Little background first: My car was pulling to the left pretty badly fairly recently. Changed to the cupra bushes and was an improvement of about 70%. Still does it tho', especially under acceleration. 4 Wheel alignment showed that the Left rear wheel was out of spec alignment (positive camber and toe-in)- which can't be adjusted for apparently. I read that some FWD cars twist their rear axles not uncommonly. No history of accident AFAIK..

The standard dealer's "official party line' is that 'they all do that'.

Tried out a simple thing to try help a bit more- and it seems to have worked - the pull is really minimal now...

The tyre pressures in the Fabia vRS are supposed to be: Front 33-36 psi, Rear 32-41psi (higher end if carrying a load).

I adjusted the fronts to 35 psi and the rear left to 37 and the rear right to 33. All are within spec but the two rears are unequal.

Drives straight and only barely pulls to the left now...

Is this safe? Comments??? (the only possible proper fix is a new axle beam - forget that!)....

A search for shims or adjustable bolts wasn't a success...

Cheers

Bas

I had the same problem but only after fitting the Jabba ARB.

It may have led to the distorsion of the rear beam, it may not have but it was fine before fitting and then I started having issues about a month later on.

I spoke with a mech engineer who suggested making it stiffer could lead to distortion. I never took any measurments but after removing the ARB it improved a little but still pulled.

Little background first: My car was pulling to the left pretty badly fairly recently. Changed to the cupra bushes and was an improvement of about 70%. Still does it tho', especially under acceleration. 4 Wheel alignment showed that the Left rear wheel was out of spec alignment (positive camber and toe-in)- which can't be adjusted for apparently. I read that some FWD cars twist their rear axles not uncommonly. No history of accident AFAIK..

The standard dealer's "official party line' is that 'they all do that'.

Tried out a simple thing to try help a bit more- and it seems to have worked - the pull is really minimal now...

The tyre pressures in the Fabia vRS are supposed to be: Front 33-36 psi, Rear 32-41psi (higher end if carrying a load).

I adjusted the fronts to 35 psi and the rear left to 37 and the rear right to 33. All are within spec but the two rears are unequal.

Drives straight and only barely pulls to the left now...

Is this safe? Comments??? (the only possible proper fix is a new axle beam - forget that!)....

A search for shims or adjustable bolts wasn't a success...

Cheers

Bas

Remove the axle and make a jig out of steel box section. Bolt the fronts to the front of the jig and the rear side which isnt bent also to jig.

Then make a long heafty bar and bolt this to the axle where the stub axle should bolt. Then warm up the side which is to me "fixed" and move the bar in a direction that you think would cure it. Not really an exact art but might be worth a go :confused: Ive seen this done on a mk1 golf rear beam where the owner required more camber on the rear wheels Wouldnt like to do it myself though.

(scrap that have you checked that the stub axel is not slightly bent?) would be cheaper to replace if it is than the whole beam :confused:)

_____

john

Mine always did this from new and the dealer said the same.

However, I found that running my TD monzas made it a lot worse and putting the car back on the standard wheels and then onto different tyres made it a lot better. Try moving wheels round.

Attached are the nominal values for the rear axle -

Have you thought about replacing the rear beam bushes Bas?

Most cars will slightly pull to the left on most roads due to the camber they are designed with for water run-off

I no this wont be the reason but its worth baring in mind.

Roads are slopped to drain the rain off the middle of the road to the edges, try driving on the wrong side or bang in the middle of the road and see what happens.

Plus doesn't the unequal length of the drive shafts have an influence?

Have you thought about replacing the rear beam bushes Bas?

yes mate - trying to sort this one out step by step.

First step: will change the OEM bushes for powerflex. If that doesnt work may look at the possibility of getting the stub axle machined by a mate.

If it is possible to machine the stub axle, then no reason why the "opposite" realignment couldnt be put into it.

Luckily he is a master machinist, and may be able to do it....

thanks for all the advice!

Bas

Will have to have a play with my pressures.

This is my problem, but i think its caused by V V Very Cheap Tyres.

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/octavia/steering-issue/94224/

Mine was far better after the new console bushes and a 4WA at Awesome. But, it still does it slightly albeit not as bad as before.

Seems that's Skoda's answer for everything. 'They all do that'......pfft....

Clunking front suspension, stuttering etc etc. The term 'characteristic of the car' gets coined a lot.

Most cars will slightly pull to the left on most roads due to the camber they are designed with for water run-off

Only cars I've ever driven which pulled to the left were Skodas. Weirdly, the Mk5 Golf and the Mk4 (?) Bora didn't pull to the left :confused:

Chris

Czech roads must look like this /\

I'm sure it's a very common problem and quite hard to 'fix' satisfactorily, as a quick google shows...

monaro pulls to left but dont worry thats normal

I'm sure it's a very common problem and quite hard to 'fix' satisfactorily, as a quick google shows...

monaro pulls to left but dont worry thats normal

thanks for that info.

Why doesnt someone like Jabba make a line of shims then? It would make them good money and make a lot of VAG owners happy!

I found a couple of US sites where they offer shims to fit between the stub axle and beam to correct rear axle camber.

Unfortunately nothing for VW polo.. Does the fabia share the chassis with any VW models available in the US?

Are the rear wheel bearings good? Sounds odd, but I had a serious problem on a Corsa and eventually came to the conclusion that it had had a bump on the rear n-side wheel. The bearings didn't sound damaged, but changing bearings on both sides solved the problem. Before sorting this myself, I'd been to the dealers and several tyre specialists. All adjusted the tracking which seemed to work for ten minutes.

Hope you get it sorted.

V

Mine does it as well; has done since new. I thought it was torque steer or something...

Strangely, it doesn't seem too bad pulling away in first or second. When I really notice it is going past tractors (which I seem to have been doing a lot of recently!). Trundling along at 25, shift into third, pull over and floor it. When you straighten up on the other side of the road it shows a disconcerting attraction for whatever you're going past.

Should I be worrying about this?

It is torque steer apaprently - read that FWD cars can twist their rear axles over time (!).

Will get to the bottom of this eventually....

read that FWD cars can twist their rear axles over time (!).

Any sources for that? I'm having difficulty understanding how that could ever happen.... :confused:

Chris

I'm also interested to find out where the force to bend the rear axle would come from in a car where effectively that item is just a trailer.

If cars do twist their axles due to torque stear, just be thankfull you havent got a astra VXR!

On that note tho, im guessing the more power the more of a problem this is likely to be, does jason or any of the other guys with over 200BHP have this problem as well?

I have to say i dont get this in my car (touch wood)

But how would you bend the axle? Surely the rear tyres will break traction before the chassis/rear beam bends?

Chris

I'm looking for that american site, in the meantime look at this:

Bending the B14 Rear Axle to Adjust Suspension Geometry

Found it: 4th line from the end: Using Shims to Correct Wheel Alignment, Larry Carley, Brake & Front End, February 2000