RE: couldnt you just
The stumble you are referring to may not be an indicator of any kind of problem. Just in case, lift the front end up a little and grab the top of the spindle to check for play in the upper control arms. The lowers are a little tougher. Support the front of the car, put a jack under the control arm/ball joint and slowly and carefully lift it a little so it's not sitting at full rebound. Then put a pry bar under the tire and try to lift up, and check for play in the ball joint. Try to move it whatever way you can to make sure. Also take a close look at the strut rod bushings. Those tend to go also, but you will see when those are bad.
If all that's good, you're likely feeling the effects of less than 100% ackerman steering.
When a car travels in a circle, the inner wheels follow a tighter radius than the outer wheels. Therefore, the inner wheel needs to turn at a greater angle. What angle depends on wheelbase and track, mostly, and must vary with steering angle. If the wheels turn exactly so that neither one is dragged sideways, you have 100% ackerman steering. But in reality you have something between 0% (both wheels turn the same angle) and 100%. The reason for this is that the turning circle is defined by the average between the angles at the two front wheels, give or take. The inside wheel will be the limiting factor because of mechanical constraints. So they make the outside wheel turn a little further in, decreasing the turning radius and making it do that little hop thing when you turn tightly at low speeds.
