found a couple old posts but no real answers. i didn't want to resurrect 2002 anyway. my front end has been acting real squirrely for the last 5k miles or so. the car wanders and kind of follows dips and flaws in the road at lower speeds. above 55 or so i get a pretty bad shake in the steering wheel. i've replaced both straight control arms and a tie rod end that seemed loose. had it aligned (stock height), nothing has helped. today on my way home i got a series of clunking noises from the right front. after that the front almost felt like it was dragging and rattled over even small bumps. i got home and found the inner third of the right front tire was worn right down to the belts. (wasn't like that yesterday) i jacked it up and yanked back and forth on the wheel and pried on the ball joints and nothing seems loose yet driving it felt like the front end was going to fall out. any ideas what i should be looking for?

Check the curved control arms as well for play. You will have a difficult time mimicking the force of the car however when doing it by hand.

Keep in mind that if the curved control arm or its ball joint fails that the wheel assembly can push back closer to the fender well.

If your inner 1/3 of the tire is worn that bad your wheel assembly is toe;ing out severely and scrubbing your tire down.

Originally posted by CODE4
If your inner 1/3 of the tire is worn that bad your wheel assembly is toeing out severely and scrubbing your tire down.

That's what I was thinking reading through the whole post. The toe setting is fucked and it's causing really nasty bumpsteer and wandering. I'd start by getting the car realigned

i think the wandering was toe out. the tire wasn't getting worn until the other day though so something definitely broke then. nothing really seems loose, but i think i'll start by pulling the curved arm and see what that looks like. thanks for your help guys

Originally posted by bitchmagnet
nothing really seems loose

Like I said before man, parts will often seen tight when you pull on it by hand or with a pry bar, but can easily show its face under the weight of a 3000 lbs vehicle.

Also keep in mind a ball joint will behave differently under full suspension droop versus at operating height.