Hi! This is my first post on here, so please be gentle.

I have a 2009 facelift 2.0tdi octavia estate (elegance) that ive had from new. Last march (2010) I had a low speed impact with the rear offside corner of a bus. this was duly repaired - new wheel, hub etc etc. it drove like new again.

About 2 months ago the car developed a knocking from the near side (the one that took the impact) so it went to skoda. they said its an inner track arm and repaired it. From that point it puled left. It then developed a very strange weaving. Worse at high speeds, to the point where it made me car sick. it went back to skoda. they said they'd done the tracking and that it could need a 4 wheel alignment. fine i said as long as it gets fixed. so they did the £150 alignment as told me they couldn't get the cross camber within tolerance. now i understand camber, caster toe etc but what it cross camber? they said its so close it wouldn't matter. so i took the car. it was fine at first but its now deveopled the weaving again.

So could it be the steering rack? I asked skoda and they said no. they also said the rack was fine. with the engine off there is a massive amount of play in the rack. with the engine on i cant say but it doesn't feel right.

I am about to drive the car into a wall.... any help would be gratefully received

You make it sound like the car has Dutch Roll. Illustration In that case, you need a full geometry from someone competent. I've never heard of "cross camber" by that name either.

hmmmm that sounds just like it, its a very very slight weave/wobble. My first thought was caster as i konw that two different caster values can make a car do this.

The Skoda dealership i take it too has a very high tech alignment setup so i thought they should get it right???

I'll take it back and get them to check it again....

£150 for alignment? Who was this done by and what paperwork was supplied? That's a lot to pay by the way!

I can only echo what Ken says; get it setup properly, by someone who knows what they're doing. You don't mention where you are, but http://www.alignmycar.co.uk will give you a list of places with Hunter setup equipment, regarded as being good quality and accurate for getting things setup right.

Cross camber is the difference between the camber settings on each side. More than half a degree difference may cause a steering pull toward the side with the most (positive) camber. Obviously if camber on both sides are set correctly, then there will be zero cross camber.

If the a competent tech can't get the camber values within tolerance each side, when the car is obviously sat flat on the ramps, then I'd say that you've sustained chassis damage from the impact you mention, and that you'd need it inspecting on a jig. At this stage I would go back to the place where the repairs were undertaken originally, to voice concern. Do I presume you had the corrective work done after the collision through your insurance company?

Cheers mate - The only time I've experienced anything even vaguely like this it was on a Morris Marina he was thinking of buying. He wasn't too happy with how it was handling so we stopped for a look, and discovered a lozenged body shell, and a swimming pool in the boot!