mr.pink87]

track rods themselves are ok?

 

[Alastair.]

steering arms ok?

 

[Kneel]

Track rod ends are both new so they are fine. I'll have a look at the steering arms, but I think they are fine.

 

[sideways danny]

it's the INNER track rods ends (part of the track rod) that you need to be looking at. It's worth looking at the bushes that mount the rack to the subframe too. I've seen a few recently with "clean" marks on the rack where it's moved side to side in the bush

 

[Kneel]

It going into the garage on Tuesday I'll get him to look at that bit. I HATE climbing around under cars on axle stands. Are they similar price to the normal track rod ends Dan?