Steering wheel play/ issues

Hey everyone, recently over the past month I’ve started to see my alignment get worse, I have to keep the wheel crooked to the right to keep it straight and as I get past 60+ mph the steering wheel feels almost loose with a lot of dead space, as almost like I am swerving left and right throughout the lane. There is a grinding noise that comes from under when I turn the wheel stationary but nothing when I’m driving. Im guessing it’s the rack and pinion finally giving out, as I was advised previously that it was needed to be replaced eventually, but I saw no leaks under it and thought it was okay after putting in poly bushings. But after one night when I started the vehicle up and it was semi chilly outside the steering sounded like I had a supercharger in the engine and after that day I started thinking parts … I’m not really sure what I’m asking here but should there be any other parts I should check that could be causing it? Any help or advice would be great, I would appreciate it!

 

Get the front end off the ground and check your ball joints for play, tie rod ends and wheel bearings.