Steering Feel Has Loosened?

davemarco

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Have a 2019 R with less than 8K miles. Everything felt amazing until I recently impacted a large-ish metallic object on the highway with my front passenger tire and blew it out. Since then, I've noticed that the super tight, sharp response that I used to get in +R mode sometimes disappears and the steering feels loose-ish. I've also noticed an increase in steering wheel free play (slop) in +R mode, from nothing to maybe 5 degrees in either direction. I've had the tie rods and ball joints looked at multiple times, and neither the dealers nor I could see any tears/bends. I've also jacked up the car and attempted to move the tire that blew out in every direction but it feels solid. Finally, I've had 3 alignments out of OCD, so the alignment is solid.

At this stage, I'm wondering if the impact could have somehow introduced extra play into the steering rack and pinion. I know on older cars, there is a physical adjustment that allows you to decrease the free play and stiffen the steering response. Does our car have such a thing, and if so, is it adjustable?
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bebyrd

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Did you buy just one tire? I think these cars are just sensitive to mismatched tires...you might try matching the set. I had mine rotated the other day and had loose feeling steering after. One tire had a few PSI more than the other and after adjustment it went back to normal.
 

.grimace

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Did you have the new tire shaved to match the others? I’d of rotated the rears to the front and put the old front and new shaved front in the rear for now
 
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davemarco

davemarco

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Did you have the new tire shaved to match the others? I’d of rotated the rears to the front and put the old front and new shaved front in the rear for now
I did not have it shaved - I had actually asked around about something like this on FB, but no one knew of a mechanical way to shave down a tire. Where would I go for this?
 

.grimace

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I did not have it shaved - I had actually asked around about something like this on FB, but no one knew of a mechanical way to shave down a tire. Where would I go for this?
with how fast our OEM tires wear I'd be curious to see what the old tire is at tread depth wise vs the new one. You likely really need it shaved or it can cause issues with your differential. I sadly think you can only get people to shave a tire when new, I have Tirerack do it when replacing a flat or ruined tire.

Try rotating the old rears to the front and new tire/ old tire up front to the back and see if that changes your steering feel. Is the car pulling one way more than it use to, I see you got alignments so maybe that covered it up
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