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I got into a car accident in my 99 civic awhile back and the steering feels real loose. I propped it up today and had a friend hold the wheel straight while I shook the tires left and right as well as up and down and there was no play. I assuming this means that my TRE and Camber is fine but correct me if I'm wrong. What else could cause loose (unresponsive) steering. It steers, it's just pretty squirrely. Should I change the power steering fluid? Also I've tried steering it while it's raised and it steel feels pretty loose so I don't believe it would be that my tires are lacking tread, which they are. But like I said, I shook the tires and looked at the TREs on both sides and they don't look damaged, it just seems that the steering wheel isn't turning the wheels like it used to. It's all over the place and dangerous to drive. Thanks in advance for the help.

 
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camber is adjustable to some extent in alignment.

have you had any alignments recently? Caster low would be my guess. or toe out

 
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The car hasn't been touched by a mechanic since it's been crashed. It's been sitting in my drive way. I'm a bit under educated on terms, what does "toe out" mean?

 
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It means the front of your tires point to the outside of your car as apposed to pointing straight (zero toe) or in (negative toe).

 
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^ All 4 tires need to point straight forward when the steering wheel is straight. (eyeball judgement)

You can set the steering wheel straight and kinda sight down the sides of the tires to see if they line up with the tires on the opposite end of the car.

If you smacked a curb (or whatever) and one wheel got pushed rearward an inch, that will affect handling (and bent parts). Use fingertips between tire and fender to gauge the gaps, roughly (at 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock positions).


Look for bent, loose, broken stuff, most likely on the corner that took the impact.


It might be wise to do this before you or someone else gets hurt.

 
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I'll be checking on all this stuff today and posting results tonight. I don't drive it, that's why I haven't taken it to a mechanic. I've been living life without a car. I wouldn't drive it by any means until it is fixed.