Dodgy steering - A cure

[dr_mat 0]

Everyone on this thread: change your wheel bearings. :)

[Supercharged 2]

Everyone on this thread: change your wheel bearings. :)

 

...and rears are just as important as fronts for steering 'feel'

[dr_mat 0]

Rears are easier to diagnose as being failed.. and I would say dodgy rear bearings feels very different from the subtle and twisted ways in which front bearings can be "failed" .. well .. "worn" would be a better word. Mine never actually failed, but the handling is finally "fixed" having had them replaced.

[davidwort 0]

sounds like a good idea

 

rears are very easy to check, as they can be spun to listen for droning, they tend to groan when turning one way or the other and you can feel the play by rocking the wheel (they should have a small amount of play when correctly adjusted) or even take them apart to inspect the races and bearings for pitting.

 

fronts are a pain as it's hard to tell which side is shot even if they make a terrible noise and even then it can be hard to spot the pitting when broken apart (of course they are knackered once removed and broken apart), It's a case of change both fronts and hope the old ones had some play/wear in them to have made it worth it.

[stevef182 0]

i'm having the simialr problems as descibed by many in this thread..i have just read this whole thing and im pleased to report i can now narrow the problem down to....

wheel bearings

tyres

ball joints

track rod ends

steering rack

UJ (steering column)

PAS Pump

and so on...i guess my best bet is to start with the cheapest first..but whilst im here i have one question...when i turn the steering wheel left or right about 1/4 turn and leave it, i can hear a loud hissing noise..could this be related to my steering issue or is it just simply something to do with PAS fluid or something???

[Jim Bowen 1]

right after mucho thinking and talking to people, reading books etc it seems that all my dodgy steering could be caused by the fact that the front is so low, its only a -40mm spring kit but seems much lower.

 

the chap at the garage pointed out that my wishbones aren't parrell to the road anymore, they are higher at the wheel end.

 

Which from what i've been reading can cause all the characteristics i talk about

 

 

front is alot lower than the rear

[boost monkey 0]

yup corsameal, read the bump steer thread that Supercharged started.

[quicky1980 0]

Im not sure if anyone has had the problem Im going through

 

I have very vague steering when steering slightly left to right or right to left, more noticeable at dual carriage way speeds. It feels loose, but if I carry on turning it all tightens up. Does this sound like a dead rack or bushes/attatchment points?

[davidwort 0]

that seems to be the biggest problem with old Corrados, nothing is loaded up at very slight steering inputs from centre and tiny amounts of wear in the column, UJ, rack and any bushings, bearings, joints on track rods etc adds up to that vague feeling.

There's been a lot of cars that have had everything apart from rack, UJ and column replaced (fully rebushed etc) and still get less than perfect feeling so I gues it's those parts. Each time I've done bushings etc things have tightened up, but from this thread (and now because of a definite noise) I'm doing both front bearings and fitting a non-adjustable steering column. Will see how I get on.

[quicky1980 0]

Well this is the second 2nd hand rack I've fitted. First one felt heavy turning left and very light turning right, so replaced it with the current one.

I am going to replace all the bushes anyway with poly vesions and change the bj and track ends to see if that helps (if it doesn't it will tighten up the handling). Ive heard that the seat steering rack will fit, any one know which one this is? I would think this would be a cheaper alternative to a corrado version being rebuilt (even then Ive heard that they arent perfect).

[boost monkey 0]

if you do a search for the seat rack i'm sure you'll find something as it's ringing bells in my head now too.

[davidwort 0]

I believe the ibiza GTI/cupra of 16v fame is the one you want, before the ibiza changed to the late 2001 model with the electro-hydraulic racks. The part number is probably in this thread as James fitted one to his 24V Corrado, it's the same as the superceeding part number for the 2.0 16v C.

[davidwort 0]

bumped back up again because I've just had a very fruitful day fitting a polo column in the Corrado non-adjustable column tube.

Now I know Kev and a few others have done this but I thought I'd add my experience.

With a combination of bits from the old adjustable column, the polo column I bought second hand and the fixed position tube, I built up what is basically the factory fit fixed column.

All I can say is WOW! the steering is much improved, all signs of play and a disconcerting clunk on tight bend correcting has gone.

I'll do a separate detailed write up soon as there's a few things I'd not read about including removing and refitting lock barrels so you can keep your original ignition key.

Just been for a blast around a bunch of round abouts and it's very addictive :D that Corrado responsiveness and feel is back again :clap:

[zak 0]

Great feed back, ive thought about this route before but was off put as i like my steering wheel in the lowest position. After further thought i think i could get away with spacing a fixed column down to get it to sit at a height i like. Reading your experiance is making me move this further up my list of things to do....

[dukest 0]

good news, will be looking forward to that write up david!

[boost monkey 0]

i'm prety much not going to do my stoopid ignition switch until the column is off, so any excuse! :nuts:

[davidwort 0]

see my fixed column how-to thread :)

[boost monkey 0]

David Wort = steering god :notworthy:

[Jim Bowen 1]

has anyone got pics of there wishbones etc, with car on the wheels/ground etc

 

am going to get under mine and check it out, see if its worth changing suspension (again) :lol:

[TomD 0]

Mine has had similar issues with vague steering but I changed the steering column for a 2nd hand adjustable one and swapped my UJ for a 2nd hand one too (both in very good nick) and has made a big big difference - much tighter steering and less going where it wants to not where I want it to.

