Wandering

[Guest 4lex]

My phase 1 1.9 has started to wander a bit - there's no clonking or anything from the front end, tyre pressures and tracking is fine, leads me to believe it's probably wear in the rack - is that likely, or anything else to look at?

 

Cheers,

Alex

[Guest Alzy]

have you done the wheel balancing.

may have something to do with that.

may not though

[jonah 1]

Poor wheel balancing causes vibration at high speed, not wandering.

Worn steering rack should be obvious when it's parked, you would feel some free play in the steering wheel before the roadwheels start to move. It would probably also clunk over rough roads. Don't know if there's anything that can go wrong with a power rack that could cause wandering, someone else might know?

 

My best guess would be wishbone bushes. One of mine went in an almost brand-new wishbone, and it was a complete pig to drive on the motorway - veered left under acceleration and right when off-throttle / braking. The rubber had peeled away from the inner steel sleeve and was moving around far too much under load. Is that the same symptom as yours, or is there something else specific that it's doing?

[Rob_the_Sparky 9]

This may sound daft but on my old diesel 205 the bolts holding the steering to the bodywork came loose, didn't help the steering accuracy! Quick run round with a torque wrnech fixed it.

 

Rob

[nick 3]

I'd deffinately agree with wishbones, when they go the car just wanders about all over the shop, v/scary!!

 

Nick

[KRISKARRERA 2 1 Cars]

My steering wonders and clunks. Had a new manual steering rack in September and a new offside wishbone. Just wish I could pinpoint the cause rather than using trial and error.

[fiji bob 0]

something else to consider, my car kept pulling to the left whenever i drove over bumps in the road after rebuilding the front calipers and freeing up a seized piston on the left side it drove straight...for a while anyway

[Pugnut 9 1 Cars]

any loose wheel bearings ? rears also ?

[Simes 248 2 Cars]

Wishbones!

 

Does it go one direction when you accelerate, then the opposite when you ease off, ie you can change lanes on the motorway with your right foot?

[KRISKARRERA 2 1 Cars]

Nope, not me anyway. Mine changes lanes whether I'm cruisin, accelerating or braking. Not matter how tight I hold the steering wheel the road wheels arent held tight!

[Steve.C 0]

The sensible thing to have done kris was to get yours up on a ramp after your accident and get it checked over properly instead of waiting and hoping everything was ok,take your car to an MOT garage and ask them if they can have a look for you,this is the safest way as you don't want to be driving along at speed like the other day when you were coming back from Devon! as you never know what will happen with your steering

[Guest 4lex]

Thanks all. Symptons do match up with wishbone bushes - hope I kept that receipt as I only changed them 10k ago.

 

Will get it up in the air and have a look.

 

Cheers,

Alex

[jonah 1]

4lex, do you know what brand they are if you replaced them recently? 'cos the one that went on mine was TRW, from Euro Car Parts, and it only lasted about 3000 miles before the bush gave up. Luckily they accepted it back and gave me a new one, which funnily enough was a different brand - think it was Ocap.

[Guest 4lex]

No, fraid not - but they were extremely cheap.

[C_W 3 1 Cars]

My best guess would be wishbone bushes. One of mine went in an almost brand-new wishbone, and it was a complete pig to drive on the motorway - veered left under acceleration and right when off-throttle / braking. The rubber had peeled away from the inner steel sleeve and was moving around far too much under load. Is that the same symptom as yours, or is there something else specific that it's doing?

Wishbones!

 

Does it go one direction when you accelerate, then the opposite when you ease off, ie you can change lanes on the motorway with your right foot?

 

Mine has been just like this for over 6 months very unstalbe at speeds and manouevering, sort of like high speed tramlining! For some reason it seemed to be worse with baldish tyres and that is what I put it down to. I changed the driveshafts and this seems to make a slight difference. I've done about 6 track days with it like this but strangely it's most noticeable on the road, I think because on a track you're really concentrating and correcting every movement but on the road you don't drive in the same way.

 

When I was going on the motorway to Elvington you could overtake by accelerating and pull back in by lifting off! (pointing to the front left causing the problem) and it was very difficult to drive needing constant attention and correction. The final thing was when I was doing about 90 and braked hard; the car just literally swapped to the left lane on its own, good job it was clear.

 

I stripped the front left suspension down hoping to find something obvious to change (I prefer that!!!). I suspected it might be the damper bearing inside the strut but it was fine, bottom ball joint was fine too (the arm isn't really old). So I put it back together then read this thread last night and decided to have another look today. I checked the front bush on the arm and it's very loose where the otherside is solid so I think I have found the problem!!

 

Will change the arm tomorrow and post the outcome.

[Pugnut 9 1 Cars]

running with worn bottom arms can damage the hubs . the round hole in the hub where the ball joint slots into gets ovalled out . a combination of running with worn ball joints and overtightening stretches the hole .

 

so you could fit a brand new bottom arm and still get play . obviously you won't notice this play by kicking the tyre but on the road with a bit of force on it and it will make the car wander .

 

with the hub still on the car it is still quite hard to see how good they are . my 1.6 had two ovalled out hubs . i couldn't even find good ones from a scrappy . I had to buy new .

[C_W 3 1 Cars]

Got a new bottom arm today. Seems to have done the trick but not fully tested it yet (braking from high speed etc) but a cruise at 95 on the motorway with highish winds and it felt much better. Need to get the track checked now as the steering is slightly out, but I might be getting a new steering rack soon so might as well wait.

 

That's about the 4th bottom arm I've had on the passenger side and usually it's the ball joint that goes way before the bush.

[Pugnut 9 1 Cars]

Chris,

i too ruined a good few bottom arms, the play on the hub carrier just kills them .

[Guest sicknote]

Have you checked your rear beam bearings?

 

If these are worn, it can cause the car to weave all over the place if the road is bumpy.