Steering squirming under heavy braking/at high speed?

[veevee]

Driving at high speed (RWD car, accelerating or not makes no difference), or under heavy braking, my steering squirms about quite a bit, it can be a bit unnerving sometimes. Feels a bit like tramlining, but occurs even on perfect surfaces. Any ideas?

[Ray Luxury-Yacht]

Is this a new thing?

Could be:

Tyre pressures
Uneven tyre wear
Tracking
Worn suspension arm bushes
Worn steering rack
Knackered dampers
Broken front spring


We need a bit more info!

[14-7]

Low tyre tread. Worn bushes.

[ModernAndy]

Sounds a lot like your rear suspension being knackered (but of course could be something very different). Does one of your rear tyres have loads of wear on the inside?

[veevee]

Tyres are all good, I'm going with some kind of front suspension bushing, steering is very vague around centre. Just wanted to try and narrow it down before having to replace the whole lot!

[varsas]

First thing I'd do is get the tracking/geometry checked. Apart from anything else most places will check it for free so it'll cost you nothing...and good places will advise you if they find a knackered track rod end, bushes or a broken spring or whatever.

This car...it's not a convertible is it? Just wondering if the brackets holding the steering column to the bulkhead could have failed.