I needed to replace my lower control arms and while I was at it I decided to replace the compression rods since they are original at 94,000 miles. I bought new lower control arms and compression rods from RockAuto.com They are the Mevotech brand. Cheap but seem nice enough.

My clunking on my lower control arms is gone but I have a new problem. When making sharp turns the steering wheel won't return to center on its own, if anything at a certain point it wants to turn more. This happens whether I turn left or right. The car tracks straight still. I will go get an alignment soon but with only toe adjustment up front, I don't know if this will fix this issue. I am lowered on g35 s-tech springs but I have been for years now. It may be my imagination but it bump steer seems to have increased a bit also. To me this all sounds like caster angle has changed but I don't see how that is possible.

Has anyone else had this problem before?

 

I have heard of this problem on the forum before, but it was due to adding aftermarked camber arms.

have you gotten an alignment since replacing?

 

No I am going to as soon as I can get some time off work or this weekend, whichever comes first. But with only toe adjustment up front and swapping stock parts for what are supposed to and appear to be stock replacements I don't see how it will help. Seems strange

Thanks for your input by the way.

 

I got an alignment and the only thing that was off from the last alignment was the toe. I had 1 degree of toe in on each front wheel. So with two degrees total toe in I guess our crazy double pivot point front suspensions can't handle it and almost make it bind with the length of the tie rod ends? It drives fine now though. I guess the mevotech compression rods were just a tad longer causing the toe in and the what I am going to call binding at hard turns.

So for those who have trouble with steering not returning to center on its own it might not just be the tell tale sign of caster misalignment, but with our double pivot front ends, toe can also cause this.