My 2001 TL seems to have excessive play in the steering and requires a lot of attention to keep it going straight on the highway. It drifts, and must be corrected frequently. Is this just the way the car drives, or is there something wrong with mine? New Yoko V4's and an alignment have failed to correct it. Comments?

 

My 2001 TL seems to have excessive play in the steering and requires a lot of attention to keep it going straight on the highway. It drifts, and must be corrected frequently. Is this just the way the car drives, or is there something wrong with mine? New Yoko V4's and an alignment have failed to correct it. Comments?

 

tire pressure, or possibly something bent/broken?

 

i dont know but i just picked up a 99 TL and noticed the same thing

 

Are all of the steering components tight down there? A loose rack or bad tie rods could do that.

 

Do the hand test. Stick your hand between the gap from the door and the tire (that is to say, side of tire, not top of tire). If the gap is different on both sides then a control arm is bent or the rack is damaged. And like fla-tls said, could be bad tie rods. Maybe shitty alignment job?

 

it is definitely not normal. you should be able to drive with ease on the highway with minimum attention to the steering wheel. i'm not sure about taking off the steering wheel and tightening stuff which might be possible, but i agree with fla-tls in that it might be a tie rod or bent suspension component.

 

something must be wrong. bring it to a good alignment shop and let them look at it. something has to be worn out, you say excissive play in the steering? id say possibly the rack is worn out then

 

what does the rack look like and where is it?