UK-POLOS.NET - THE VW Polo Forum

Hello Everyone!

I'm hoping some of you can help me or give me some advice please as I need to put my mind at rest!!

I have owned my 66 plate Polo BlueGT now for about 3 or 4 weeks and since having it I have noticed that I can feel every single little bump in the road and I can also feel it through the steering wheel and brake pedal when I brake. Is this normal for a car running on sports suspension and 40mm low profile tyres as this is the first car like this I have owned??

I am having it checked by VW at the weekend and a 4 wheel alignment carried out as my steering is slightly off centre when driving straight.

Thank you for any replies I receive.

P.S. I do love my Polo BlueGT!!

Perfectly normal

Agreed but not sure about the brake pedal reaction, that seems odd.

Ricmondo wrote: Tue May 21, 2019 11:55 am Agreed but not sure about the brake pedal reaction, that seems odd.

He doesn't seem to be saying the brake pedal is reacting strangely.
Just that he 'feels' bumps through the pedal, which seems fine to me.
You want some feel for the road through the pedal, no feel would be awful.

27_craig wrote: Mon May 20, 2019 7:21 pm Hello Everyone!

Snip ------- Snip.

I am having it checked by VW at the weekend and a 4 wheel alignment carried out as my steering is slightly off centre when driving straight.

Thank you for any replies I receive.

P.S. I do love my Polo BlueGT!!

It might be helpful if you report back on where the geometry error was and how much VW charge for a check, adjust, recheck. Ta !

Thank you for replies so far!

As said, yes I just feel the road to though the brake pedal! They work perfectly!

The geometry check is being carried out free of charge as I’ve only had the car 3 weeks! I will report back though on any errors when they carry it out! Hope they can straighten my steering up!


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I’m not doubting what you and other contributors are saying about feeling the road through the brake pedal or whether or not it’s a good or a bad thing but, as I suggested to me it’s a little odd.

I’ve driven lots of cars with rod or cable operated drum brakes and there is a lot of road related feedback, some of it quite unpleasant. Early anti lock systems such as the Dunlop system fitted to the Jensen FF deliberately introduced artificial pedal feedback in the form of rapid pulsing to remind the driver of the laws of physics.

Modern cars with hydraulic brakes that operate via an electronic ABS are isolated from what goes on at the sharp end, any feeling at the pedal apart from the designed in progressively increasing back pressure is probably that designed into the ABS to encourage progressive braking. Of course if there is any distortion (run off) in one or more of the discs you would certainly feel that as you brake as the algorithms are formulated to prevent that feedback from being filtered out. Some systems introduce artificial feedback to warn of excessive pad wear, I don’t know if VW do that though.

Just to emphasise I’m not dismissing your views or saying you or any other contributor is wrong just that in my experience it sounds odd and unlike any recent car I’ve experienced.

I hope the checks sort your car out and remove any doubts you have, the BGT is a very pleasant car to own and, in my opinion represents the sweet spot in the 6C range, especially with DSG.

You have made a good choice, enjoy it!

Hi All

So, today I have been to the dealers and they have checked everything for the vibration!

Anyway it turns out that my 2 rear alloy wheels have flat spots on them which is causing the vibrations! They are saying I need to replace both at a cost of £1300!!!!!! I’m now in negotiations to get them to pay for it as the car has done it since I bought it about a month ago! They are saying that it must of been me as this would of been picked up on there 142 point check which I believe is bull s**t as they missed the perished rear wiper and missing dust caps from the front tyres!

Hopefully will get it sorted!


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I hope it goes well for you as I’m sure does every other Forum contributor.

27_craig wrote: Tue May 28, 2019 6:27 pm Hi All

So, today I have been to the dealers and they have checked everything for the vibration!

Anyway it turns out that my 2 rear alloy wheels have flat spots on them which is causing the vibrations! They are saying I need to replace both at a cost of £1300!!!!!! I’m now in negotiations to get them to pay for it as the car has done it since I bought it about a month ago! They are saying that it must of been me as this would of been picked up on there 142 point check which I believe is bull s**t as they missed the perished rear wiper and missing dust caps from the front tyres!

