slight wobbly steering??

[EDawg]

my steering wheel feels a bit loose and wobbly when i drive over uneven roads. on smooth roads everything seems to be fine. what are potential causes of this symtom?? front wheel balance?? front wheel misalignment?? loose steering/suspension parts?? something worse??

[peterkulesza]

could be a bunch of things, but it ain't alignment or wheel balance. bad alignement usually shreds tires with no symptoms, or tugs the car left or right. balance will shake the car or steering wheel, in proportion with speed on smooth roads.

tie rod ends or suspension ball joints. have someone check ball joint play: wheel can walk away if this gets real bad.....

peter

[EDawg]

assuming my problem has to do with the balljoint play, is this a very involved repair?? about what ballpark figure do you expect it will cost to have this repair done??

[peterkulesza]

i have not looked at the front of an e46 car in detail, so my comments below are out of my arse.

if the ball joints are the culprit, expect parts to be about $40-$60 a piece, and labour about $400. alignemtn on top of that after everything is put back together. ball joints usually start going about 50,000 or later.

peter