Right then.  Took the vrs to its first MOT since owning it (10 months or so).  

When on the ramp, the guy noticed the track rod(?) had been pushed to one side (passenger side) and was actually rubbing against some other gubbins on the driver side. Not sure how long this had been like this for, but resulted in uneven wear on the front tyres.

Now I've had the car for almost a year, use it for my daily commute of 60 miles... I've never noticed any adverse affect while driving! It leans a tiny little bit to the left, but no noises or anything else.

Anyway, I was advised to remove the subframe and replace the bushes holding the rod in place, a track rod end, realign the rod, and put some new tyres on. All of which I got done - MOT done/passed.

Next, I took the car for realignment and tracking. Guy there advises me that the car has too much negative camber (-1°14') on the front left. Which makes sense due to how the rod was sitting. But he also said that there's no point realigning it etc because the passenger side suspension leg/hub carrier (?) is kaput and i need to replace the hub (supposedly they're cheap aluminium bits that are known to fail easily?) before realigning.

So I have a car that has passed it's MOT, but needs a new hub and realignment. Great! Has anyone suffered from any of this with theirs and is willing to shed some light on what causes such faults and what was done to rectify?

Is the car roadworthy as it is? Seems fine while driving locally at the moment. Any advice welcome.

Seems to me theres a bit of confusion in terms here. The track rod is fixed to the steering rack and has no bushes as such. For this to be fouling it would have to be bent, very noticable so im going to guess that it was the anti roll bar that was moving side to side. This is a common problem, and it can foul when turning. in fact I changed my one this morning. The hub is steel. The aluminium part I would assume he is on about is the console that the wishbone and anti roll bar are mounted to. These are also bolted to the steel subframe. The wishbone bushes in these alloy consoles are also prone to failiure. Causing very uneven tyre ware. Id have thought mr mot would have noticed this mind you.

Do you have anything written down from these guys?

Cheers for the reply mate. Much appreciated. Definitely had two bushes changed, so you could be right and that it was the anti roll bar jobby then. And yes I'm surprised Mr MOT didn't pick up on the wishbone bushes if they have indeed failed. Paperwork wise, I've got an MOT pass cert! and results of the realignment check.

Time to find another MOT garage I think! I'm going to Midlandvw on Tues to get my waterpump looked at again (has a tiny leak), think I'll get them to have a look at everything else too!

Cheers.

I will post up some pics later of what I think is the issue. Im on my fone at the mo and im a bit pony at using it :-)

That would be brilliant mate. Nice one.

This is a pic of both problems. The round bush has split on the spokes, and basically the back of the wishbone can flop n flex side to side quite easily. These were early bushes and vw did update them to 4 spoke types. These can also fail. A lot of people fit either solid bushes from an ibiza cupra or polyurethane ones. You can see the dodgy anti roll bar also. Sounds like you have had your 'D' bushes replaced, they hold the bar snug in the bracket bolted to the alloy console. Sarly roll bars had a plastic sleeve pressed around it with a shoulder that butts up against the 'D' bush to stop the sideways movement. Water would get under tge sleeve rust. Expand and it would crumble from under the bush leaving it free to flop side to side fouling the console and other bits depending which way you turned. Vw also updated the roll bar to a thicker one with steel welded shoulders instead of the plastic ones. I had to change the roll bar and the 2 'D' bushes on my old polo 9n and today on my fabia.

This is my fabia one. You can see the plastic sleeve has split on the roll bar and slid from under the 'D' bush. Also the polyurethane rear wishbone bushes.

This is the updated bar I fitted today. Along with a new rack

Great pics and explanation c3po. Any idea when they stopped fitting the rubbish plastic bits on the anti-roll bars?

You're spot on c3po. It was the anti roll bar that was pushed to one side. And yep its bushes were changed. Good to hear its a common fault and not because of an accident etc.

I'll get the other bushes you've highlighted checked out by a reputable garage and get them sorted too.

Cheers.

Not sure if or when they done away with the old type bar. My polo 9n was a 52 plate and my fabia is a 2001 Y plate. My wife has an 04 fabia and it has the crappy old console bushes, im fitting solids on it next weekend. I havent check the arb on it as yet. I will have a peek later and let you know :-)

 I will have a peek later and let you know :-)