Hi Guys, I am new to the forum as I have only just brought my crossfire so hello.
The problem I am having it with the steering and how sloppy it is. I am getting the car pulling to the left and I constantly have to correct it with extra right turn on the wheel. The car feels unstable when at low speeds and when putting my foot down the car snakes about.
I don't get any judder on the steering wheel or shaking but it sometimes feels like I have a flat tyre.
I have had the front wheels tracked and all ok.....not improved
I have now had the car laser tracked on all 4 wheels.......not improved
I have changed the steering dampener underneath.......not improved
I have got all 4 tyres to the correct pressure.....not improved.

Its really getting to me now as I am starting to not like driving the car as I have no confidence in the steering, which is upsetting.

Has anyone any ideas at all? One thing I did do was push the steering wheel forward with the adjustment and it did improve a little, but got in it today and its back to the poor handling.
I have the underneath checked when the tracking was done and told it was all ok......
If anyone could help I would really appreciate it loads...
Thanks Guys,

 

Have you had the brakes, ball joints and tie rods checked? And what do you have for tires on the front?

 

When mine was doing that , it was because of the lower ball joint.

 

I am having the sudden direction movement and "snaking" I recently had an alignment after fixing with K-Mac (or as much as could be done) along with new tires that are balanced that didn't improve.

I searched for DIY Ball Joint and didn't find anyone's experience to see if they are a weekend project or not. I read the lowers aren't difficult but what about the uppers?

 

I dont remember how long it took to change the front 2 lower ball joints, but it took less than a day for sure and it was the first time I've ever changed a ball joint. I didn't have the specialized ball joint puller for our cars, the fork type ball joint puller didn't fit/work. I ended up just spraying it with liquid wrench and letting it sit for 10 mins then hammered it out and made sure to clean up all the over spray of liquid wrench before installing the new joint.

I dont remember all the steps but it was something like, remove wheel, remove caliper/brakes (make sure to remove some brake fluid to avoid spillage from the master cyclinder, then top it off afterwards), remove rotor, support lower arm??(i think that's wat its called), remove lower ball joint.

I think I read that the upper joints and arms have to be replaced together, cant just do the joint. Have you checked the service manual on the uppers? I'm at work and cant check.

 

attached is the section on front suspension for 04 XF copied from mitchell.

I believe all years save the same front suspension, someone correct me if I'm wrong.

 

Is there looseness in the steering wheel?
Car parked, steering wheel centered, key off and ignition turned on to unlock wheel.

The should be little to no play in the steering wheel when you lightly try to rotate it.

Can you display before and after alignment number.

I would expect a good alignment shop to check for bad parts; test drive and advise.

How many miles on car.

 

Think you are correct on the upper joints. I used the Autozone "loaner" heavy duty puller..and a "C" clamp to keep it's two arms on the lower ball joint..

 

new tyres cured my similar problem