It didn't take long after purchasing the Mustang to realize the front rims themselves would drag on the control arms when at the extremes of turning. If it were the tires making contact, that isn't as bad but this is actually the edge of the wheel itself. It isn't destroying the wheel but sounds absolutely horrible when it is occurring which has me uncertain of how much I can turn in parking lots.
After researching this a bit, I found you can add steering limiters to the rack that stop the rack from allowing the wheel to turn so much that it makes contact. They were available from LMR for $10 (#LRS-3504HDW). I ordered a set and have actually waited longer than I expected to get these installed.
Watching the LMR video, it showed some easy to remove clamps which hold the steering rack boot in place. Unfortunately, my steering rack has the clamped boot retainers which I had to loosen with a flat blade screw driver. The LMR video also indicated you would likely have some limiters already installed but my rack didn't have a single one. I installed one on each side and then left the boots loose so that I can drive it around see if this adequately solves the problem.
With one limiter installed on each side, it didn't seem like there was any chance of control arm contact when turning left but I expected it would be really close when turning right based on some quick testing in the garage. I put it back together and drove around to test it out. I quickly found that the wheel still made contact when turning either direction.
These little spacers are 6.65mm so I looked for some that are a little wider but couldn't find any. It seems that it isn't uncommon to use two on each side but it does cut down your turning radius. I went ahead and installed two and then put the boots back into place. When testing it afterwards, the wheels don't make contact when turning lock to lock. That makes me feel a little better but I'm afraid I'm giving up a bit of turning radius that I don't need to. I'll drive it for a while and see if it is a problem. If so, I'll come up with a better solution.
No comments:
Post a Comment