Citigo Strange Steering Feel

[Shuggie]

My 2013 Citigo SE 60ps has always had an odd feel to its steering, mostly manifesting itself as an occasional reluctance to self-centre after turning at junctions, but it has never been light or communicative. My local dealer (Robinsons in Norwich) looked at it and found no issue, but they did suggest that I had a full alignment check done. I fid that, and the check showed that the castor angle was out of spec on both front wheels, by exactly the same amount. I'm still waiting for a response from Skoda, and Robinsons are chasing them, since castor is not adjustable and the car must have been made that way.

Anyway, I've now put a new set of steel wheels with Goodyear Ultra Grip 9 winter tyres on the car, and I'm astonished to find the steering magically lighter, linear in feel, and self-centreing properly. So, odd castor angle aside, the problem seems to have been the truly horrible Falken Sincera tyres that it came with. Interestingly, there is fine cracking in the continuous grooves of both the front tyres. I would never buy a cheap Far-Eastern tyre like this, but since the car came with them I've tolerated them so far, but when the regular wheels go back on in the spring, the Falkens will be getting binned for something of better (European) quality.

All that aside, plus an occasionally obstructive gearbox and the sheer inconvenience of the single window switches, the Citigo is great. I love its refinement, settled ride, good seats and (most unusual in a newish car) the good rear visibility. Servicing has been inexpensive and Robinsons have been really good too.

[Chris GB]

Funny, I've fitted Falken 832s to mine and they seem to be as good as the Continental eco contact 2e that where on there previously. Of anything they are even better on wet braking.

[Shuggie]

My horrible Falkens are SN831A. They'll be replaced by either Goodyear Efficient Grip or Continental EcoContact5. I've had the Continentals before and like the way that they deliberately trade some sportiness for a quiet and more comfortable ride, with truly astonishingly low rolling reistance.

[Chris GB]

Never tried the 831. The 832 is quieter and smoother riding that the Continental 2ee, seems to have better wet braking and cornering grip, but I suspect it may not last as long as the Continentals, which went over 30,000 miles on training car.

[TallGuy1]

I'm new here too, I drive a Yeti but my wife has the basic Citigo.

 

Not long after she got it the steering started to pull to one side occasionally.. after talking to our Skoda dealer we were told it was a known fault, something about the steering rack being electronic and some had a fault.. we were told it was safe to drive and if the car started to pull to one side, just turning the ignition off and restarting would correct it. He ordered a new electro/mechanical steering part and it was replaced a few days later, never had any problems with it pulling to one side after that..    not sure if that info is any use to you, hope so :-)

[Shuggie]

My dealer denied any suggestion that there was a known fault with the Citigo steering bits, but the important thing here is that the 'problem' disappeared after fitting some quality tyres.

[TallGuy1]

Hi Shuggie,

 pleased your problem is solved..

 

My wife's Citgo had the electrical power assisted steering ( EPAS ) replaced under warranty.. it's a problem that can occur on some Citigo's and VW Up's...

 

http://www.upownersclub.co.uk/forum/steering-pulling_topic1289_page1.html

 

I just thought it may help you or someone who read this thread...  We've had no problems with the Citigo's original tyres :-)

[Shuggie]

I read through that thread, which started with an obvious and dangerous steering fault which my Citigo has never displayed. This post towards the end of the thread may shed a light on the odd and inconsistent feel that I experienced:

My helpful dealership managed to replicate the fault.

They reported back some details. The VW UP! power steering is electromagnetic and doesn't have a traditional steering angle sensor that older/other VW steering systems have. This means at the point of ignition, the steering angle is not known and has to be calculated during the first 800m at speeds over 30km/h.

It's thought something was going wrong with this process after the car had been left with the steering not centred, leading to the car incorrectly calculating the centre angle.

After discussions with VW technical, the solution was to change some settings to the mechanism that calculates this steering angle. I believe these were applied via diagnostic equipment rather than a physical alteration to the steering system.

After further tests by the dealership and myself, we've not experienced the problem since. Hopefully it is resolved.

I think this may explain why my car's steering is no much better with the new Goodyear tyres - the steering ECU is maybe receiving more consistent readings with the better quality Goodyear tyres. I'm convinced that the Falken Sincera tyres are of poor quality, since fine cracking in the grooves of the front tyres should not be occurring after just 30 months and 20k miles. It's interesting to see in another thread on here that MOT inspections are picking up tyre cracking on Citigos, presumably the same as I have observed on my car.

[TallGuy1]

I'll keep an eye on my wife's tyres, no sign of cracking yet :-)