1999 Escalade wheel alignment/power steering

[r.knighter]

Hi all,

To sum up the following, I am wondering what needs to be fixed: do another wheel alignment, power steering, or new tires? As well, I am not the most mechanical person, so I apology for clumsy wording, ignorance, etc.

When I test drove the truck in March 2012, the front-end felt nice and tight and responsive. It did not feel like it needed a wheel alignment, and was a vast improvement over my 1997 Grand Cherokee.

Two weeks later, it was in my possession and had been certified. The certification was done by the mechanic who maintained the vehicle for the previous owner because I thought that he would be familiar with this particular Escalade. He did the following for the cert: replaced upper and lower ball joints, idler arm, rear brakes shoes, u-joint and the pitman arm, and he replaced two old Michelin tires (I can't, for the life of me, remember if he put the new ones to the front or back) with two Neptune Experience 265/70/16s.

When I picked it up, I immediately noticed that the truck needed either a wheel alignment or a power steering adjustment - to drive and hold straight, I had the wheel turned 45 degrees to the left. And after a turn or two, 45 degrees to the right, etc. Back and forth. As well, the steering wheel felt loose - there was very little tension or resistance when turning the wheel.

Then, I took the truck to my family mechanic (who had repaired/maintained my Jeep and my father's cars for 20 years). He did a wheel alignment, adjusting the front wheels, but also noted "*RIGHT FRONT WHEEL HAS EXCESSIVE -VE CAMBER: TO ADJUST NEED TO REMOVE CONTROL ARM TO REMOVE LOCATING LUGS*" and said that he was not able to remove the locating lugs and do a "perfect" alignment. He said that because of this, a perfect alignment may not be possible unless taken to a GM dealer. Is this true?

His alignment did improve the front end, but it quickly went back to the off-centre steering I described above. However, it was not as bad as immediately after the certification. Still though, I was not impressed.

Shortly after, I had the two other Michelin's replaced with two more Neptunes.

Six weeks later, I took the Escalade to another garage, that had been strongly recommended, to me to replace the slip-yoke and u-joint as per GM's technical bulletin (http://ww2.justanswer.com/uploads/heavychevy396/2010-01-02_122225_Slip_Yoke.pdf) to fix a "clunking noise" upon acc- & decerlartion. He suggested I buy parts from a Chevy dealer to save the 19% up-charge his garage puts on orders. I did so, he did the repair job and the truck has not clunked since. At the same time, he also did another wheel alignment and was very disappointed that he couldn't do a better job (went out for three test drives before finishing). He did mention that the GMs do not allow too much adjustment when doing wheel alignments and that this year of GM was using older technology than other same-year trucks. Nonetheless, he was hoping to have done a better job.

He finished up by saying that I should put on different tires because my Neptunes are crap. His garage doesn't carry Michelin's, but Michelin's are what he said I should get for the Escalade to would help the steering/alignment feeling somewhat.

So, should I invest in the Michelin's in hopes of helping my steering problems, have the power steering looked at, have a GM dealer remove the locating lugs, or is everyone telling me something different so it's not their fault they can't fix it, or is GM steering/alignment known to be poor? I love my truck! But I'd also love a straight wheel.

Thanks so much everyone.

 

[r.knighter]

Any ideas?

Thanks again.

 

[r.knighter]

Still nothing? Is my question too broad?

 

[SunlitComet]

In a few words, your upper control ARM mounts need to be punched out to allow for a camber caster bolt kit. A specific tire is not required and have your steering EVO system check for problems. Any one with a high end scanner like snapon, OTC or tech2 can interrogate the system.

 

[Haro504]

If I had to guess I'd lean towards you steering box is worn or needs an adjustment. To have that much play in the wheel and none of the steering components dangerously or noticeably loose I'd look at the steering box or even the steering shaft. The camber adjustment isn't too important it mostly affects cornering. He most likely told you to bring it to a dealer because he doesn't want the trouble of doing it. The tires could be a factor cheap soft tires can give a soft feel. It's hard to tell you what it is without being there but with the engine off have someone turn the wheel back and forth and look around to try and find where your getting excessive play. Are you able to move the wheel back and forth without the tires turning? Keep the engine off and watch the wheels and turn the steering wheel back and forth till they just move and see how much the steering wheel moves. Other factors are the crown of a road can cause you to have to steer into it so you don't go off the road. Control arm bushing could be bad. Most of this stuff should be easily found by a good mechanic. I'd personally look at the steering box, but an extreme possibility could be the rear axle has a problem if the rear end is moving around then you'd have to compensate with steering the front.

 

[r.knighter]

Thanks HARO.

I'm leaving town for work for a week and will look into this immediately when I return.