Collected my wifes VW Beetle recently, its brand new on a 13 plate, had it about 3 weeks now and she loves it, however, it doesnt steer straight, and it is annoying the hell out of me!

I first noticed it the moment I drove it, if you are on a straight road and you put the steering wheel dead centre the car veers to the right, so to keep it straight you have to keep the wheel slightly to the left, I reported it to the dealer and they had it put on the 4 wheel alignment at the local place, and yes it was the proper all singing and dancing Hunter equipment, and asked us to report back, anyway, it is better, but still not 100%.

Talking to the VW engineer at the time of reporting the initial problem (he took it out to see if he could replicate what I was saying) he agreed there was a problem hence why they booked it in for alignment, he said that if it was that far out then the car would tell us as it would show a warning light as there are alignment sensors or something attached to the car to check for this sort of thing? Sound right?

When it is going straight it seems fine, no wondering etc, but the steering wheel has to be kept pointing to the left slightly, its almost like when the wheel was put on at factory that it was put on slightly out of alignment, its going back on Thursday for another look, but this is really bugging me now, its a £20K and should be right.

Anyone ever had anything similar either with a VW or similar car? What was done to resolve it etc etc?

Thanks in advance.

Maybe get them to have a look at the tyres & how they are fitted.

Often the technicians appear to be unaware of the effect they can have and they go first to the mechanical alignment.

ie 'Tyre Runout stripes'.

You could look see yourself how the markings are as they are on the tyres

http://www.wheels-in...p?showtopic=165

(I assume that the 4 tyre pressures have been checked, set, then also the TPMS re-set.)

It would be interesting to know what type of light or sensor that would inform of misalignment the VW Engineer was talking about,

please ask him to explain next time you see him.

Is he maybe just on about the 'Tyre pressure monitor system'?

george

I have the same issue as James. 63 plate VW Golf Mk7. Car drifts left when steering is dead straight so have to hold about 1 o'clock to get the car to travel staight. Had full wheel alignment and no good excatly the same. Going back Tuesday for them to take another look.

 

Did you get yours sorted James and what was it?

 

Guess the steering wheel was put on worng at the factory but thats not very German.

 

Chris

Collected my wifes VW Beetle recently, its brand new on a 13 plate, had it about 3 weeks now and she loves it, however, it doesnt steer straight, and it is annoying the hell out of me!

I first noticed it the moment I drove it, if you are on a straight road and you put the steering wheel dead centre the car veers to the right, so to keep it straight you have to keep the wheel slightly to the left, I reported it to the dealer and they had it put on the 4 wheel alignment at the local place, and yes it was the proper all singing and dancing Hunter equipment, and asked us to report back, anyway, it is better, but still not 100%.

Talking to the VW engineer at the time of reporting the initial problem (he took it out to see if he could replicate what I was saying) he agreed there was a problem hence why they booked it in for alignment, he said that if it was that far out then the car would tell us as it would show a warning light as there are alignment sensors or something attached to the car to check for this sort of thing? Sound right?

When it is going straight it seems fine, no wondering etc, but the steering wheel has to be kept pointing to the left slightly, its almost like when the wheel was put on at factory that it was put on slightly out of alignment, its going back on Thursday for another look, but this is really bugging me now, its a £20K and should be right.

Anyone ever had anything similar either with a VW or similar car? What was done to resolve it etc etc?

Thanks in advance.

I have the same issue as James. 63 plate VW Golf Mk7. Car drifts left when steering is dead straight so have to hold about 1 o'clock to get the car to travel staight. Had full wheel alignment and no good excatly the same. Going back Tuesday for them to take another look.

 

Did you get yours sorted James and what was it?

 

Guess the steering wheel was put on worng at the factory but thats not very German.

 

Chris

Skoda have been replacing tyres on new Fabia vRS & Monte Carlos, 205/40& 17's after buyers complain enough.

 

People have said that it is the Dunlop Sport Maxx being blamed, (buy Dealership Workshops)

but there are also Continentals that have been pulling to the left in the UK.

They have been replaced with Pirelli Zero Nero's on the cars that have got new tyres fitted.

 

the thing is that some dealer go through the , nothing wrong story,

the Adjustment, Alignment, check  then the re-alignment and all the stories and then get the OK to fit new tyres.