Hopefully will get it sorted!


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VW do charge a small fortune for OEM factory alloy wheels. If the dealer isn’t willing to pay for new wheels, I’d be getting them checked independently for flat spots before getting replacements, if the wheels aren’t flat spotted then potentially shelling out £1,300 for new wheels is a lot of money to waste. I’m assuming by flat spots, the dealer means they are buckled? Seems strange that both the rears have flat spots. I’d have thought that this type of damage would be on the front and rear of one side of the car only - assuming it was caused by hitting something like a pot hole, although I suppose a previous owner may have moved a buckled front wheel to the rear, so they didn’t experience vibrations or imbalance through the steering.

Some alloy wheel refurbishing companies might be able to repair them to remove the flat spots if they’re not too badly damaged and a repair would be considerably cheaper than new replacement wheels. It does carry a risk that straightening a wheel to remove damage might result in the wheel cracking. Lepsons get very good reviews on forums for wheel refurbishment, and I see that they also carry out wheel repairs.

http://www.lepsons.com/wheel-straightening/

Other options would be to source a couple of used Montani alloys for your BlueGT; if you do a search on the part number, there are quite a few for sale. Used wheels can be a risk as they may also have been damaged. This seller does state that wheels are checked prior to sale to ensure they’re not bent or buckled. Unfortunately, they only have one for sale.

https://www.partsgateway.co.uk/parts/de ... 1/40058415

Part numbers for Montari alloy wheels are 6R0601025AD or 6R0601025AE depending on whether they’re silver or anthracite in colour (sorry, don’t know which number relates to which colour).

Good luck. I hope this gets resolved quickly and at no cost to you. Please keep the forum updated as I’m sure other members will also be interested in the outcome.

I have to say that when running the "Efficiency" tyre pressures (40psi+) the ride can be very harsh but I think that's just the combo of high pressures, firm suspension and low profile tyres as others have mentioned.

Regarding the flat spots, I had a noise coming from the wheel axle that sounded a lot like wheel bearings needed replacing but it turned out my rear TYRES had flat spots. There was a little bit of vibration but it was mainly the noise that gave it away. Local mechanic said it was "Sawtooth wear" which often happens on the non-driven wheels and tyre manufacturers can't even explain it! Two new Pirelli's fitted and back to silence in the cabin and no vibrations.

Is it definitely the actual wheels or could it be the tyres?

Hello All, Just an update for you!

So my car went back to VW over the weekend to have its rear alloy wheels replaced with brand new ones plus have a 4 wheel alignment to straighten the steering up!

I have took it on it’s first proper drive today on my 50 mile round trip commute and I have to say that it now drives fantastically and smooth! I can now put my head on the headrest without my brains being shaken to bits plus I am not not getting any vibrations through the steering wheel or brake pedal. Also the 4 wheel alignment has straightened my steering wheel up lovely!

Very happy and got it all done for free!! I can now start enjoying my little Polo.


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Good outcome. Good that the dealer did the right thing and sorted your car at no cost to you.

Hello All, Sorry it’s me again!

So having spent a week driving my polo since getting it back for the dealers I’m still not 100% happy that the steering is spot on!

It still seems to be sitting slightly to the right when driving along a straight road but I’m not sure if this is normal because of the road camber?

I’m also thinking that maybe the cheapo tyres I have on the rear are contributing to this?

Anyone else experience an off centre steering wheel when driving along straight roads?

Thanks in advance


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I remembered to check my GTI’s straight line steering when I was using it tonight.

On a straight road with no camber or slight camber it runs straight and true and the steering wheel is straight.

On roads with a heavier camber, it does gradually drift towards the nearside of the road, and the steering wheel moves slightly off centre, but only really if I take my hands off the steering wheel, and then any drift towards the kerb is is very gradual (that’s what I’d expect it to do). If I keep my hands on the wheel, I don’t have to consciously keep making corrective steering inputs to the direction of travel to maintain a straight line.