I was driving yesterday and I felt the steering get more difficult to turn. I thought something had either broken or was not working properly due to the heat. so I decided to stop and then switch back on ( I work in IT, always does the trick). Still difficult to steer, I thought the PAS pump had failed or something.

Further along in my journey I had to do a 3 point trun, when I did and I brought the steering around from lock to lock I realised the clutch pedal was squeeking and a knocking noise was heard. Well at this point I was annoyed.

Parked up after the journey and saw what looked like chewing gum stuck to insulation foam on the floor mat underneath the pedals. Had a look underneath the dash near the pedals and I saw the "chewing gum" stuff (must be some sort of glue they use) wrapped around the sterering column aswell as bits of foam..... was not happy :eek: . SO instead of going to dealers I got a stanley knife and cut the foam and "chewing gum" off the column and all is now ok!

anyone else had this issue?

do I need to replace the foam that seemed to be concelaing the metal work underneath the dash around the back of the pedals?:confused:

Doesnt sound like anything factory fitted, you got any accesories fitted to the car?

no nothing at all, it's only 3 month old. looks like the foam should cover up the metal of the brake pedal working and other bits behind the pedal!

It might be the bit of sound insulation above the lower trim thats got caught up.

well I think it is, ill post a pic of what it looks like now. hopefully the insulation didn't do much

edit: this is what the underneath of dash looks like now.

[ATTACH]10257[/ATTACH]

edit: and the sponge that came off

How odd ive not seen one do that before. It needs to be looked at though id say, id take off the footrest trim and remove the rest of it.

will do, just a pain getting it to dealers and that, I think it should be ok short term I guess.

I had exactly the same thing. Steering stiffend up. Removed the 'gunk' which had wrapped itself around the column and all was well - and has been ever since...

Sorry to bring up an old thread. But i've found this 'chewing gum'/foam stuff, on the floor of my drivers side. Looked around, and saw it hanging off also. As this is an old thread, does anybody have any more up-to-date information, on why it's used? I dont want to get the garage to repair it, and then find it happen again, a few months down the line. Car is 5 months old nearly.

Any ideas on this?

I havn't been to the dealers when it happened just removed it and all was ok. But now I have squeaky clutch pedal and steering. It's really bad in multi story car parks due to all the clutch work and steering. I am taking it in next week to get it check out so i'll update you.

I've a creaky clutch pedal too. But that insulation is wrapped around the steering / neck at the back...

Ive had that already, got strangly stiff, then i kept finding bits of chewing gum type pieces on the floor then a piece of card, steerings ok now.

Has the steering wheel gotten stiff while your rolling and making a turn? Because I get that once in a while, even at high speeds. Scary really.

Mine seems perfectly fine, the steerings characteristics haven't changed. I'm going to leave it how it is. I dont want that rubbish stuff put back on. It'll only come off again.

Hey,

My now ex-VRS did that. One load of the wrap stuck to the bottom of my shoe, so just lobed it out the window. Then i had a load more come off, so there was no orange / sticky stuff at all. If its still hard to steer, maybe there is some more further down the steering shaft, ooo errr. Mine came away when it was really hot this summer.

Cheers

Rico

mine did his also. I removed what i could and have had no ill effects.

I recon its just sound proofing. I havent got a squeaky clutch though

Creaky clutch is to do with something else i presume, As the insulation is strapped to the steering colomn.