99 ford taurus. Had an installer put on a new drivers side front bearing I got from a dealer on ebay. Noticed I still had some shake in steering wheel while braking, but not as bad as before. Jacked up wheel, and sure enough, tire still has some back and forth movement. Not bearing I dont believe, but rocking movement. Thought I'd get an opinion here before going back to mechanic. Does this have something to do with cv joint?

Thanks

 

Hi Marc,
Some FYI.
If you can feel and notice wheel movement when the wheel is off the ground and your hands are on the top and bottom of the wheel, It could involve the strut mount or the lower ball joint. If you feel movement with your hands at the 3 o'clock and 9 O' clock positions it could involve tie rod ends or even steering linkage. Two things to keep in mind, where you raise the wheel is important to unload the ball joint and sometimes it is helpful to have someone move the steering wheel back and forth with the engine idling and wheels on the ground to look for any looseness in the tie rod ends /steering linkage. It is surprising that the person that replaced the wheel brg assy did not catch any other looseness.
Brake components should also be checked.
A cv joint problem would most likely be present and noticeable more so when turning.
Unfortunately, just about all the things mentioned had to be disturbed to correctly replace the wheel brg assy.

 

It is more like holding at 9 and 3 oclock, I can see whole wheel back and forth, and no reason for it. Mechanic just cares about changing parts I give him. Not much else.

 

Marc this is a somewhat touchy situation because many "mechanics" don't like to install customer's parts for the very reason the customer purchased the parts cheap and now if it doesn't correct the problem the mechanic gets blamed. If for instance the part was defective and the mechanic purchased it , he will usually do the job over at no addl cost to the customer. If,however,the customer supplied the part,he will install it ,but will assume no responsibility for the part or the cost to do the job over again. I hope you can see the logic here.
Getting back to the movement of the wheel in question, if the engine was not running when you checked the movement at the 3 & 9 positions you will feel the looseness in the rack which is not present when the engine is running. The best way is with the engine running to have someone move the steering wheel back an forth with the wheels on the ground while you observe the tie rod end for any looseness. There should be none.

 

Well, sometimes it doesn't pay to do your own diagnostics, as I don't have a lift and someone to work with me. But when I bought it to him today, he showed me the tie rod needed replacing.
It seems he noticed this when he replaced the bearing, but its a small one lift garage, and he only replaced the bearing I asked him to, and that was it.
This is why I dread going to mechanics these days, as you can find someone to do the work cheap sometimes, but then again, he shows he doesn't really care enough to even tell me after the repair it needs something else. Happy that I was happy he replaced the part cheap and didn't want to risk making me angry by telling me afterward it was the tie rod all the time. Understandable for a take the money and run place, but poor practice.
Shake gone, steering wheel not straight, next stop a good allignment shop.

 

Chances are the tie rod end that was replaced is responsible for the steering wheel compensating for an incomplete job.
Important suggestion, get the alignment done ASAP because it can ruin both your front tires if what is called "Toe In" is not set correctly.

 

I was a mechanic for a couple of years, then got a job for the taxi commission here, where I go under the car with the front tires on a shaker plate, to do a quick inspection. We also have a brake test machine, very efficient. Only wish they would let me bring my car in once in a while, but city rules are pretty strict.
I see the results of poor allignment, constantly wearing out the inside of the tire. Will try to get the allignment done tomorrow. Thanks.

 

Hi Mark,
Glad you understand the importance of not waiting to have the toe checked.
A lot of folks figure if the alignment is corrected anytime, the tire(s) will straighten out with use. What they don't realize is what was worn off due to an alignment problem still wears after the alignment has been corrected and the safe useful life of the tire is greatly reduced.