Tracking and steering!

[niall campbell]

cheap tyres will have minimal effect driving straight.

You may get improved handling round corners etc

But unless your a loon or david coulthard , I just stick on the cheapest rain tyres I can from asdatyres ..............................

[craig_27]

Hi, Thanks for replies,

How does swapping the tyres from front to rear affect driving straight? Surely if the alignment is spot on then it wont make a difference?

I think I am going to take it back to where i had the 4 wheel alignment done and just get them to re check it and make sure the steering wheel was perfectly straight whilst they carried out the alignment.

I cant think of anything else? I have read it is common on these cars and all vw's for the steering wheel to be off centre due to road camber???

[rowdy-999]

Hi, Thanks for replies,

How does swapping the tyres from front to rear affect driving straight?
I cant think of anything else? I have read it is common on these cars and all vw's for the steering wheel to be off centre due to road camber???

Swapping the tyres will eliminate if there is an issue with the tyres. The may look perfect, but they may have a manufacturing fault.
Personally i believe you answered your own question in your first post. Its due to road camber.

[turboextreme]

My brothers golfs steering was like you described when being driven ie turning the wheel slightly to the right on a straight road when we got it on a garage ramp and checked the suspension components we noticed that the top section of the drivers side coil spring was broken.

[craig_27]

Hi thanks for the reply, May be worth me checking that but my car does drive perfectly straight when I drive in the centre on the crown of the road.

However today I swapped the front wheels with the rear wheels and took it for a drive, It made the problem even worse, this time the steering wheel was a long way off center towards anti clockwise when driving straight so I have swapped the wheels back to how they were.

When I removed the rear tires i noticed that the tread on them is very low and I'm pretty sure they have been on the car from new and have done 41k. I'm now thinking the rear tires may be causing this steering issue?? I am going to replace them now anyway so I will fond out if this is the case.

[niall campbell]

Its okay switching front to rear, but you haven't switched the front ones over firstly

It could be a rogue wheel that just has to sit on one side only on the front.

1) I would have swapped the fronts over first . This is usually enough to fix your problem

2) if no improvement , then swapped one wheel at a time from front to rear.

3) By swapping 1 wheel at a time from front to rear, and its made the steering worse, then I would have considered putting that wheel into the boot as a spare.

4) By swapping wheels around, you are finding the rogue wheel & remembering where it is & making sure at next tyre change, you tell the tyre fitter to keep that wheel in the same position, stand and watch to ensure this happens !!

I have had cars in the past that I have put a rogue wheel into the boot as a spare

By getting new tyres on the rear, or indeed all round , then at least now you know the history of the tyres, no rallying or bouncing off kerbs or indeed part worn tyres put on the car at some point.

[craig_27]

Hello

I have now got my new rear tyres and I still have the problem with the steering wheel being off centre? Is it now worth me putting these new tyres on the front to see if this rectifies the problem??

I can't swap my fronts over as they are directional.

Thanks all


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[niall campbell]

Swap them over one at a time & road test to find out if that makes a difference

Or just swap the two over & if not straight, swap them over at the front to see if that makes a difference

[craig_27]

Hi,

I will swap the new tyres to the front and see if this now makes the wheel straight at all times, The 2 new Rear tyres aren't direcional so I can swap them over at the front if I need to. Surely if the brand new tyres go on the front this will sort the problem out?

You said in your last reply about a rogue wheel, do you mean the rim itself could be causing the problem or the tyres?

Thanks

[zollaf]

ok, so if you drive down the middle of the road to rule out camber, or on a flat road, the steering wheel is level and the car drives straight, is this correct. ? then on the cambered part of the road the car drives to follow the camber slightly ?