Keeps pulling left!

[duke750]

Hi,

I had the tracking done on my Polo last week, the steering wheel was straight for the first time since I've owned it so was happy and left garage. But driving on the motorway the other day I noticed it's still pulling left as before.

If I take it back will they be able to correct it or is it something more severe? Also the steering feels a little sloppy/non responsive when shaking it a little left to right, is this normal?

Finally, do coilovers make the body roll less severe and firm up the feel of the car?

[Joe_Mk5]

Hey man, go back to the garage and get the tracking checked. That's how straight the wheels are. Maybe ask them to check canber to be on the safe side! It sounds like tracking has gone a bit out mate! Shouldn't be to severe!

Coilovers will firm up body roll, depending what ones you get you can change the stiffness off the set up. But yes it will make a difference! And a noticeable one at that!

[Adam-]

Also the steering feels a little sloppy/non responsive when shaking it a little left to right, is this normal?

That's exactly what happened to mine! It you've fitted the coilies yourself, you might've not noticed the castor camber?

If you loosen the two bolts on the bottom of the suspension strut, and pull the coilies as hard as you can towards you, it should fix it a bit.

It needs to be specially aligned though.

[duke750]

So I took my polo back to another garage about the tracking. The guy at the garage said he thought the tracking hadn't been done at all because it was massively out, which made me seriously pi$$ed. He said it was fine now so off i went.

Driving home I noticed that it had stopped pulling to the left but the steering wheel was now turning left and not level. When i took it back another guy (who apparently worked on it) said the tracking rod ends had seized and that they weren't able to get the steering wheel straight when the wheels where straight. He then said i needed to buy new ends and then they would align it for free. When I called VW they quoted £20 for ends or £90 if I wanted a new tracking rod and ends.

Does this sound normal? I'm not sure what to do and want to get it all sorted ASAP so it doesn't mess up my tyres.

[alexperkins]

Just get new ends. You don't need the rods as well. I had to do the same on mine, but they needed a bit of oxy acetylene to get them free!

[duke750]

Thanks Alex.

[Adam-]

You should be able to crack the nuts on them. I used a set of stilsons to hold the rod and wellied it with a hammer. It's sucha tight fit, but they do give in eventually!

[alexperkins]

lol they tried everything on mine and they just wouldnt budge