'98 GT, 87k miles. Bone stock sans K&N and glasspacks.
New tires last November and a 4 wheel alignment. Everything was green according to Ford.
Couple months back I started getting some clunking when turning in both directions at low speeds; several clunks immediately after one another.
I also get a clunk when the car is stopped and I'm just turning the wheel back and forth in either direction. I get one solid clunk when I turn the wheel maybe 15-20 degrees in either direction when the car isn't moving.
Going further, I have a slight steering wheel shimmy at 55-60 mph. So, low speed turn clunking, standstill clunking, and a 60 mph shake.
I had the tires rebalanced and rotated, that didn't solve the problem, and they told me my rims were nice and round.
I took it in to have it looked at, and was told everything in the suspension was nice and tight. They told me the rack bushings were the cause, so I replaced those. The steering was really nice and tight before that, but now it's absolutely perfect...not one tiny bit of play whatsoever. The steering feels excellent, smooth, not too hard, and the wheel centers itself nicely coming out of turns. No whine at full lock. This solved the problem...for two days. For those two days the car didn't clunk at all. Then all of a sudden it's back. The sole complaint I have with the steering is that the car drifts left a little, but that's probably since it hasn't been aligned since November and I've been driving on potholes for six months...probably just alignment there.
Wheels are good, suspension is tight, rack bushings are new, steering checks out and feels great.
What else could it be? It's driving me insane. I was told it appeared my shocks/struts are OE and I should consider replacement just because of mileage, though they don't leak and the car still rides nice and isn't bouncy.
New tires last November and a 4 wheel alignment. Everything was green according to Ford.
Couple months back I started getting some clunking when turning in both directions at low speeds; several clunks immediately after one another.
I also get a clunk when the car is stopped and I'm just turning the wheel back and forth in either direction. I get one solid clunk when I turn the wheel maybe 15-20 degrees in either direction when the car isn't moving.
Going further, I have a slight steering wheel shimmy at 55-60 mph. So, low speed turn clunking, standstill clunking, and a 60 mph shake.
I had the tires rebalanced and rotated, that didn't solve the problem, and they told me my rims were nice and round.
I took it in to have it looked at, and was told everything in the suspension was nice and tight. They told me the rack bushings were the cause, so I replaced those. The steering was really nice and tight before that, but now it's absolutely perfect...not one tiny bit of play whatsoever. The steering feels excellent, smooth, not too hard, and the wheel centers itself nicely coming out of turns. No whine at full lock. This solved the problem...for two days. For those two days the car didn't clunk at all. Then all of a sudden it's back. The sole complaint I have with the steering is that the car drifts left a little, but that's probably since it hasn't been aligned since November and I've been driving on potholes for six months...probably just alignment there.
Wheels are good, suspension is tight, rack bushings are new, steering checks out and feels great.
What else could it be? It's driving me insane. I was told it appeared my shocks/struts are OE and I should consider replacement just because of mileage, though they don't leak and the car still rides nice and isn't bouncy.