Ever since I've owned my 89 the steering has been a bit of a pain. Parking, for example, usually involves swinging wide or a series of backing up/pulling forward. I've never driven a vehicle that had this kind of behavior.
At work, I must make a sharp right-hand turn to leave, and if I do not get a wide enough angle, the right tire will get pushed by the car and it won't steer any further, which causes me to veer into the opposing lane. There is also an occasional clunking noise when I make a hard turn or stop in the same area, but after doing some searches I think its either an old ball joint or strut.

1. Is this abnormal or is it simply the characteristic of having a "non-performance" (non-Iroc/WS6/etc...) steering box?

2. What would be the first things to check?

This is my driver and shedding any light on the subject will help. Thanks in advance to all posts.

 

About the wide steering angle...Welcome to the club. Third-gen's are kinda hard to turn real sharp. A "performance steering box" just means you have to turn the wheel less each time you back up, not the amount of times you'll back up.

About the clunking...ball joints and the upper strut mount would be the first things I check. And I'd peek at the 'frame' to x-member bolts. Should be 3 on each side. They tend to get loose over time. Search for "popping" in the suspension board and you'll find some threads.

 

I"ll check the cross member bolts/strut this weekend. The popping rarely occurs, but I want to take care of it early. The car needs new shocks all the way around anyway, so that will be attended to this summer.

Another question on steering angle: I have 215 series tires and I think my car originally came with 225's. Will this have any effect on steering at all? Would it be worth the trouble to change out the steering boxes for a "performance" model?