Morning Guys,

This has been bugging me now since January.

Ive been having trouble with my car since before Xmas. I purchased another vRS to sort mine out. THe car drove nice and straight and the wheel was dead straight.

I noticed tho that one of the boots on the rack was U/S so needed to put another one on so I could use the car for a few weeks.

I had to take the tie rod end off to put the new boot on then went to A&A Tyres in cardiff to get the allignment done on their machine

after that I had to turn the wheel ever so slightly to the right

I then stripped that car and put the S3 rack on my car and again went to get it aligned this time the same I have to turn slightly right.

All in all Ive had the car aligned 4 times due to changing things on the front end. this last time I thought Id try Heath tyres for a change and exactly the same thing.

Symptoms:

To go straight you have to turn the wheel to about 3-4 mins past(imagine wheels a clock) and it wanders as its not a natural position. its like your fighting it.

On a straight road if I let go of the wheel it goes to the straight position naturally but you fly off into the trees lol.

I need some where that will sort it out correctly as no matter where I go they dont seem to change anything but the tie rods. nowhere sorts the Caster out or the camber?

before anyone says you cant adjust the caster: you can but only slightly, you move the subframe. and my camber can be moved as I have the TT/S3/LCR front suspension setup.

short of buying the kit myself, where can I go to do the job properly as I am P****D OFF with so called profesionals not doing the job right!

billy

Two things here.

The car has torque steer and will naturally pull left, my 2005 fabia VRS has done it from new. (Skoda confirmed this.)

If the steering rack or other parts, such as the suspension has been moved could allow the steering wheel to move from it's normal (straight ahead) position.

To correct this, ensure front wheels are straight and facing forward.

Remove steering wheel and relocate onto steering column in the straight ahead position.

It is a DIY little job, so doesn't need to be placed into a garage/specialist hands.

As tracking has already been done there will be no need to have it checked again.

Probably steering wheel was just a small amount out of line for straight ahead position, when doing recent work, and now needs the above.

Good luck.

Did you have a 'normal' alignment, or a full on laser-alignment on one of those special ramps ?

I've just had my car done by the folks jabbasport use (Peterborough). They went to town and tweaked everything

TT shop's Hunter setup (Bedford)

I've had Dixon Motorsport (Kent) recommended to me

I have had the same problem Billy, although my rear axel is out very slightly.

I had the R32 rack and some solid wishbones put in, had it tracked again and still a little creep to the left.

Its been like this for 8 months now, and all the tyre's are wearing evenly, doesnt appear to be any scrubbing, but every time I had it tracked they said it was nothing to worry about!

Its very annoying though.

If you get it sorted let us know what it was/is!

Two things here.

The car has torque steer and will naturally pull left, my 2005 fabia VRS has done it from new. (Skoda confirmed this.)

If the steering rack or other parts, such as the suspension has been moved could allow the steering wheel to move from it's normal (straight ahead) position.

To correct this, ensure front wheels are straight and facing forward.

Remove steering wheel and relocate onto steering column in the straight ahead position.

It is a DIY little job, so doesn't need to be placed into a garage/specialist hands.

As tracking has already been done there will be no need to have it checked again.

Probably steering wheel was just a small amount out of line for straight ahead position, when doing recent work, and now needs the above.

Good luck.

cheers mate,

Torque steer only occurs on acceleration, not on normal driving or when decelerating? mine does this damn pull all the time. it doesnt go straight when you go slow neitehr.

On full lock either way from the straight position on the steering wheel it goes the same each way too which would suggest to me the wheel is on straight.

Did you have a 'normal' alignment, or a full on laser-alignment on one of those special ramps ?

I've just had my car done by the folks jabbasport use (Peterborough). They went to town and tweaked everything

TT shop's Hunter setup (Bedford)

I've had Dixon Motorsport (Kent) recommended to me

Afull thing on them ramps, been on 3 different ones so far. Hunter I think its called.

tis a shame they so far away. even after a full rebuild of the front end on mine it only ever takes them 15 mins on the ramp if that, now I might be good but DAMN I am not GOD and there is no way I could get it close enough to just take that long?

I have had the same problem Billy, although my rear axel is out very slightly.

I had the R32 rack and some solid wishbones put in, had it tracked again and still a little creep to the left.

Its been like this for 8 months now, and all the tyre's are wearing evenly, doesnt appear to be any scrubbing, but every time I had it tracked they said it was nothing to worry about!

Its very annoying though.

If you get it sorted let us know what it was/is!

