I took my car in for a clunking noise that turned out to be a caliper issue. My mechanic also inspected the front end and everything is pretty good except he said that the steering bushings are worn and that the side to side play in the rack was more than normal. He said I will probably need a new rack. I told him that I had replaced the bushing for the updated poly bushings but he said the mounting bushings are fine its the bushings inside the rack. Has anyone else experienced rack wear like this. I asked him if it might be the tie rods and he said no it's the bushings.
Quite frankly the car seems to drive reasonably well for its age. In fact I think it drives really nice for a car with 230K miles on it but then I am a bit biased. Admittedly it's not anywhere close to my ISF but I am not ready to give up on old faithful...

Anyone ever changed out their rack or rebuild/repair it?

 

it could be time for a new rack but has inner and outer tie rods been done? but the internals after 230k are probably worn out...

 

well a quick compression might be able to tell if the engine needs some work or you could still keep on truckin.

but yeah steering racks take a very long time to go out. but they do.

forgot to say. clunks in the front may be the ball joints. god damn ball joints. lol

 

I’m always skeptical of a “bad rack” diagnosis since often the problem is just the rack bushings (or a combination of bushings and tie rods).

If I were you, I would first check the inner and outer tie rod ends. If they are both good, pick up a set of Figs poly rack bushings, install them, align the car, and see if any problem persist.

In 2013, Lexus of Redwood City told me that my rack has play in my 2001 GS430 and needs to be replaced (quoted $2200 initially and later dropped it to $1800). I told them I was skeptical of their diagnosis. I took the car in to Custom Alignment in Mountain View and they confirmed that the rack bushings were bad and that the rack was just fine. The rack bushings were replaced with Figs and the car has been great since 2013.

Also, what rack bushings are you using? If you say Sewell/Adus, that's your problem! https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sus...balancing.html

 

Maybe adjust the pre tensioner?