hello,
So I got a steering problem and it’s got me going crazy. I have a 06 g35 sedan lowered about an 1.5 inches. It’s been about 5 months since I lowerd it, latley I’ve been herring clunking noise in front suspension, not all the time but only sometimes when I turn. The other day my steering got really stiff and when I turn the steering won’t return to the center. My Power steering isn’t making any noise and I’m good on fluid. A lot of people say my ball joints but don’t they usually make a lot of noise when they go bad ? Any idea ?
How did you lower it ?
The economy method of cut springs or the special made spindles ?
Changing the geometry of components can cause havoc.
Get it up on a shop hoist with someone working the steering while a front suspention guru looks under there.
I got new struts and h&r lowering springs. I got it aligned right after. But didn’t have camber kit so all they could do was toe In. I had a mechanic put it on the hoist today and he looked but all he said was that the ball joints look like they need to be replaced but he couldn’t guarantee tht was the problem. He suggested maybe power steering pump going out. But I don’t hear any noise. @“ken green”
Ball joints will often make a clunking sound, especially when going over a bumpy road.
Jack it up and try to pry the lower ball joints around and you may see the movement.
You said that it makes a clunking noise, How loud do you want the noise to get before you check it.
It not going to holler "Help!!!"
Sorry I just had to say that.
Yosemite
Lol yeah it making a clunking sound but people tell me when the ball joints go bad they make a lot of noise and the clunking sound is only every now and then. So idk I just don’t want to put money down on something and thts not the problem you know ? And lmao nah it’s all good tht u had to say tht !
Yep!
When a vehicle is lowered it changes all the geometry angles of the suspension. One of which is the caster angle. And caster angle allows the steering wheel to automatically return to center.
Tester
But it was fine for 5 months and then out of no where it just gave out. My alignment is off but not off by much. So thts why I figured something just gave out, just don’t know what gave out 
@Tester
Caster is the angle from the strut mounted to the strut tower to the knuckle looking at the side of the vehicle.
If that distance is shortened when the vehicle is lowered it increases that angle. This increase in caster angle can then cause the upper strut bearing to wear out faster. This then causes harder steering and no return to center.
Tester
I’m sure you could take this vehicle to a proper shop that does alignments and they could tell you what is worn and needs to be replaced.
And @Tester makes a good point. Often without weight on the suspension the problem will not show up prying on anything, because you cannot put enough pressure on it just with a pry bar.
Yosemite
Ah okay now I know what you mean. So what do you think I should replace first ? @Tester
I’ve heard to many bad things about mexhanics and well now I don’t really trust them. And they charge out the wazoo to. There’s just so many possibilities and it’s got me stumped. @Yosemite
I was going to offer a few suggestions until your last post.
As I said I’d take it to a alignment shop and have it looked at. If anything, they can tell you what parts are on the way out and if you choose to…you can tackle the work.
All you’d pay for is the diagnosis, and you’d know what parts to buy.
By the way…did you think the people here…answering your questions…were carpenters and plumbers!!!
Yosemite
Unless you’re able to cut out the strut towers and weld in new ones so they now align with the lowered suspension, I’d return the suspension to stock.
After all, the people who built your vehicle spent a whole lot more money to find out what worked best, before you tried to out-engineer them.
Tester
I doubt he’ll get your post @ok4450.
He lowered the car, 1.5 inches. That probably cost more than just finding a few heavy weight friends to ride along everywhere and give them each $20.
1.5 inches!!!
Yosemite
Lol no disrespect to any of the mechanics on here. I meant tht as in, my area there’s not to many trust mechanics besides like 1 or 2 I live in a small town. And well what I’m going to do is when ever I fix the problem. I’m going to buy a camber kit so my wheels are straightend out again. @ok5150 @Yosemite
You’ll still need an alignment and that’s probably why you have problems now. You lowered it, yet didn’t get an alignment.
Yosemite
I did get an alignment. I got it a week after I lowerd it. Toe is aligned good but I don’t have camber kit so I still have a little bit of camber on all four corners. @Yosemite the mechanic said its not off by much.
I think what people are trying to tell you is that when you lowered the suspension you changed the caster angle, the steering angle inclination, the way the antisway bar interacts with the steering knuckles, and everything else about the vehicle, You also increased the articulation angles of the links from the steering rack to the knuckles, and the relationship between the way they move through their arcs and the way the ball joints move through their arcs. You’ve moved all of these from being in the center of their arc to being at some other portion of the arc, which means that instead of moving relatively little and in a horizontal plane as they move through their vertical planes, they’re now placing added horizontal stresses on the joints.
Think about it. As the steering knuckle moves up and down on the strut, connected on the bottom to the ball joint, its lower end travels in an arc. It’s also connected to the link to the power steering rack, and that link travels in an arc too. These two arcs interact. If both are in the center of their arcs, they put little stress on the other. If not, if they’ve both been moved away from the center by lowering the car, the begin pulling and pushing on the things to which they’re connected as they’re traveling through that new portion of the arc that is not by the center,
Besides that, the CV joints in your axles normally operate in a near straight condition, creating little wear on the joints’ internals. Now they spinning thousands of time s minute under load while articulated, placing far more wear on them.
The outer joint is like a ball & socket joint with slots in both the ball and socket and small balls in the slots that transfer the torque. When bent, the small balls are forced to go back & forth in the slots under load a lot more than usual, creating a lot of wear.
The inner joints have a three-spoked center with a bearing assembly on the and of each spoke, the whole thing inserted into a slotted housing, the arrangement transferring load while allowing some articulation and also allowing the axle to change lengths as the steering and as bumps move the knuckle through its arcs. By now operating the assembly at a constant angle, those bearings are sliding in and out far more than they were designed to, creating far more wear.
In short, you increased the angles in the joints in your axles to where they’re going to wear far, far faster. That should be expected. The inner parts are flying around a lot more. And you’ve messed up the interactions of the steering and suspension parts. Each moving parts affects the others.
And of you’ve changed the offset on your wheels, if you’ve gone deep-dish, you’ve made the problem much worse by creating greater loads on the joints and the wheel bearings.
Okay, now to my guess. My guess is that you’ve beaten your halfshafts’ CV joints to premature death and they’ve now failed. You’ve also screwed up the way your steering and suspension interact, and you’ve placed greater loads on your ball joints, so they’ll probably need to be changed too. And if you decide to stick with the lowered suspension, at least get a camber kit. That won’t help with the premature wear of your CV joints, but it might (emphasize MIGHT) lower the excess load on the ball joints and might improve the self-centering.
You need some work, my friend. See a good chassis shop. Bring your credit card. You’re gonna need it.
Postrscript: high anxiety when taking your car to a mechanic is normal. That doesn’t make the mechanic dishonest, anymore than anxiety when going to a dentist makes the dentist dishonest.