so my new control areas are on the front. Haven’t been able to do rear yet.
The difference is amazing! She’s like a new vehicle. There is a ton less noise and vibration.
I also updated to an adjustable track bar.
I still feel like I’m getting some bump steer. Nothing like it was, but a bit of wandering when I hit a bump in the road, and the steering still seems a bit loose.
1. The new control arms and torqued to spec, but I can ever so slightly rock them side to side. Is this a problem?
2. Could my control arms in the rear be contributing to the bump steer? They are not as worn as the front were but they need to be replaced. Should I wait to replace them to start looking for other causes?
Describe your idea of 'bump steer'.
Does it feel loose, or is it physically pulling you around the road.
As
@AndyG said, worn rear arms can allow the rear axle to move slightly, which will in turn cause some weird handling characteristics.
Replace ALL of your arms, that way you KNOW you have a solid working foundation to start chasing other causes (if there are any).
It's pretty tough to chase other issues, if the literal foundation of your axles is out of wack.
(control arms are single-handedly the only component holding your axles in place. They're significantly more important than they may seem.)
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As far as the control arms moving, if you replaced with factory/oem style 'rubber bushing' arms, you can move them VERY slightly by hand.
Should NOT be able to fully move them by hand, just some slight compression of the rubber bushings, but I guess technically YES they can be rocked side to side slightly. As long as this definition of 'slightly' doesn't entail the arm being loose.
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Throw a straight-on photo of your front end in here.
Might be easy for someone to recognize something funky/wrong and point you in a direction for your loose steering.
(dropped pitman comes to mind, but unsure without seeing a photo)