Common Suspension and Steering Problems and Tips to Fix Them

Your car’s suspension and steering system is complex and is structured to provide you with a smooth and a safe driving experience. A periodic check of this system would not only enhance your driving experience but also enable you to fix problems much before they spin out of control.

The system of suspension and steering is positioned low in an automobile. As a result, not only does it bear a continuous onslaught of the road conditions, but is also vulnerable to being hit by rocks an other objects due to its low position. Hence it becomes crucial to review this system regularly to forestall the car from breaking down.

The following are some of the most common symptoms indicating a problem with the suspension system for you to keep an eye on. Remember that one problem or several in conjunction with each other may cause the various symptoms.

1. A Loose Steering: Here you would observe that the steering wanders excessively and appears to move freely from side to side.
   
   
• Possible Causes: The possible causes for these symptoms include loose wheel bearings, loose/worn out steering linkage, faulty shock absorbers, worn ball joints, low power steering fluid, worn strut bearings, worn/broken tie rods or even steering rack, and broken steering rack mounts.
  
  
• Solutions: You’d need to carefully inspect each of the parts to know whether they are intact, need service or replacements.While inappropriate levels of steering fluid can be easily corrected by filling up the steering fluid reservoir, worn out and broken parts would need to be serviced properly or replaced completely.
2. The Car Swaying To One Side: You would often experience while driving that the steering automatically pulls towards one side, and it can be highly inconvenient to drive with this issue cropping up.
   
   
• Possible Causes: When faced with such a situation you can expect the following reasons to be the causes: an inappropriate tire pressure, uneven wearing of tires, improperly aligned wheels at the front end, malfunctioning steering components (viz. steering rack, tie-rods), wheel bearings that are loose, bent/loose front-end parts, faulty shocks or a sticking brake caliper.
• Solutions: The advantages of maintaining the right tire pressure extend beyond the system of suspension and steering. By keeping your car’s tires properly inflated you could save a lot of money through some great fuel economy. Fuel economy aside, to rid your car of this problem you’d need to have the alignment of the front wheels and bearings checked and adjusted. While some components need to be serviced, you may have to replace others, such as the shocks.
3. Excessive Wobbling Of The Wheels: If you're struck by this bug you’d experience the wheels to wiggle to-and-fro.
   
   
• Possible Causes: This behavior of the automobile can often be attributed to inappropriately balanced wheels, inappropriate inflation and irregular wearing of tires, or worn out part of the steering.
  
  
  
• Solutions: Wheel balance can be corrected with professional help, if you find the tires to have worn unevenly replace them, but do so in pairs. Additionally, the tie rods, steering rack need to be assessed for damage and repaired if needed.
4. The Car Bounces After You Cross A Bump: You experience that the car keeps bouncing even after you have crossed a bump.
   
   
• Possible Causes: If you experience such a situation the shock of your automobile might have worn out or the leaf spring might have slipped or badly damaged.
• Solutions: The shocks if they were worn would need to be replaced and so would the broken leaf spring. If the leaf spring has just slipped then a simple repair would work.
5. A Slipping Steering: If you get a feeling that during turns the steering wheel slips back and for, you might have an issue to take care of.
   
   
• Possible Causes: The most likely reasons for this behavior could be inappropriate levels of power steering fluid, a malfunctioning power steering pump, worn power steering belt, leaky power steering rack or badly damaged steering rack mounts.
• Solutions: The power steering pump needs to be checked for pressure, the belt tightened or replaced, and leaky steering racks for leaks repaired or replaced as needed.
6. Hard To Steer: You begin to notice a difference in the effort you need to exert to turn the steering.
   
   
• Possible Causes: The varied reasons for a hard steering include low or uneven tire pressure, loose steering pump drive belt, low/inappropriate power steering fluid levels, incorrect front end alignment, a malfunctioning power steering pump, bent and badly lubricated front end components.
• Solutions: The need to have a correct tire pressure can’t be overemphasized and so is the brake fluid level. The belt needs to be adjusted or replaced and the pump repaired. Though defective parts need to be replaced, proper lubrication of the front-end parts can surely take care of it if poor lubrication is the only problem.
7. Vibrating Steering Wheel: When faced with this issue you would experience the transmitted oscillations when you hold the wheel.
   
   
• Possible Causes: The problem is often attributed to incorrect tire pressure, loose wheel bearings, out of balance tires, worn or bent front end components, and improper front end alignment.
  
  
  
• Solutions: To resolve the problem, inflate tires to correct pressure, and balance the tires as well. Further, an adjustment of wheel bearings and thorough service of the front-end alignment might have to be carried out.
8. Knocking When You Cross Bumps: When faced with this problem you would feel knocking or clunking when you go over the bumps.
   
   
• Possible Causes: Most often this problem crops up when either the shock or the struts have worn out. Another cause is a worn out ball joint.
• Solutions: After you assess the damage, replacement of shocks, strut bearings and ball joints are perhaps the best cure.
9. Screeching Sound: If faced with this issue you’d hear the sound coming out of thesteering mechanism when you attempt a turn at low speed.
   
   
• Possible Causes: The causes could be low levels of steering fluid or a loose/worn out belt.
• Solutions: Fill in the fluid as needed and adjust or replace the belt after assessment.

As is often said prevention is the best cure, prevention in the context of an automobile boils down to its timely maintenance. The suspension and steering system too needs it, so that your vehicle performs well and gives you the least amount of trouble. The following maintenance schedule should keep this system in good shape.

Even if you haven’t been keeping to the schedule of maintenance, never mind, you can begin afresh. Further, if you’re faced with any issues described in this post you would be able identify them and take corrective action.