 

Its not too tricky either, just need to drill into the heads of the shear bolts and get easy outs into them, and its a bit fiddly getting to the pinch bolt at the bottom of the UJ, but once the lower dash is off its only 5 bolts (or six if you separate the UJ from the column)

 

Now for the poly bushes and new subframe! :)

[quicky1980 0]

just to update my problem, turned out that the bolts that hold the rack to the subframe hadnt been torqued up fully. not the steering is pin sharp yey!!

[Richie_t 0]

I'm sure this will have been covered before :sleeping: but i'll cover it again just incase... stretch fit tyres make the steering and general ride quality very uncomfortable.

 

I've had 8x16's on a 195/45 stretch on my G60 for almost a year now, and ive just reverted back to original 6.5x15's (195/50/15's). The steering and ride quality have improved so much that ive forgotten why I even fitted aftermarket wheels in the first place. The car absorbs bumps and potholes like it should, instead of pulling you to the side over every anomaly in the road. Bump steer and even torque steer are something of the past and the car just feels alot more 'true' to drive. It feels lighter and more nimble - more like the C people rant about as being one of the best handling FWD car of its time. The only caveat now is the flex you get in the 'balloon' like tyres going round corners. This I can live with. Until I get bored of how it looks.

 

I would recommend anyone running 7J wheels fit atleast 205 width tyres. 7.5J I'd run with 215 and 8J i'd fit 225 etc. I know this defeats the idea of slamming your C to the ground; but it depends whats more important to you. I drive my car every day and sheer driveability and comfort have become priorities by default. On a show, or weekend driven car you'l no doubt have different icons at the top of your list. I always see manufacturers, no matter how big the wheels, fit tyres with a tread width slightly wider then the width of the wheel itself. The shoulder of the tyre seems to play a vital role in absorbing and transferring loads between the road and suspension correctly. This appears to be well understood by racing teams but by no means is it conclusive. Stretch fit tyres solve all sorts of rubbing issues and usually let you go that 15 - 20mm lower! I guess it's all down to personal preference.

 

Mani

 

Second that altho what has had more of an effect is probably that fact that the tyre contact patch and king pin inclination are aligned properly again giving the correct moment about it. I changed everythign on my car, all new genuine ball joints poly bushes and knoi coil overs and h&r roll bars standard 15x6.5 rims with 195/45's steering was utter crap bump steer every where gripped like hell tho!! changed to some 16 inch rims from a seat and all the bump steer is gone shame they are only 6 inches wide has lost a fair bit of grip.

 

The main problem with streched tyres is that the change the profile of the contact patch and the pressure across the tyre on a graph looks very very similar to that of a under inflated/flat tyre!!! a tyre such as 205 on a 7 will give a nice even pressure across the whole area

[Storm Warning 0]

I know its a bump of an old thread, but I wanted to share my latest steering fun. About two years ago I first noticed a slight vague feel to the steering. Shortly after I had the KW V1s, top mounts done along with new tyres and a 4 wheel alignment. Things seemed to tighten up a little. As the tyres wore down and weather deteriorated it became more noticeable again. Earlier this year I had the inner and outer bushes done along with the rear bushes too (and another 4 wheel alignment) while having the bigger brakes installed (plus new OE rear bearings) Things again seemed OK most of the time however, I started to notice play under heavy braking also increased vagueness at motorway speed.

 

Recently I've been doing some big mileage and noticed that things had started to rapidly get much worse, tracking was certainly part of it as I managed to eat some front tyres badly and uneven. As a regular checker of tread it really surprised me. As others have said, things did still tighten up pushing into corners, but then you could feel the play making life hard on exit, wandering about looking for grip

 

Today I had ball joints; track rod ends and front wheel bearings replaced followed by the 4 wheel alignment again. Also the mounting bolts on the rack torqued up. Interestingly, one of the new wheel bearings was shot, loud noises on first test run so had to swapped out.

 

Earlier I went for a test run on a couple of my favourite stages namely B Road School Run Primary(Forest and Fens) and B Road Commute Half (Reverse). What a difference! Steering is far more confident, wandering under braking seems to be gone. At lower speeds, slight movement on the wheel actually turns the car! I have not tested motorway speeds or the wet (the wet always amplified the problems) but it looks promising. Hopefully, i'm not going to be looking at any of the very expensive bits just yet!

 

Only slight issues might be a non-issue, from what I can tell the fact that the steering is almost weightless in the middle and slightly turning either way is a trait of the car and unfixable?

[Storm Warning 0]

Well a few days have passed. Its been on some ramp that shakes the car to help detect problems only normally evident when moving. Diagnosis is that there is wear in the rack so I'll get a recon replacement in a month or two. Also, my rear wheel bearings are already showing signs of play after less than 10,000 miles, thats rubbish!

[davidwort 0]

a recon rack may or may not solve the problem, the racks don't usually wear much and so recon ones often use bits that are within tolerance but not new, on a performance car like the C that gets driven hard a recon rack may not be as tight as you are looking for.