Kia Rio tie rod replacement tips

wanted to throw this out there in case others do theirs

to test bad outers feel the ball joint if you can move easily by hand its bad, for inners if they flop up and down without resistance they're bad

highly recommend doing outers and inners TOGETHER - you will also need toe plates or an alignment afterwards

COUNT the number of turns when taking off the outers and write the number down for each side - then put the new ones on with the same amount of turns

also the inner tie rod tool is REQUIRED on these cars as there is practically no other tool that will get in there to loosen or tighten them in that small of an area - good luck if you try this with pliers or a monkey wrench

after doing the job I doubt I could have done it without the OMT tie rod tool - but its not expensive

make sure you REALLY tighten the inners using the tool - or they WILL come loose when you are adjusting toe later - and then you will have to tear everything apart again to retighten them - happened to me on both sides - there is a special WASHER that goes between the inner and the steering rack that keeps it from loosening, make sure you reinstall it correctly

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND USING BLUE THREADLOCKER BETWEEN ROD AND RACK - in fact I'm going to take mine back apart on both sides just to apply it - this is NOT something you want coming loose on you at high speed or you'll be in big trouble - also chances are you will never have to replace or remove those inner rods again

you will also need 2x 2" worm clamps for the boots - the bands on there aren't reusable

also don't forget to GREASE up the tie rods before install - my outers came ungreased from amazon and failed within 2 months because of that - you have to zerk them or use a syringe

i used Febest brand for outers and CTR brand for inners both are pretty cheap, not that you have many options