I was speaking to a guy at ATS when i had my tyres fitted the other day. Hes an experienced guy n seems to know what hes talkin about.

I said about the pulling to the left thing on some monte's, vrs and he said they perhaps will manage to cover it up with different tyres, but aslong as the tracking is spot on, he reckons the underlying problem is the wheels are too big for the car. Often done now because it looks sporty, but can have effects like this.

How true that is, i dont actually know.

I was speaking to a guy at ATS when i had my tyres fitted the other day. Hes an experienced guy n seems to know what hes talkin about.

I said about the pulling to the left thing on some monte's, vrs and he said they perhaps will manage to cover it up with different tyres, but aslong as the tracking is spot on, he reckons the underlying problem is the wheels are too big for the car. Often done now because it looks sporty, but can have effects like this.

How true that is, i dont actually know.

Maybe put some smaller wheels on and see

Sent from my Galaxy S5

Maybe put some smaller wheels on and see

Sent from my Galaxy S5

Yeah. An idea for somebody with the problem yeah (:

Some people use 15 inch winters dont they. I wonder if they still pull when theyre fitted.

When next at ATS ask why thousand upon thousand of cars with the same 205/40 17 do not pull left.

& why the VAG Technicians advise fitting the Pirelli P Zero Nero which have firmer sidewalls but are about the tallest 205/40 17 tyres to disguise the misaligned geometry from the Factory Production Line.

 

Sister cars come on 215/40 R17 tyres as standard and thousands do not Pull to the Left, & yet some can,  

as do some cars in Right Hand Drive Countries that come on 16" rims like the Fabia Monte Carlo.

 

?

Do the cars built in Mainland Europe & Left hand drive, fitted with 205/40 R 17 tyres sometimes pull to the right?

Edited 10 January, 201511 yr by goneoffSKi

Yeah. An idea for somebody with the problem yeah (:

Some people use 15 inch winters dont they. I wonder if they still pull when theyre fitted.

Good point,exactly what I was thinking

Anyone with cars that pull to the left had better results on smaller winter tyres?

My car has a slight pull to the left but so did my last 2 fabias,but have recently got a set of 16" winters

Should be interesting if I swap over this winter,even though I suppose the rolling circumference won't be much different

Hm i don't see how smaller tyres will solve the problem..? I've seen golfs with like 18-19 inch alloys and there's lots of hatches with 17+" rims but yet only montes seem to pull to the left, maybe it's a design fault with the size or something i dunno but i can't see why the would be too big for the car. I don't have any smaller wheels anyway so hope the dealers sort it out, car is still with them..

Hm i don't see how smaller tyres will solve the problem..? I've seen golfs with like 18-19 inch alloys and there's lots of hatches with 17+" rims but yet only montes seem to pull to the left, maybe it's a design fault with the size or something i dunno but i can't see why the would be too big for the car. I don't have any smaller wheels anyway so hope the dealers sort it out, car is still with them..

 

But it's not only Montes that pull to the left Ang, it's a problem some Fabias have had for years. I say some as although it's a common problem not all cars are affected.

 

Tracking, tyres or other suspension geometry no one seems to have the answer.

 

I had a 2007 1.2 HTP which pulled to the left so much my arms ached on a long journey. I changed tyres and had a four wheel alignment done and it was much less severe but always pulled slightly after that.

My 2010 1.2 Tsi is fine, great to drive, no pulling no problems.

My MKI pulled slightly to the left - never had an issue with my MKII.

In the posts of 2013 I told the story of my Monte.

It pulled from new, got worse as mileage went on.

In the end 6 wheel alignments, 8 new tyres plus the originals, even had a Skoda tech down from London to sort.

Even after that, it still pulled although not as bad, but still there.

I was fortunate that I could afford to change & the Dealer came through with a cracking deal.

 

I went up to the Yeti 105bhp Diesel.

So glad we did, I think its a very good car.

Same tax after first year & no increase in Insurance. Still under £200.F/c. 

None the less, I was disappointed cos I loved the Monte very much.

Still enjoying over 60 mpg with the Yeti.

Have our Monte currently on 15" Skoda Line alloys and 195/55 Uniroyal 66 winters and it still has a left bias, more noticeable though at national speed limits than town.

 

I wonder if it's got something to do with the heavy but rubbery feeling electro hydraulic steering myself, as our Spaceback with the full electric system is far better regard steering feel and running straight.

 

 

TP

Hm seems like soo many people have this problem and nothing seems to sort it out 100%. Should hopefully be picking my monte back up either on Monday or Tuesday, miss it already lol this Citigo is so slow. And hope they have sorted the problem out completely, fingers crossed

I swapped all my wheels diagonally this afternoon and the pull to the left I had is now gone. (shrug's)

Always worth giving a go when you do not have directional tyres, but not something you can do with Dunlop Sport Maxx.

Confuses me.

If the alignment is right and the wheel size doesnt make a difference, surely it has to be the steering itself?

Could the electro steering centre to off centre? If you know what i mean?

The alignment is not right for UK roads when correctly checked, and it can be corrected. Certain tyres make this more obvious and some disguise or hide the misalignments. From the factory, eg so skoda approve fitting pirelli zero nero yet they still fit other brands at the factory and not the pirelli, can so many Dunlop and Continentals be wrong. And what do Dunlop say about them?

