Hey all...have done a search on this, but couldn't find a full answer. Whilst driving, with the wheel held straight all is fine. If I let go of the wheel, it turns ever so slightly to the left and obviously starts to drift in that direction. I think it may be just the camber of the road. However, if I am going along, again with the wheel straight, and I start to accelerate gently, the car starts to drift to the left. Not viciously, but enough to notice...Any ideas? Does it sound like tracking, or something the dealer should look at?

Also, if and when I do need it tracked, should I let the dealer do it, or just use the local tyre place. One of the threads mentioned that the octy is notoriously hard to get the tracking right on...

Cheers

Ventmore

Mine does have a slight left pull. Not really sure why, but it does seem pretty common...

Rob.

Particle physics contains the explaination so I was told by a strange man in a chair with wheels and a beard.

Mine do's this to had it looked at wit the laser tracking thing but it was alright, it also drifts around alot on the motorway, just won't holed a straight line! It's down wit the skoda dealer now, not that them sh!t heads will be able to find anything wrong wit it!

Mine does it too.

I seem to remember reading somewhere once that a lot of manufacturers actually design in a slight left or right hand pull into the suspension settings on modern vehicles as a kind of safety feature... allegedly it's supposed to allow the car to gently veer into the 'safe' verge instead of into the path of oncoming traffic (obviously the veer goes different ways depending on RHD/LHD)

Whether there's any truth in this I don't know, but I have noticed this phenomenon on the following (and rated the vehicles for fun)

Both my Rover 220 Coupe Turbos - Ace

My Rover 216 Cabriolet - Great but leaky

Both my Punto GTs - Sh**e

My company Citroen Picasso - Big, comfy, slow, problematic

My dad's old Citroen Picasso - Big, comfy, slow

My dad's Suzuki Vitara - Cramped, uncomfortable, slow

My sister's Land Rover Freelander - Ace

My colleague's Mk IV Golf GTI PD150 - Ace but the wrong fuel

My Audi A4 - Ace

My other half's Fiat Seicento - Tiny but fun

My other half's Fiat Cinquecento - Tiny but fun

My other half's Rover Metro - Tiny and sh**e

Interestingly, the only vehicles I can think of that I've had in recent years that DIDN'T pull to the left, are my Triumph Herald and my Austin Maxi - Both Ace.

And please, no jokes about any of the above cars. After all, we're all driving Skodas

Wonder if it's a FWD thing...torque steer and all that?

The Smart sits in a straight line even when I take my hands off the wheel, not that I do that sort of thing as it's dangerous...

Rob.

Yep, mine has done this from new and never bothers me. It can be exaggerated by tyre pressure differences and road camber variations but on the motorway it is only very slight.

My previous car, a 1996 Rover 218 did the same thing.

Mine does it too, and Phil's (piv34uk) too. He works in the tyre business and has had his tracking done many times, without completely eliminating it. It's part of the charm

Mine used to until I had the tracking done when I got new tyres. Doesn't do it anymore

IMO VAG models with Macphearson strut design suffer from camber sensitivity. My Alhambra drifts slightly to the left in the UK but on the continent drives straight. This cant be corrected by toe in adjustment, :thumbdwn: the camber setting (on one side only) needs tweaking which is not a job for a tyre centre. (I doubt if any dealer could do either!)

As a first measure, you could try swapping front tyres (provided their not direction sensitive type) as sometimes tyres from different batches have slightly different rubber compound.

The other possibility is the rear suspension tracking is slightly out (manufactured that way or dinked at some time). I don't think you can do anything about that. :(

pulling to one side under acceleration - isn't that just torque steer caused by unequal length drive shafts? Don't know about the coasting thing though.

Noticed it on my Fabia too and it happens if you're travelling at a constant speed and relax your grip on the steering wheel. None of my previous cars have done it (admittedly mostly Jap) but I'll get the wheel alignment checked once my Eibachs go on! As others have said, it may just be an in-built safety feature....

Chris

I don't think it's a FWD thing, as my Omega does it, too. It used to do it on the old Dunlops, and now also does it on the Avons. I'm sure there's some degree of camber affect, as it doesn't drift when I'm on the continent.

Having said that, from memory, my Vrs drifted, my L&K didn't.

Phil

Thanks for all the replies...I think I`ll just live with it as it seems to be a normal thing judging by your posts.

Cheers

Ventmore

Its because of the camber of the road. a manufacturer couldnt "design out" the effects of the road slanting slightly, as theres so many variations in camber types based on type of road construction used.

If you find a road (pref with no cars coming other way) youll find that if you drive in the middle, the car will go straight, if you drive on the right hand side it will drift to the right. this is because the road isnt perfectly flat. the highest point is in the middle and drops by a few cm by the kerbs, this is mainly to aid drainage.

thats my input from time spent as a highway design engineer... could quote specs from the DMRB (design manual for roads and bridges) but i cant be @rsed

I find if i'm stuck in a traffic jam (i.e. very slow stop start) on a heavily cambered bit of road, if you leave go of the steering wheel then it'll actually wind lock on!

Hey all...have done a search on this' date=' but couldn't find a full answer. Whilst driving, with the wheel held straight all is fine. If I let go of the wheel, it turns ever so slightly to the left and obviously starts to drift in that direction. I think it may be just the camber of the road. However, if I am going along, again with the wheel straight, and I start to accelerate gently, the car starts to drift to the left. Not viciously, but enough to notice...Any ideas? Does it sound like tracking, or something the dealer should look at?

Also, if and when I do need it tracked, should I let the dealer do it, or just use the local tyre place. One of the threads mentioned that the octy is notoriously hard to get the tracking right on...

Cheers

Ventmore[/quote']

Road Camber sensitive.Mine pulls to the right when the camber is the opposite way.Regards David

My newish Elegance 1.9TDi (2 yr old with 8900 on clock when I got it last month) does it but my Elegance 2.0 didn't.

The car is going into the garage next week to have a few teething problems looked at including this. Will see if a tyre swap will cure it but from the posts above it would appear to be a design quirk.

Regards

My 4X4 doesn't, my son's 200SX didn't when I drove it this afternoon, and SWMBO's Felicia doesn't.

My RS also did it from new. Thought my tracking was out day1. Dealer showed my a technical document they got from Skoda. So many people complained they had to get clarification.