1991 348 tb with approximately 30,000 miles here. I have searched the many threads available (I promise!) on how to remove the steering rack on our cars, but none of them seem to offer detailed advice as to what constitutes "too much" play. In other words, when does one know that time has come for a steering rack rebuild? For instance: should there be any play at all in the steering wheel with the front end jacked up? In my car the steering wheel has about a two-degree (I'm eyeballing it here - probably less) amount of play side-to-side before it engages the rack. Also, when I grab each wheel I can feel *some* play with my hands at 9 and 3 o'clock, but none when I try to move it with my hands at 12 and 6 o'clock. If I were to quantify it I'd say the play at the wheels is in the neighborhood of maybe 0.5 centimeters. Neither the play at the steering wheel nor that at the wheel feel excessive but what do I know?
No play at all. ZERO play when jacked up at the front and wiggling the tires. Do that check as shown below in post #16 at the bottom of it. Pretty much guarantee you have that issue they all do to some degree. I replaced my rack and tie rod ands and ball joints and it is dead nuts solid. Huge difference in the driving experience when its tight and aligned I might add. The main issue is the outer rack bushing (passenger side US) fails its just plastic. Then you get variable toe while driving making it feel very unsure making it car wander and responded oddly to slight inputs worse the faster you go https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/started-348-steering-rack-rebuild.591467/
