The front suspension on my mk1 vrs is giving me some bother. The steering is horrible, feels very slack and i seem to be getting excessive feedback through the steering for the slightest thing ( minor changes in road surface, cats eyes etc) the road noise also seems to be rather louder than i remember when i bought the car. I know the tracking needs doing and that will be to blame for some vibrations but i feel there is something more sinister so ive checked all usuals cv, drop links, track rod ends. All appear in good working order. Also the spring on each side is complete and seated nicely in each strut.

Now the anti roll bar im not sure of. It seems pretty solid in the bushes but how can i best test them?

With the wheel off there does appear to be a line over the top half of the bar that looks new( shiny black) opposed to the rest of the bush which looks to be the original 11 year old part slightly discoloured and aged. Is this purely down to the suspension being under no load or could it be something worth checking?

The driver side does feel worse but the passenger side is not far behind.

Any ideas on places to check etc will be much appriciated

I'd start with the wishbones. I had a similar thing on mine recently. On an 11 yo car the wishbone bushes will jo doubt be getting a bit tired now and can cause alot if not all the issues u have mentioned.

Thanks decender. I'll look into those, any tips for ways to test on mk1's?

I had my wishbone bushes replaced yesterday with R32 unit and its so much better. However my tracking is out now, just went to have that done and both track rods are stuffed apparently

If u can, get a pry bar in between the wishbone and the subframe where the rear bush is and lever the wishbone down. Look for any damage, splits in the bush anf anything that wud be considered to be excessive movement. The front bush is a little more difficult to check. Also check ur ball joints.

Thats my sunday morning sorted then lol