Steering problem... or is it?

[mrickaby]

Hi all,

This is my first visit to Briskoda and it looks like a great site! I came here hoping someone could give me some advice since I'm not having much luck with garages at the moment.

About a month ago, the steering wheel in my Skoda Fabia 1.4 TDi (54 plate) started moving very slightly from side to side by about half an inch from centre in each direction when driving in a straight line. This only happens at low speed - once I'm over 30mph, the rocking completely goes away or at least isn't noticeable. The movement from side to side can only really be described as a quick rocking motion.

I noticed that one of my tires was slightly more worn on one side and took the car to Nationwide for a 4-wheel alignment. I also got them to have the car up on the lift to check for any distortion in the steering system that might be causing the steering wheel to rock. They carried out a full safety inspection, but couldn't find anything and did the wheel alignment, but the rocking is still there.

More recently, if I'm turning a corner, it feels as if the car isn't holding to the road and that the front end is sliding. This may or may not be the case, but it's definitely how it feels to me! I've also had the brakes checked, so it's not they're gripping on one side more than the other. After turning a corner, the motion of the steering wheel back to centre (if left to find its own way back) often isn't smooth either and occurs in stages, although I don't want to make the problem sound worse than it is!

It may be completely unrelated, but I've noticed the front nearside suspension creaking whenever I go over a speed bump.

I've got a 5-star AA warranty on the car (which I suspect will turn out to be useless if I actually need to use it), so it would be great to know if there's anything glaringly obvious going on. I spoke to a mechanic at the Skoda dealer over the phone and he mentioned that it might be a suspension problem which relates to a component shaped like the letter I (if I was typing in Times New Roman and it has crossbars at the top and bottom!).

Thanks in advance. You've got a great forum here guys

Any help or advice would be really appreciated.

Mark

[ap0gee1978]

The part he's describing could be the suspension console and/or the droplinks; either of which would certainly tie in with the creaking over speedbumps. Is the 'rocking' regular or random? If it's random, it could be that the console bushes are completely shot (creaking a definited symptom), which would mean that the suspension wishbones were flopping about and affecting the steering that way. I'm a but stumped what would cause a regular rocking, though - bent wheel or hub??? :ne_nau:

[mrickaby]

It's an intermittent problem. I'd say it happens less often than not - maybe on a 30min journey I'll get 5-10mins of wobbly steering although not necessarily all at once. It's more obvious at low speeds and very occasionally, the car seems a little unstable, especially in turning. I'm not sure if a suspension problem would explain why the car is skidding in corners, even at very low speed, but I'd love to know that it's not going to let go completely one day!

[rwbaldwin]

I don't like the sound of that. My guess is that a tie rod end is about to fail.

With the wheels straight ahead, lock the steering column. Jack up each front wheel off the ground and grab the tyre at 'quarter to three'. See how much you can turn the roadwheel. With the steering locked you should get almost no turn.

My advice is to get it looked at ASAP.

[cjb]

I'm a but stumped what would cause a regular rocking, though - bent wheel or hub??? :ne_nau:

Bent wheel, damaged tyre, knackered CV.

Has anyone clouted a kerb with it?

Edited 19 January, 2009 by cjb

[mrickaby]

Bent wheel, damaged tyre, knackered CV.

Has anyone clouted a kerb with it?

Not as far as I know, although I did drive through a massive pothole on a roundabout on my way home from work a couple of months ago (the council has since filled it in following a few complaints I suspect). Although this has no relation to the time that the problem started, I guess it could have been a factor.