HI guys my Polo GT TDI pulls to the left all the time on a straight road. I can be accelerating or just coasting at 60mph and it will still veer off to the left, so I took it to the garage and they changed my front wishbone rear bushes for cupra ones and "sorted" the tracking but the car STILL veers to the left. Tyre pressures are okay aswell, I'm soo confused guys, please help. Could it be 2 different tyres of different tread depths on the rear?

Edited 17 November, 20169 yr by Tomjones1995

It could be.

So before you get matching tyres fitted on the rear try changing the Rears to the front and the fronts to the rear if the fronts are 'a pair' that match.

Yeah I could try that, wont it still veer off though if one has less tread depth than the other? The fronts are a matching pair and same age

Edited 17 November, 20169 yr by Tomjones1995

But were they just matched or chosen for the Run Out Stripes. Google it, Wheels-inmotion' site or the likes.

Even Tyre Fitters overlook that, as do many Technicians that can not diagnose the cause of Pulling to the left',  even though it is so common.

Even Skoda, VW etc just say change the Dunlops to Pirrelli when there are issues while still in Manufacturers Warranty with some vehicles/

Mk2 Fabia vRS / Monte Carlo as an example.

Edited 17 November, 20169 yr by Offski

To be honest Ive never heard of 'run-out stripes before. All i know is the front ones are the same size, manufacturer and were fitted the same time. The rear pair have about 7-8 months between there fittings so one is newer than the other. The garage said they did the tracking but I juat took it out for a spin and with the steering wheel straight it still veers off then too.

Is it staying straight if you hold the wheel straight, so it's only pulling left when you let go of the wheel?

Yeah if I hold the wheel I can keep it straight and when I let go it veers off even if I point it to the white line it veers left.

How about if you find a stretch of road which permits you to drive in the dead center of the road, ie; over the central white line. Does it veer to the left then?

As a 'test' I would swap the wheels over to the opposite side of the car, this will confirm or eliminate the tyres from the problem, it will either continue to pull to the left (not a tyre problem) or not (is a tyre problem).

 

If it still pulls left then it would suggest the steering/suspension alignment is incorrect, this could be caused by free play in a worn component or the tracking has been incorrectly set. 

 

Have you considered going back to the garage and saying the tracking was done but it pulls to the left, its a basic check after doing alignment to drive the car to make sure all is ok.

 

As the valvedoctor46 suggests roads do have a camber to the left which can cause a slight pull to the left.

Thanks everybody for your replies. I havent had chance to drive in the dead centre of the road, Il do it later on my way home and let you know. They said that they took it around town and said it was fine but Its only 0-20 mph one way system so not much of a test. Il give them a ring but wanted to ask the experts first you guys give advice that no garage have given me.

Right, just got home. I drove it on the dead centre of the road and it still drifted off to the left. As it was quiet i crossed right over to the other side and it drove dead straight, any suggestions?

Thanks

Edited 17 November, 20169 yr by Tomjones1995

Supposedly slight left drift is built into cars so if you fall asleep and let go of the steering wheel you drive into the kerb rather then into oncoming traffic, but if yours is more than a very slight drift to the left I would look to the wheel alignment again.

Okay Il pass that info on to the garage coz otherwise theyl waste time looking, theyre charging £62.63ph and then adding vat onto the total bill, complete rip off. Thankyou everybody for all your help much appreciated

Okay Il pass that info on to the garage coz otherwise theyl waste time looking, theyre charging £62.63ph and then adding vat onto the total bill, complete rip off. Thankyou everybody for all your help much appreciated

I'd find a different garage at the same time if possible at those rates.

Did you get a printout for the wheel alignment? I got mine done a while back after having a new track rod fitted, after alignment it drove worse than before. The garage couldn't provide a printout to show what'd had been adjusted. Took it somewhere else and got a full report, the alignment was way out. After being adjusted it drives much better

Edited 17 November, 20169 yr by Dazza95

Skoda_Saint: This is my new garage  , It's the first time I used them, probably the last lol.

Dazza95: No I didn't actually, I'l ask them for it tomorrow and see what's what. Strangely enough I had the tracking done with new tyres in the summer at a different garage and it was great and now after this alignment it's not even close to being as sharp.

I know it doesn't help you at this moment in time, but yeah you did the right thing in the summer. Always best to get your tracking done with brand spanking new tyres so at least we know the tyres are true (therefore eliminating any tyre discrepancies). Hope you get it sorted and keep us posted.

Just letting you guys know I aint forgotten, I'l be going back to speak to the garage in person in the next couple of days. Less chance of them fobbing me off that way I reckon.

Right, I've been there today and they said that everything is nice and tight underneath the car but when he took it for a run the front wheels just veer off to the left and right he said. So I took it for a test drive with him and it still does, he checked the tracking an it was smack on, compensated for the camber and its still the same. Any ideas guys? Maybe the tyres like you said?

Many thanks for reading,

Tom Jones

Go to kwik fit and have a 4 wheel alignment check I think it is free for the initial check (it used to be ) and get the printout look at the rear end and see how far out it is you may want to fit rear caster/camber shims to true them so they are exactly the same as each other.

front wheel drive vehicles have toe in on the rear to help over steering this maybe your problem

I have the same problem with mine just not the time or money to fix

Hope this helps

Picko98 thanks for the info, The mechanic did mention my rear axle was bent which I dont understand but sounds like the problem for me.

if the rear beam is bent then that is likely the cause, how does he know its bent tho? usually for cars pulling one way or another I check tracking is correct then swap wheels side to side and try again and quite often this cures it, obviously this isn't ideal if the tyres are directional so maybe front to rear then.

felicia16v- I've no idea how he knows mate only thats what he said. He said with this in mind he tracked the car towards the right to compensate for the camber and the fact its drifting to the left and it still pulls pretty badly to the left. My next test will be, as you say, to swap the tyres around but I don't have any axle stands or torque wrench thats the problem :/

Supposedly slight left drift is built into cars so if you fall asleep and let go of the steering wheel you drive into the kerb rather then into oncoming traffic, but if yours is more than a very slight drift to the left I would look to the wheel alignment again.

And mow down a bus queue instead .

Hi Guys, sorry to revive the thread but just wanted to give you guys an update (I figured I owed you that much after all your help). The front tyres have finally gone bald on the inside so I took it to f1 autocentres and they said that obviously the tracking was out but by 2 degrees and the camber is out but cant remember if its positive or negative so I'm guessing that's why it was and still is pulling to the left. Is it true that you can't sort the camber out?

 

Cheers,

Tom Jones