My 2014 GT has handled poorly since I bought it used a few years ago and I figured I could sort it out myself, but it still has issues. It wanders, randomly pulls and the steering wheel tugs so that I'm always having to jink it one way or the other. It's tiny, but it's there, it's real, it's annoying and potentially dangerous.. The car had original Pirellis and now has Nitto 555G2s on stock 18s, which didn't make much difference. I thought it might be a bad tie rod end or something, so trying to tame the steering I have done the following: New sway bar end links (they were clunking); new stock lower A-arms (w/ bushings and ball joints); Koni STRs front and rear; solid GT500 upper strut mounts; new inner and outer tie rod ends. The alignment is in spec. In addition, I have upgraded the rear with GT500 trailing arms. Everything looks Kosher and the steering is tight but it still has that random nagging tugging at my hand that feels like the car wants to go somewhere else and I constantly have to gently but firmly tell it no. I can't think of anything else but the EPAS steering rack. I've done all of the other stuff myself, but will probably have to farm out the EPAS and I really don't want to. Has anybody seen this kind of behavior in the EPAS?

 

Are you the original owner of the car? Has it been in any accidents? Does it occur during cruising speeds or when you get on the throttle?

 

It was a Ford repo I bought w/ 7k miles. Not a scratch. Clean Carfax. At low speeds it pulls to one side or the other. Felt most noticeably at low speed stops, when it can pull to either side. At high speed it wanders and requires lots of attention to keep it on track. More than any other car I've owned, which included 3 other Mustangs, 2 Corvettes, and some other noteworthies. When I jump on it, it squats and gets a bit squirrelly in back, but I expect that in a high HP car with a pretty stock live axle rear end.

 

Only things I can think of is that the steering angle sensor either needs to be reset or possibly replaced.

It may be possible to diagnose this by turning AdvanceTrak off and seeing if the steering issues persist or go away. Be careful, but there's no need to drive any harder than normal to see if the problem persists in your normal driving.


Norm

 

I actually tried turning advancetrac off but didn't really notice a difference. Think I'll try it again. Thanks.

 

late to the thread but what is the Caster spec of the car and what is your car set at?

Caster is what allows the car to track straight or straighten itself out when you come out of a turn. If that is not set far enough on the '+', you can end up with wandering steering because the geometry is left open to just follow the road and whatever bumps you hit.

https://www.tirebuyer.com/education/...affect-driving.

It's non adjustable from the factory but can be easily made adjustable with camber/caster plates. As your car ages, the caster (and camber) on these cars can permanently adjust to a less desirable spec because there is no factory built-in adjustment.

 

Stock caster. It's an idea but the car only has 40k miles on it and wear's not an issue since everything has been replaced anyway - lower arms w/ bushings and BJs; inner/outer rod ends; sway bar end links; struts; GT500 upper strut mounts. Plus, the back end has GT500 trailing arms and an adjustable panhard bar w/ poly bushings. I think it should drive better than stock as it sits w/o caster/camber plates.

 

In Spec and drives right are two different things. My cars alignment was within spec for years but I always got inner tire edge wear on the front end tires and the car was always tracking unevenness on the road pulling to one side or the other like you describe. The edges of the tires weren't feathered which would indicate toe (plus that was in spec anyway) so it was the camber/Caster. Camber was in spec too but was too negative for my driving habits.

After I added camber/caster plates I added about 0.25 degree more caster (which changes camber). Changed the camber to account for the caster and added a bit more + camber for better wear. Toe Spec was also adjusted to comensate the change in Caster/Camber. Viola! Car tracks straight as an arrow now without inner tire wear and I'm in "spec" just like before. The little arrows that indicate where I fall in the spec are just in different positions than before.