I will try sort it mate. Its just the wheel goes to the straight ahed positin naturally that bothers me. thats where it should be normally and it should go straight. all tyres are spot on psi wise all even

I am lost.

thanks tho guys

billy

Take it to City Service Centre in Bedford St off City Rd in Cardiff. speak to Mike or Justin & tell them Paul Durrant sent you & they'll sort it for you. I had the same issue a few times with so called "Tyre Specialists" including A&A, Discount Tyres, & National.

Mine does exactly the same, always has. It's as if the natural centre position is off to the right. I know my rear axle is out by a few degrees but it shouldn't cause that. No amount of tracking and alignment has ever cured it

Torque steer only occurs on acceleration, not on normal driving or when decelerating?

Yes, that's right, directly related to how much torque you're putting through the drivetrain. Will 'release' by depressing the clutch/backing of the the power

Afull thing on them ramps, been on 3 different ones so far. Hunter I think its called.

tis a shame they so far away. even after a full rebuild of the front end on mine it only ever takes them 15 mins on the ramp if that, now I might be good but DAMN I am not GOD and there is no way I could get it close enough to just take that long?

I'm afraid you're getting cr*py service, simple as that.

I've watched a bloke carry out a quick manual alignment, and he undid the balljoints almost as first step.

Sure it's tracking and not a seized caliper?

Raf

Nope it def int that.

Ill take it to that place in town and see.

On the up side I've sorted the vibration I got on tickover and pull off. It was the heat shield on the rack and tunnel. I twisted it with pliers lol and its sorted so I happy there lol

Billy, I'm going in to City Service tomorrow & I'll have a chat with them about your issue. They are top blokes, & if they aren't sure if they can sort it they won't bullsh*t you. They do work for Charlie & the guys at Prospeed when needed.

There's also a tracking specialist on Broadway near Clifton St Roath. I haven't used them, but they might be worth investigating too.

Morning Guys,

Ive been having trouble with my car since before Xmas. I purchased another vRS to sort mine out. THe car drove nice and All in all Ive had the car aligned 4 times due to changing things on the front end. this last time I thought Id try Heath tyres for a change and exactly the same thing.

Symptoms:

To go straight you have to turn the wheel to about 3-4 mins past(imagine wheels a clock) and it wanders as its not a natural position. its like your fighting it.

billy

Billy feel for you there buddy, I do think you have been unlucky at where you have taken it have not done a correct Job. I took mine back 3 times to my local 4 wheel laser alignment as was not happy with it. Each time they fixed it, it was either worse or went the other direction. In the end they got it right but were so fed up with me being fussy which is a joke right. I was fed up with them and told there management so. What they did find was a slight off centre on the rear axle, and as they track the front to the rear this is what can lead the front being out, as the progresion of angle gets worse by th etime the front is taken into account. So in effect they tracked if slightly off to the right to compensate. Also my car is low and the rear end is also slightly negative camber(need to keep eye on tyre pressures.)

Two things here.

The car has torque steer and will naturally pull left, my 2005 fabia VRS has done it from new. (Skoda confirmed this.)

If the steering rack or other parts, such as the suspension has been moved could allow the steering wheel to move from it's normal (straight ahead) position.

To correct this, ensure front wheels are straight and facing forward.

Remove steering wheel and relocate onto steering column in the straight ahead position.

It is a DIY little job, so doesn't need to be placed into a garage/specialist hands.

As tracking has already been done there will be no need to have it checked again.

Probably steering wheel was just a small amount out of line for straight ahead position, when doing recent work, and now needs the above.

Good luck.

Don't think you have understood Billy issues. A simple removal of steering wheel is not going to fix a car tracking to one direction. It is not the fact the the steering wheel is just pointing in one direction slightly, his point is the car it tracking off centre. if he takes hands off steering it drives towards left. Please tell me how removing a steering wheel and centralising it will fix that...

Billy, I'm going in to City Service tomorrow & I'll have a chat with them about your issue. They are top blokes, & if they aren't sure if they can sort it they won't bullsh*t you. They do work for Charlie & the guys at Prospeed when needed.

There's also a tracking specialist on Broadway near Clifton St Roath. I haven't used them, but they might be worth investigating too.

Ill get up at 1300 and go down for 1400. give them a couple of hr to see whats what. WHen you going there?

Billy feel for you there buddy, I do think you have been unlucky at where you have taken it have not done a correct Job. I took mine back 3 times to my local 4 wheel laser alignment as was not happy with it. Each time they fixed it, it was either worse or went the other direction. In the end they got it right but were so fed up with me being fussy which is a joke right. I was fed up with them and told there management so. What they did find was a slight off centre on the rear axle, and as they track the front to the rear this is what can lead the front being out, as the progresion of angle gets worse by th etime the front is taken into account. So in effect they tracked if slightly off to the right to compensate. Also my car is low and the rear end is also slightly negative camber(need to keep eye on tyre pressures.)

