inner & outer tie rod ends bent

At 160K if you still have the original outer tie rod ends, they are worn out (probably several times over). The inner tie rod ends probably aren't very good either. They are easy enough to replace yourself (espically the outer ones) and not very expensive. Replacing the outer tie rod ends is easier than an oil change. Check out some of the videoson Youtube!

The inner tie rod ends might be bent, but I'm not sure how you could bend an outer tie rod end.

replacement of worn tie rod ends and an alingment will not cure vibrations. the vibration may be led to the parts wearing out. need more info about the vibration. On acceleration, on decel, any difference while braking, while turning etc.

ch

MTED wrote:

Excellent! Now you know there's a problem and what it is.

That's because nothing was done for it, and if you don't do something about it, you will wind up ruining your tires.

Maybe. But it something you need to do immediately, because if you don't do it first, you will have no chance of finding any other problems.

If the rods are bent, the vehicle cannot be aligned, and if the vehicle cannot be aligned, you can do no real diagnosis on the problem.

Would you rather spend $500 on a new set of tires every year instead? Fix the damn thing. 160k is not a lot of mileage for these cars. When you get two or three times that, then you can start worrying.

--scott

I sure wish posters would include the year of their car. Makes searching for parts pictures a lot easier.

Technically, it doesn't matter how bent the tie rods are. They can look like a piece of spaghetti, as long as the swivelling joints end up at the proper location, the wheels can be aligned. Not safe, not recommended, and not the right way to do things, but technically possible.

Kinda hard to bend the inner tie rod, unless the car was towed by a real moron, and he threw a hook around it, or used it to lash the car down on a flat bed, or the car was run into a curb sideways (does it snow where you are?). You might also look at the steering knuckle where the tie rod attaches. If there was enough force to bend one part, the other is likely bent too.

Here's an inner from a 94, nice and straight...

As for the outers, they look sort of bent from the factory... unless it's also bent in a downward direction.

Bent wheel from the snow-covered curb?

True but I expect they aren't bent at all. I expect the OP was told the tie rod ends are worn and that information got lost in the translation. If the toe-in was off because of bent tie rods that would not cause vibration. If the toe-in was more or less correct but the tie rod ends are badly worn then vibration triggered by hitting a bump would be likely a symptom.

-jim

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I agree. Worn joints can cause a vibration. Bent rods cant.

Bent perhaps, but worn (and bent)? I think so.

Bent rods -> misalignment -> uneven tire wear -> vibration.

--scott

Bent tie rod ends that are bent beyond adjustment limits can only cause excessive toe. Wacky toe causes tire wear, un-centered steering wheel, and maybe a change in turning radius. But not vibration. I dont believe I've ever seen bent tie rods without a bent or damaged rim, which should have shown up when the tire ballance was performed. HTH, Ben

If there is looseness in the suspension, tie rod ends, ball joints, etc, then a misalignment condition can aggravate vibration problems. This is what I believe I know to be true.

Bending with simple misalignment, but with no unbalance nor looseness, is not likely to provoke vibration.

If parts are worn then by definition it is not aligned properly (at least some of the time). If the tie rods can hold the toe to where it is supposed to be with zero lash then they aren't worn. Vibration due to loose tie rod ends come not from misalignment but from rapidly oscillating alignment. If the tie rod ends are worn and toe-in is out of alignment by a lot that excessive misalignment will actually help prevent the vibration since it loads the tie rod ends in one direction so that they can't oscillate as freely. For the same reason vibration due to loose tie rod ends will only occur when steering straight ahead. Turning the wheel puts a directional load on the tie rod ends that suppresses the vibration. Since it is also possible for misalignmet to reduce the natural loads on the tie rod as well as increase it, you can't really say anything definite about alignment allowing them to oscillate more freely. But if the misalignment came about because the tie rods got bent in some way it would seems extremely unlikely that would create a condition that would reduce the loading to the ends. Since he was told that replacing the tie rod ends would cure the vibration it is a pretty safe bet that he was also told they were worn and not bent.

-jim

This is what I believe I know

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First of all thanks for all your answers The car was made in 2000. I'm not sure about when I can feel more the vibration. I could say that decelerating it's a little more noticeable but it might be just an impression. I omitted a big piece of information and I apologize for that: one day, after I left home, I immediately noticed a huge noise coming from the front of the car while I was driving. I decided to drive to the garage, instead of going work. When I was at like 100 feet from the garage, I lost the left front wheel. Thanks God I was driving less than 5 miles/hour when it happend. Either the night before someone unscrewed the wheel, trying to steel it (I have sport rims), or maybe the screws just got loose (all together ???) and it happened what it happened. I felt an idiot at the beginning and almost started swearing, then I thanked God because it didn't happen when I was driving 80Mph on the highway... Anyway, vibration problems started after that. Also, the same day I also changed the tires (from a "dry" tires to "all-seasons", it snows here in New England...). So It was hard to understand where the vibration problem was coming from.. tires or something else? Likeley from the tie rods at this point Most likely do the alignement in 2-3 weeks and I'll let you know. Thanks again to all of you