Strange steering sensation

brenno · Postby **brenno** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 4:49 pm

Hi all,

I'm having troubles diagnosing a problem with my NA. I thought it might have been an alignment issue so I went and got a full alignment done by Spinning Wheel Tyres (at $120!!!). Everything checked out OK. There were some minor toe changes, but on paper it should be tracking straight.

On the road though, the car still veers to the left. Some might say this is due to the camber in the road, but it still does it on an obviously right-hand cambered road.

When in the car park at work, I can dawdle along with quite a bit of right hand lock and the tyres won't screech. If I apply the same lock to the left, the tyres screech, although sometimes it will be fine.

Occasionally when I am parking and use full lock to the left, the steering wheel will pull away towards the lock instead of the usual feel of resistance. This never happens when turning right.

There are a number of clunks and thunks too. This usually happens when driving up a driveway and loading up opposite corners etc.

This is doing my head in! It's as if something is moving around, but I'm not sure what to look for. I've had a brief look at the front end and nothing stands out as being bent or broken.

I'm about to do a full Superpro bush replacement (and I understand a collapsed or worn bush MAY be causing the problem), but want to know what else to look for when I have everything apart.

Could it be a bent control arm? How can I check/measure this? What else should I be looking at?

Just for reference, it's a NA8 with over 220k. New BC N+ coilovers, new R888's on standard wheels, Cusco top brace. Previous owner apparently changed control arm bushes (stock) at around 180k.

Alex · Postby **Alex** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 7:01 pm

I would think diff maybe, based on your experience with \"screech\"
but I'll leave it for the more experienced members

JBT · Postby **JBT** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 7:16 pm

Take it elsewhere for an assessment and wheel alignment or take it back to Spinning Wheel. Something is wrong. :shock:

Charlie Brown · Postby **Charlie Brown** » Tue Jan 15, 2008 3:07 pm

Take it back to Stu at Spinning Wheel. He would have tested the car after he did the alignment check anyway and Iâ€™m surprised that he didnâ€™t pick up the problems you describe. Part of their service is that if youâ€™re not satisfied they will fix or adjust the settings after you have tried it out.

If Stu hadnâ€™t aligned the car and you had these problems Iâ€™d say you had uneven caster on the front but with 220+ klms Iâ€™d say you need to do those bushes.

What is the offset of the rims on the car? If you are running a non standard offset that may be part of the problem.

FWIW Iâ€™ve always paid $88 for my alignments so Iâ€™m surprised yours has cost $120.

brenno · Postby **brenno** » Tue Jan 15, 2008 4:34 pm

SM wrote:I would think diff maybe, based on your experience with "screech"
but I'll leave it for the more experienced members

The screeching comes from the front end only. Stock diff anyway

Charlie: I was suprised by the cost as well, especially given everything checked out fine anyway. I guess I should take it back, at least to confirm that the alignment has stayed where they set it.....or if by chance something has moved.

Initially I did have wheels with a slightly different offset and I thought this may have amplified the problem, but I am back to the standard 14's now and it still does it.

Cheers

rjastra2 · Postby **rjastra2** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 2:09 pm

I had my polo aligned at spinning wheels a couple of weeks ago... guess what? it started pulling to the left (and the steering wheel was askew) quite noticeable for no apparent reason.
Great just before a 3000km road trip. They also gave it an \"aggressive\" alignment yet the car ended up with dougher turn-in than before?!?!

All excuses under the sun pulled out about why it was doing it (tyres, road camber etc). They redid it with little success. Maybe they rely far too much on their fancy equipment.

Will pass on them from now on and go back to Chalmers Tyres down the road who got it right in the first place (and are much cheaper).

bruce · Postby **bruce** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 5:54 pm

You sure it's the tyres screeching? Could it be the brake pads making the noise?

Alfadog · Postby **Alfadog** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 6:16 pm

How's the caster? Most wheel alignment places will set it up so that there is a slight pull to the left... though I realise what you are describing sounds more major.

Get those bushes replaced. Never trust what a PO says!

And are you sure there's nothing under there that looks like it's rubbing? How sure are you the car has never been in an accident?

ANd are you sure the brakes aren't stuck on a bit perhaps?

Garry · Postby **Garry** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 3:46 pm

But rjastra, you didn't get the guru to do it, just some pleb off the workshop floor. And your tyres are farked it'll never steer properly with round tyres.

rjastra has somehow managed to wear the inside and outside corners off his front tyres. They look more like motorbike tyres than car tyres.

rjastra2 · Postby **rjastra2** » Tue Jan 29, 2008 2:43 pm

Garry wrote:But rjastra, you didn't get the guru to do it, just some pleb off the workshop floor. And your tyres are farked it'll never steer properly with round tyres.

rjastra has somehow managed to wear the inside and outside corners off his front tyres. They look more like motorbike tyres than car tyres.

Guru? perhaps there is no guru there anymore. Surely the magical machine should be able to do all the brainwork.

Craig · Postby **Craig** » Tue Jan 29, 2008 5:17 pm

rjastra2 wrote:Surely the magical machine should be able to do all the brainwork.

True...but when one pays peanuts...one gets monkeys applying for jobs! :shock:

Garry · Postby **Garry** » Wed Jan 30, 2008 8:39 am

For a non-standard alignment the guru determines what specs to set everything up to. The machine doesn't tell him what specs to use.

You asked for an aggressive alignment which means the guy doing the job had to use a bit of nouce to work out what will work with your car. If he's had no experience with PoLo's then it may take a couple of goes to work out what works and what doesn't. Which is why Stu at Spinning Wheel is so good. He has a lot of MX5's on his customer list so he's had a lot of experience with different setups and knows what works on an MX5. He may not be so good with VW products unless you are prepared to do a bit of R&D work with him.

If you want an alignment to factory specs then the machine does all the work for the operator and you could go to any workshop that does wheel alignments.

Maybe Stu was on holidays when you went in?

JBT · Postby **JBT** » Wed Jan 30, 2008 11:33 am

Maybe the equipment was out of calibration.

brenno · Postby **brenno** » Wed Jan 30, 2008 12:56 pm

Alfadog wrote:How's the caster? Most wheel alignment places will set it up so that there is a slight pull to the left... though I realise what you are describing sounds more major.

The caster checks out OK on the wheel alignment sheet, although I don't have the figures in front of me.

Alfadog wrote:Get those bushes replaced. Never trust what a PO says!

Yep, I guess that's the first step to eliminate that possibility.

Alfadog wrote:And are you sure there's nothing under there that looks like it's rubbing? How sure are you the car has never been in an accident?

There are a few rub marks but I am very sure that was from the 205/50 R881's I had on at Wakefield. The PO said that it had had a light tap on the front end but everything was replaced. Perhaps I should replace it again.