I notice when driving straight down the road there is a small dead spot in the steering, I can turn the wheel slightly either way and nothing happens until I leave that dead zone. I feel it even sitting still as long as engine is running, I dont see any obvious play in tie rods etc. Seems on other fits I have owned I saw something like this but cant remember. I hope rack is not on the way out. Car has 114K miles

 

Not sure if it's the same thing, but I had a notchy feeling in my steering after I replaced the front struts around 200k miles. After a steady state of the steering wheel, it took a bit of extra effort to change direction. A real annoyance while straight line Interstate driving. Turns out I should've replaced the sway bar end links at the same time. I think it had to do with disturbing the worn part on the pivot points on the end links. Replaced end links with Moog, greaseable end links and steering was like new again.

Mark

 

I can't remember how much play the fit has. Could prolly measure it with a ruler and compare (provided you hold your ruler close &#128514

If you're noticing it, maybe yours is messed up. Steering wheel angle is adjusted at the outer tie rods. Think there's any possibility your front end is duck-footed (vs. pidgeon-toed)?
Another possibility could be worn inner tie rods. You can try jackin up yer front end and jerking the wheels around to check for play (of which there should be ABSOLUTELY NONE - otherwise you have component/s wearing out).

If you do wind up getting a rack for some raisin, don't get a A1 Cardone reman.. I went through 3 of their racks on one car. Each because the deadzone of the wheel was dodgy despite professional alignment. couldnt hold a straight line