Some cars are actually just set up wrong and some tyres have the tyres fitted wrongly on the tyres re Run Out strips.

 

But some seem happy to blame the Dunlops.

No idea how Dunlop feel about that.

 

This Linked Tread is a bit extreme in advice from the likes of me, but this is because this has been going on for 3 years or 

more of owners getting messed about.

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/260271-my-monte-carlo-is-pulling-to-the-left-help

 

george

Thanks for the info sk4gw. I have Hankook's on mine but just stood in from of the parked car and noticed that my right front wheel sits nicely in line with my wheel arch but my left front sticks out a little with the steering wheel straight.

Yes sort of after 2 visits its actually pretty much running true 1st visit they gave the 'oh it's the tracking we will get a hunter 4 wheel alignment' etc but I knew it wasn't that anyway it improved but didn't cure it, 2nd visit I think they adjusted the steering wheel, probably knocked it around a notch to cure it! Has it cured it, pretty much yes. Was it a tyre problem, no it wasn't as they are wearing evenly and were put on correctly at factory.

Thanks for the update James. They have just taken a look and tried to re-align the steering wheel but if he moves it over it goes too far the other way. So he said its need the tracking doing. To which I replied "Again" he say "Yes, I'll do it this time" giving the impression it was done wrong last time. I wont hold my breath. He wasnt having it at first and said it was normal but after I explained to the 'Master' so hes called that steering wheels tend to be straight he backed down. You would never have thought that making a steering wheel straight on a car would be a big ask would you? Car being collected tomorrow so will update then.

I have dunlop sportmaxx's tyres on my pro race wheels and they tramlines like mad and pulls the front end of the car all over the place,

 

Funny but it drives fine with my hankook winter tyres on my original spiders

I reckon a lot of these issues are because when the wheel alignment is done the steering wheel either isnt clamped straight or the clamps are losse to accomadate different size sterring wheels hence why in most cases its only slightly out. Getting mine done again today so will let you know how it goes.

If you look at VAG manufactured cars & from others,

when the steering lock is on the steering wheel will sit the pretty standard amount off looking straight.

When the lock is on. Take the lock off and move forward and back a few feet with the car, the wheel should be straight at straight ahead and back.

 

Seldom is the steering wheels position anything to do with 'Pulling to the Left'..

Even if the steering wheel is squint and you drive along with that wheel a few degrees out on the totally flat or the camber of a road, on the left or straddle the white line, a car that pulls to much left,  still will.

 

Taking the Steering wheel off and moving it a degree or 2 does then adjust the Steering Geometry, or the wrongly adjusted components,

or tyre wrongly fitted or matched for run out, or sometimes even just badly set tyre pressures.

 

Yes the steering wheel should be on straight when going straight, but that is not the issue with many cars.

When you set steering alignment you let the car settle.

drive it and then run it straight forward and back in the flat floor, get the wheels & vehicle running straight sitting level,

but its Tracking, toe in and out and camber etc you are setting and checking, 4 wheel alignment.

(If a car just needs a steering wheel moved then that is simple and a different subject.)

Cars often will not sit flat if you look at them on the flat, suspension is handed and steering suits UK cambered roads, but obviously can be driven abroad and cope OK.

 

george

Dont get me wrong the car does NOT pull left it drives fine but in order to make the car go in a straight line on a left camber road or right camber road (wrong side) the steering wheel needs to be held at about 1 o'clock.

Then the steering wheel needs put on correctly which is  simples, which from reading your post #4, makes me wonder why it left the workshop still driving like that,

Did they not road test it,

& why did you not just drive right back in and say 'Fix That Properly' the minute after you drove it?

 

george

Well first thing is they have tried to straighten the wheel but when they move it over to the left one notch they say it does the same but on the oposite side. Do be fair to them it is so slight and only really noticable on a straight road hence why it took me a day to twig it before I told them. Its one of those things whereby you think its just you but when the wife said it too I thought yeah your right.

Well after a VERY long story in the end they had to adjust the subframe and touch wood it appears to be fine now (well much better). Not sure why you would need to do that on a brand new car. Joke was that the courtesy car they gave me a 13 reg Polo had exactly the same problem. Makes me wonder how many people just put up with a slightly off steering wheel from VW.