Just picked up a 03 EM2 Coupe 5-speed a few days ago and when I’m driving under low throttle or just coasting (haven’t tried hard accelerations yet figured best not to) the car seems to have some play or looseness in the steering. It also has a little knocking coming from the right front wheel area, guy told me it was just bad control arm bushings and I believe that to be true. Could these control arm bushings be causing the looseness in the steering? It doesn’t feel related to the rear in any way. Also for an extra bit of info it’s on ESM-007 17x9, not 100% on offset since I haven’t got down to look yet.

appreciate the feedback. I’ll replace the bushings and see if that takes care of all problems, didn’t know if it might be because of such a large/wide wheel size.

Bad control arm bushings will definitely cause problems with the steering. Also, check your ball joints and tie rod ends too. Bad tie rod ends or ball joints can definitely cause noise and play in the steering, and will effect the alignment.

No the car isn’t lowered any, and sits like a monster truck. Still rubs slightly on one rear wheel when cornering. Haven’t had the car long so it hasn’t had the wheels off to check for wear and tear on suspension components. Looking to go for coilovers a lil later down the road, anyone recommend any good kits? And I bought the car with the wheels and tires on it didn’t include the stocks.

I’m fairly certain the car came stock with a rear sway bar? It most likely still has the stock one which I’ve heard are really small so I might look into getting a new one. I haven’t had the car long so I haven’t taken the time to look under it at any of the suspension components, he told me it needed new front control arm bushings for sure but that was all he knew. He had just replaced the head and gaskets since he bought the car with a blown head gasket. He said it will sometimes throw the P0401 code. He said it wasn’t the EGR valve itself but was unsure what the exact problem was..