I've had my 99 F (now 71K miles) 3 years and have never really been happy with the handling. Bit of a long question, but its been troubling me for a long time!
On a flat surface the steering wheel aligns itself horizontally as it should but the car pulls to the left. In order to travel in a atraight line I have to hold the wheel a few degrees to the right but can constantly feel the wheel trying to level itself. I have just had four wheel alignment done at Micheldever, and I had the same issue when I had it done last year ie had to hold the wheel a little to the right to go straight so I dont think its tracking.
Its not the EPAS, it still does it with the fuse removed. The steering wheel moves more easily left than right even with the front wheels jacked off the ground and with the EPAS disabled.
I cant feel any play in any wheel.
It always pulls down the camber of the road very noticeably - I hold the wheel much closr to horizontal if the road slopes down to the right. Do they all do this?
So is it as if when moving the front subframe moves relative to the rear? So the fronts go straight but dont line up with the rear? Presumably if the subby was bent the 4 wheel alignment wouldnt have worked?
I've had the n/s rear wheel bearing go so I know what that sounds like, I also needed to have the n/s driveshaft replaced at the same time. I get uneven tyre wear (very rapidly!) but thats probably because I always seem to knock my wheel alignment out on potholes. The n/s front wheel took the brunt of a side impact collision with an Astra a year ago (repaired by local ex MGR garage but I dont have a list of what they did), and I also had a blow out on the same corner when I hit a brick in the road (although I've had a new wheel since then).
Anybody seen this? Is it anything obvious to anyone out there? I dont want to indiscriminately take things apart since that will screw up the tracking at best, and I suspect its the type of fault most local garages will see as a license to print money. While taking it to eg Techspeed might seem sensible, I live in Southampton and dont have any spare leave to get it there. So what can I try thats cheap and easy?
Pete
On a flat surface the steering wheel aligns itself horizontally as it should but the car pulls to the left. In order to travel in a atraight line I have to hold the wheel a few degrees to the right but can constantly feel the wheel trying to level itself. I have just had four wheel alignment done at Micheldever, and I had the same issue when I had it done last year ie had to hold the wheel a little to the right to go straight so I dont think its tracking.
Its not the EPAS, it still does it with the fuse removed. The steering wheel moves more easily left than right even with the front wheels jacked off the ground and with the EPAS disabled.
I cant feel any play in any wheel.
It always pulls down the camber of the road very noticeably - I hold the wheel much closr to horizontal if the road slopes down to the right. Do they all do this?
So is it as if when moving the front subframe moves relative to the rear? So the fronts go straight but dont line up with the rear? Presumably if the subby was bent the 4 wheel alignment wouldnt have worked?
I've had the n/s rear wheel bearing go so I know what that sounds like, I also needed to have the n/s driveshaft replaced at the same time. I get uneven tyre wear (very rapidly!) but thats probably because I always seem to knock my wheel alignment out on potholes. The n/s front wheel took the brunt of a side impact collision with an Astra a year ago (repaired by local ex MGR garage but I dont have a list of what they did), and I also had a blow out on the same corner when I hit a brick in the road (although I've had a new wheel since then).
Anybody seen this? Is it anything obvious to anyone out there? I dont want to indiscriminately take things apart since that will screw up the tracking at best, and I suspect its the type of fault most local garages will see as a license to print money. While taking it to eg Techspeed might seem sensible, I live in Southampton and dont have any spare leave to get it there. So what can I try thats cheap and easy?
Pete