I have been experiencing slight steering wheel movement when my 1999 RX is under slow speeds below 20mph. Yes, I have a slight drift to the left at high speeds but at low speeds the wheel moves back and for an inch or two. I swapped the two front tires back and forth to see if the alignment issue would halt. Could this be a possible bushing or clear signs of the steering arm failure with the slow speed issue.

 

May be both your front tires are bad. Try swap front driver side to rear driver side and front passenger side to rear passenger side. If you still feel the same thing then there is not the tires. GL

 

I'll try that this weekend and respond with findings. Thanks for the suggestion and that should tell the story.

 

Good idea, Francis. It doesn't sound like a bushing problem, although that could be contributing to the issue. You may have an alignment situation that is playing into this too. That drift to the left is unusual - most roads are slightly crowned, producing a drift to the right.

 

It might also be some loose bolts on the rack. I checked my bushings when I had my tranny out and didn't see anything bad, but we did find a bad bolt on my passenger side that was a bit loose.

I hope it is not the lower suspension arm bushings.

 

This weekend I rotated the tires front to back. I still have the back and forth movement when moving forward at a very slow speed. The pull to the left is still occurring which I am now convinced is an alignment issue. If I have the alignment and still have issues then I believe I'm into a bushing issue. Thanks for all the input and I'll update findings for the forum.

 

Well have you to then lift the front end a bit and see if you've got play in those lower suspension arms.

 

It turns out that the alignment and camber required adjustment. Also, all my Toyo-Open Country-AT tires are out of round with cupping. There's a lot to be said for new tires and ride. Anyone have any ideas for cheap quality replacement tires for my 1999 RX. I usually buy mine on the Internet, MavisTire.com and have them shipped to my home address to then have my local shop do the tire rim work. I have four decent tires with 70% tread and the tire shop said dump them.

 

I put a new set of Bridgestone Dueler's on my '00 and I've been very happy with them....

 

Conclusion, I installed new front tires and the issue is resolved. Never trust used tires when you purchase a used vehicle. Even though the tires looked fine, the new ones resolved the pull and low speed back and forth movement of the steering wheel. Also, I could have paid $150.00 per Toyo but went with Tires4less and paid $93.00 each.