Don't think you have understood Billy issues. A simple removal of steering wheel is not going to fix a car tracking to one direction. It is not the fact the the steering wheel is just pointing in one direction slightly, his point is the car it tracking off centre. if he takes hands off steering it drives towards left. Please tell me how removing a steering wheel and centralising it will fix that...

Cheers Mark, Yea I just think its a quick money maker for them as its £30 a time and they car get 2 cars done in an hr easy so they dont want to spend time doing the job correctly. even tho they say they do everything for that. HA what ever the more I think about it the more I know they just conning people.

yea lowering the car screws it up. yours is around what mine was first time. I had to raise it tho as the ride was crap due to the roads and the speed humps were large too.

Mark, have you done your Rack yet? also I had to remove the drivers side rear beam brakcet as the fuel tank was in the way to get the bolt out. was it the same on yours?

will the alignment place be able to realign the rear beam to the chassis? as I dont think I will of got it back in the same place as before?

billy

Ill get up at 1300 and go down for 1400. give them a couple of hr to see whats what. WHen you going there?

Cheers Mark, Yea I just think its a quick money maker for them as its £30 a time and they car get 2 cars done in an hr easy so they dont want to spend time doing the job correctly. even tho they say they do everything for that. HA what ever the more I think about it the more I know they just conning people.

yea lowering the car screws it up. yours is around what mine was first time. I had to raise it tho as the ride was crap due to the roads and the speed humps were large too.

Mark, have you done your Rack yet? also I had to remove the drivers side rear beam brakcet as the fuel tank was in the way to get the bolt out. was it the same on yours?

will the alignment place be able to realign the rear beam to the chassis? as I dont think I will of got it back in the same place as before?

billy

Nope not done rack yet. Got it but concerned it is not the correct one even though it came off a TT. I have asked the guy if it was a 180BHP or 225BHP in case they are different. The P/N i only have on the rack is 1J2422105. So the 1J2 suggests a golf variant, The Audi Part numbers all seem to start with a 8H1 so makes me very unsure. I know Chicken and Dex have the same P/N as i have so kind of does not make sense.

Got the TT wishbone(all painted up now), about to get the R32 Hubs with VRS flanges(already have the R32 ARB fitted) so getting there.

Just deciding on weather to get heavy duty top mounts or go std?.

Also weather to get Superpro castar adjustable wishbone bushs.

It kind of starts to make the job get on the expensive side, as the bolt, nuts, bushes and ball joint all add up. But if they are needed then I will spare the expensense simple as that.

Regarding the Rear Beam, did not have to remove anything, I just used hacksaw to cut the brakeline bracket across the narrow part, to then be able to bend it and allow the brake pipe to come out of the bracket. This then allowed me to lower the rear beam enough to get the nut/bolt out easy. Then when all back together rebend the brack pipe bracket back into position and repaint it to stop rusting. You would never know it was cut.

The Rear beam should not be out that much just because bushes have been changed, as the bushes, bolts are fixed and no off centre holes to adjust right. But the alignment garage should be able to compensate for it a little.

Nope not done rack yet. Got it but concerned it is not the correct one even though it came off a TT. I have asked the guy if it was a 180BHP or 225BHP in caes they are different. The P/N i only have on the rack is 1J2422105. So the 1J2 suggests a golf variant, The Audi Part numbers all seem to start with a 8H1 so makes me very unsure. I know Chicken and Dex have the same P/N as i have so kind of does not make sense.

Got the TT wishbone(all painted up now), about to get the R32 Hubs with VRS flanges(already have the R32 ARB fitted) so getting there.

Just deciding on weather to get heavy duty top mounts or go std?.

Also weather to get Superpro castar adjustable wishbone bushs.

It kind of starts to make the job get on the expensive side, as the bolt, nuts, bushes and ball joint all add up. But if they are needed then I will spare the expensense simple as that.

Regarding the Rear Beam, did not have to remove anything, I just used hacksaw to cut the brakeline bracket across the narrow part, to then be able to bend it and allow the brake pipe to come out of the bracket. This then allowed me to lower the rear beam enough to get the nut/bolt out easy. Then when all back together rebend the brack pipe bracket back into position and repaint it to stop rusting. You would never know it was cut.

The Rear beam should not be out that much just because bushes have been changed, as the bushes, bolts are fixed and no off centre holes to adjust right. But the alignment garage should be able to compensate for it a little.