Edited 10 January, 201511 yr by goneoffSKi

My best mate works in service at a local Honda dealership, they stumbled on a something recently with a car they had in for the pulling to the left thing. Honda were doing the same as Skoda and fitting a set of new tyres under warranty but it doesn't always cure the problem and alignment check's always comeback fine but while changing the tyres in the workshop one of the lads rolled the old tyre (without wheel) across the workshop to another technician and found the tyre had a natural tendency to turn one way rather than roll straight, they did it a few times and the tyre consistently turned the same way. They then marked all the tyres coming off the car and the corner they came from, striped them off rims and had some fun rolling the tyres back and forth across the workshop to each other and learned that the way they were built up when on the vehicle from new the tyres had natural tendency to pull left. So to prove a point to themselves they remounted the original tyres on rims so that all tyres naturally turned to the centre of the vehicle to cancel each other out.

It worked and cured the pull to the left, they have cured a couple cars since with this method.

That's very interesting, gunna mention that to them. If that doesn't work then maybe it's something to do with the steering i guess? It just baffles me how nobody seems to know the definite answer and solution as this problem is known to dealers and Skoda UK right?

Also worth measuring the circumference of all the tyres one mounted on rim and set at correct run pressure to make sure you haven't got a big difference in sizes, if there are any differences then try selectively assemble so that the axles have pairs.

Its those sort of details that very rarely get considered let alone looked into.

The link on Runout Stripes has been getting linked on the many Pulling to the Left Threads for several years,

& members have been telling Professionals about the tyres not being matched and fitted correctly from the factory.

http://www.wheels-inmotion.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=165

Excellent piece of information but it then beggs the question how many people in the trade actually know this that should know? In kart racing we knew that certain tyre manufactures produced a more consistent quality of tyre from batch to batch and others would vary more, so we would get several sets of tyres to go through, then selectively assemble matched pairs best we could.

Back to the fabia issue and the fix of fitting Pirelli's to hide the problem, is it at all possible that Pirelli is producing a more consistent quality tyre which can be fitted without thought and thus seemingly fixes the problem. From past experience of Dunlop's on a classic mini it tracked and tramed the road something chronic and fall with the camber of the road, I fitted Yokohama's to it without changing the geometry and problem solved. My father had an jaguar xjs with Dunlop's, that tracked/tramed the road badly to, he fitted Pirelli's and that came good, my mk1 fabia came with Michelin's and was fine, i put a set of Goodyear nct5's on it because I was short on cash at the time and that transformed it to pull left like nothing I've ever experienced before or since, I complained about it and the fitting company said it needs geometry checked, I knew I was fine when I drove it in so I declined and put set of F1 eagle's on it soon as i could afford and hey presto new quality tyres fitted at a different place and it drove straight.

My bottom line opinion is that big wheels on a small car with soft suspension mounting bushes makes the fabia sensitive to it tyre choice and as the tyres wear during there life. A general lack of knowledge in the trade of mechanical commonsense, I could only imagine the answer if I had taken my car in and said its pulling to the left, "let us book it in so we can pulg it in and see if it shows a fault code" sir, huh.... I'll swap tyres round myself thanks and fit something different when there due for change thanks.

Rant over

Good information, hope the dealer knows about this and puts it to practice. Rang them today to check progress but the service department doesn't work on Sundays so they will call me tomorrow.

Yeah maybe it's down to the tyres i don't know but i think the alignment wouldn't sort the problem just on its own

The Pirelli Zero Nero 205/40 R 17 have the same scores on the doors as a Dunlop Sport Maxx 205/40 R 17 which is a Directional tyre.

 

The width is from the tyres width Tyre Wall side wall to sidewall, not the tread on the ground (road surface.)

Look at both tyres side by side and you will see the Profile Shape is different, 

& the Sidewall of the Pirelli is different, the 205/40 R Sport max has more tread on the road.

 

When i change Dunlop 205/40 to Pirelli 205/40, i reset the Steering assistance and have less on with the Pirelli.

Now i have 214/40 Pirelli on i have the Steering Assistance set back at the Factory Setting.

The pirelli really have strong sidewalls, and they need running in,

they feel pretty skittery when you swap over from tyres 

with more flexible construction.that is obviously just IMO.

Edited 11 January, 201511 yr by goneoffSKi

Even when I had 4 new tyres fitted at 3,000 miles (Pirelli) & had 3 wheel alignments by then, the new tyres hid the prob for a while.

Less than 2,000 miles later the pull was back again.

By the time I got to 8,000 miles I had 8 new tyres (Pirelli) fitted.

The front tyres had worn badly on the two inner edges, and yes thats normally tracking.

The Skoda Tech, who worked on the Monte dropped the front suspension & wriggled it????

Then fitted the second set of tyres.

No one from the garage road tested my car.

When I got in & drove home the pull was still there. (not as bad, but still there)

All tyres had been fitted correctly.

So what the problem was /is is still a mystery, unless Skoda know differently.

Everyone I know with a skoda has this problem, my 08 fabia, my friends 04 octi and my other friends 08 octi, however mine is the worst

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Just got off the phone from the dealer, he said they are waiting for authorisation from Skoda UK to fit new front tyres as they will be paying for them and they will fit them when they hear back from Skoda UK which can take another 24-48 hours. Starting to get a bit annoyed now as initially the whole process should have been done by Sunday/Monday.....