Fro98686

No play in the wheel. New KYB;s and new strut rods/bushings. All other parts are original. 155K miles.

What is the likely culprit for wandering on the freeway?

It does have new tires, Bridgestones on front and Walmart Douglas in back. Inlated to 30psi.

Thanks, Fro

RA40

iTrader: (6)

Could be a number of items. Was the car aligned after the strut rod bushing install? Other areas: worn upper-lower control arm bushings, tie rod ends, ball joints...

Fro98686

Yes it was aligned after the strut rod bushings and struts at Les Schwab, they didn't say anything about any worn parts. I had a front wheel bearing and hub replaced and while it was there the suspension shop replaced one bad ball joint and said all else was fine.

Fro98686

I inflated my tires to 30psi when it was cold out, maybe now with warmer weather they are have a higher psi than 30, maybe that is it.

dicer

There is both a front and a rear suspension, anything loose in either one will cause it to be squirrely. Radial tires by design are squirrely, that's why bias tires were the preferred race tire. The tires I have on most of my cars say 45 psi max, I usually run them at 40.

RA40

iTrader: (6)

Switch the back wheels to the front and see how it does. Does it trammel/ follow the groove on the highway or random wandering from the road crown? 30psi is lowish, 36-38 is often nominal.

2KHarrier

Just a thought here. My 2001 LS does a similar thing now that I've been running the winter tires. The aggressive, soft tread on them (General Arctic Altimax) definitely has effected handling, and it does wander on the freeway, especially in a cross wind. It also follow grooves in the road. They're great in the snow, but I can't wait to get the Yokohama's back on.

Fro98686

The car seems to exhibit random wandering from road crown more than following groove in pavement. All I know is that is harder to keep straight than my 2014 Mazda 6.

I can deal with it, heck, I used to drive a 1977 Dodge Aspen with 2" play in the wheel

deanshark

Last week the back of mine started wandering on the highway around curves doing about 80. I was thinking it's just cuz I need rear shocks. NOPE!!! A couple miles down the road I had a blowout. (Of course the spare was flat)
Try putting in more air, 30 PSI is too low, that could also give you the wandering. (and bad fuel mileage) As RA40 said, 36-38 is normal. I usually go about 38 but lower to about 34-35 in the summer b/c they build more pressure in the heat.

Banshee365

Check the rack bushings.

oldskewel

iTrader: (1)

I had a similar situation in my '91. I'd think the problem was gone, then rolling down a crowned road it would start to pull excessively. Tough to nail down what the problem was.

This suggests that there is a failed component in your suspension that keeps things straight and OK with light loads, as you'd have at lower speeds and on flat road.

But at higher speeds, or when the road crown is there (you don't notice it on turns because you're controlling it), something can shift and you no longer go straight.

So you should get under there and test for a partially failed component somewhere.

On my car, it was one of the upper control arm bushings that had failed.

Of course the easy things like alignment, inflating tires, and rotating front to back, left to right, etc. are good to do. But I'm assuming you've done all that already.

Losiracer2

I would say check your LCA bushings. My 97 used to wander and after I pressed in new ones along with new strutrod mounts and KYB shocks, it greatly improved the straight line stability and tracking.

I have a feeling my rear will need some attention too also. Probably lower carrier bushing next and maybe rear caster arm bushings.

YODAONE

If you haven't already replaced sway bar links and bushings,,then have a look.Stay with OEM for sway bar bushings...Only aftermarket brand to use for sway bar links is Moog...if you can afford go OEM here too.

At your cars mileage and age..EVERY suspension part is likely in need of replacement. (sorry) Stay away from shops who only replace one side of any suspension component.

Sagging springs? The rear springs are age problem prone on LS400 so the dealer will.likely have in stock. Stay away from aftermarket here too. If the rear is too low the rear tracks funny and requires constant steering adjustment...

Fro98686

Thanks to all.

Yodaone, back of the car not sagging.
Oldskewel, pretty much hit it right on the head for describing my problem.

Plan going forward is to replace the upper UCA's with ball joints(more expensive Dormans), replace passenger lower ball joint the shop said was fine(they already replaced) the driver side lower.
New bushings in lower control arms. All that will be old will be tie rod ends.

Already has new kyb's and strut rods.

We will see where that gets me.

djamps

Mixing different kinds of tires isn't helping at all. My wandering was solved 80% with new (matching) tires and the rest fixed with new strut rods and alignment. Drives straight as an arrow 208k miles, even with the original (barely working) shocks.

Check the rear control arms as well, those bushings are known to fail and will cause similar issues as the fronts going out.