I dont know if you have seen this thread on uk-mkivs.net it gives the pt no.s for most of the quick racks .

http://uk-mkivs.net/forums/p/198470/1287052.aspx

and this chinese website lists 1J2422105 as beiig off a mkiv golf. http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=zh-CN&u=http://china-yihao.com/ch/ProductList.asp%3FSortID%3D62&ei=OVe5TentGc6XhQfqkNz3Dg&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBwQ7gEwADgK&prev=/search%3Fq%3D1J2422105%26start%3D10%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26rlz%3D1T4ADSA_enGB348GB348%26biw%3D1259%26bih%3D568%26prmd%3Divns

does not mean your one is not right but it would be nice to find who manufactures them for vag and the specs to go with them.

Edited 28 April, 201115 yr by bazaa

I dont know if you have seen this thread on uk-mkivs.net it gives the pt no.s for most of the quick racks .

http://uk-mkivs.net/forums/p/198470/1287052.aspx

and this chinese website lists 1J2422105 as beiig off a mkiv golf. http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=zh-CN&u=http://china-yihao.com/ch/ProductList.asp%3FSortID%3D62&ei=OVe5TentGc6XhQfqkNz3Dg&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBwQ7gEwADgK&prev=/search%3Fq%3D1J2422105%26start%3D10%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26rlz%3D1T4ADSA_enGB348GB348%26biw%3D1259%26bih%3D568%26prmd%3Divns

does not mean your one is not right but it would be nice to find who manufactures them for vag and the specs to go with them.

Yep cheers, read that and a whole load more.

called, VW, Audi etc and they can't even cross reference that P/N i have.

Seems like the P/N on the casing may well be the lower level part as they maybe all the same, and the higher level is the casing with internal that make up the 8NXXXXX numbers.

Or perhaps a none OEM rack. Just when you look at Ebay for my P/N lots of golfs come up and Audi TT.

I have emailed the guy i bought it off to let me know if the TT was a 2WD or Quattro and if it was a Quattro i Will bite the bullet and fit it as they all had qucikracks for sure, just not sure if the 2WD TT did. Manufacturers don't make it easy do they.

test it?

if you have an arm on it, pull it all the way out and push it all way back and count how many times the notch on the pin that the collumn goes on to goes round.

if you get it to turn 2.5 times then its right.

if it goes round more then you have the std one.

hth

its easy to do. just watch out and dont do it inside as any fluid still in the rack comes out lol

billy

Ok

Thank you to Paul.

I am booked in at city service center on tues mornin for a FULL start from scratch allignment.

Can't wait, just need to get Tues night off work lol

Billy

Yeah I had a chat with Mike about it after you left. He seems to think that something isn't straight between the front & rear & the car is crabbing.

.

test it?

if you have an arm on it, pull it all the way out and push it all way back and count how many times the notch on the pin that the collumn goes on to goes round.

if you get it to turn 2.5 times then its right.

if it goes round more then you have the std one.

hth

its easy to do. just watch out and dont do it inside as any fluid still in the rack comes out lol

billy

Yep that would be a easy option, but it came with no arms

Will think of something as plenty of time to sort it. may borrow a arm of someone..

Yep that would be a easy option, but it came with no arms

Will think of something as plenty of time to sort it. may borrow a arm of someone..

Ill take a looksee of the part number on my original rack and PM you!

@Billy, full report when you are done please!

Yea mate full report on the lot. Ill post in my maintenance one as I have stuff to add in to it on arm angles n stuff.

Paul where did you go when I was there? Thought you had gone home lol, soz if I'd known you were still there I would of said good by.

I have a feelin its crabbing too. Seems to feel like the back end comes round more turning Letf. Bit like oversteer feeling.

One thing guys, am I asking too much of the car? do you think I am wanting Audi quality for little money?

Honest opinions now.

Got a problem with the ABS kicking in on light braking on the ST so we went out to log the ABS, & you'd gone when we came back. I'll be at CSC on Tuesday afternoon so may well see you then.

PITA never had a single problem with the VRS in 12 months of ownership. Picked the ST up on Sunday afternoon, & overnight someone nicked N/S/F foglight, both fog light surrounds, & all 4 jacking point covers over £400 to replace, & now an ABS problem

Your VRS is very cool btw

Dirty BStards.

Hope you get it sorted mate. Cheers again

Car will look better with the lcr splitter on it too, when I get round to it.

Billy

no you can get audi handling for skoda money, my car handles like a go cart, and we have pretty much the same setup.

What if the rack was damaged..... it could be pulling one way slightly, even if its not visible damage it might explain it.

Mark, the fwd tt did not have a quickrack, only the 225's