GolfGTIforum.co.uk
Model specific boards => Golf mk6 => Topic started by: mkviken on 20 November 2011, 10:40
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anyone noticed their car pull very very slightly to the left on pretty much all road types? I'm talking very faint but it is there
noticed mine does it bit but not sure if its just me being paranoid as i just had 4 wheel alignment done. not noticed it doing it before but i wasn't really looking for it with it being brand new.
i can take it back and get them to double check it but the print out is spot on so just wondered what other cars were like.
mine is on 18's which i would expect to track more than the 17's
cheers
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road camber?? :smiley:
Unless you find a totally flat road which is rare, the car will nearly always pull very slightly left. This is done to help water drain off the road. hth's :nerd:
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road camber?? :smiley:
I thought that too. Drive on the wrong side (when you can see there is nothing else about obviously) and see if it pulls to the right.
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No in the GTI
No in the GTD
Execpt the obvious road camber of course.
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road camber?? :smiley:
Unless you find a totally flat road which is rare, the car will nearly always pull very slightly left. This is done to help water drain off the road. hth's :nerd:
Yep, x2 (I'm a traffic / highway engineer :nerd:)
If you drive straddling the crown (i.e the central white lines of a single carriageway which drains to either side) you should find it's spot on :smiley:
... but only try this when it's very quiet :laugh:
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yep i know that in most cases the car would tend to pull into the kerb due to camber but i didn't really notice it before i had the alignment done the other day. like i say it does it on all road types now.
it now seems to do it on all roads including motorway/dual carriageways where I'm sure pretty sure it wouldn't have before. not sure if the WALK kit has made the car more sensitive to camber and imperfections in the road or if its just in my head.
out ford focus doesn't seem to do it as much but that has 205/55/16 tyres which wouldn't naturally want to track the lumps and bumps compared to 225/40/18.
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tyre pressures? :grin:
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Mine used to drive straight as a dye even on the camber. But I recently got 4 wheel adjustment and now it feels as if its drifting into the left :sad:
Could be the camber now though as it seems fine on the motorway but I put it down to being more noticeable at slower speeds.
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tyre pressures? :grin:
nope they're always spot on.
tried the driving in the centre of the road earlier and it was straight so maybe its just down to the whit line kit making it more sensitive to road camber or something.
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I've got WALK fitted on A3 and haven't noticed this
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noticed mine does it bit but not sure if its just me being paranoid as i just had 4 wheel alignment done. not noticed it doing it before but i wasn't really looking for it with it being brand new.
i can take it back and get them to double check it but the print out is spot on so just wondered what other cars were like.
Well if you've had an alignment check an nothing is out of spec I assuming VW didn't do this check there is nothing you can do about it.
Mine travels straight as a die on any road surface.
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Oh my, I hope you didnt buy my old GTI :) The crashed and badly repaired one...
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Don't think I did as I bought new. Taking it back tomorrow to have it checked again.
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Mine tracked pretty straight until I had my Monza Shadow refurbished twice. It pulled very slightly to the left. Then, as if my magic, after a day or two it was back to normal again. How strange I thought at the time. Maybe it took time for the tyre to bed in?
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I had this problem in my old MKV GTI after I had one front tyre replaced (following pot hole damage). I only replaced one tyre because they had only a few thousand miles on them and the opposite tyre looked perfect! However, the very slight difference in tread depth between the "old" tyre and the new one caused the car to pull sideways on acceleration.
I swapped the wheels from front to back and that solved it. Might be worth a try, swapping the wheels.
As others have said, any car will drift slightly to the left if you let go of the wheel. But it should be very very slight, you shouldn't have to consciously hold the wheel straight the whole time.
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yep thats my thoughts too
if i let go of the wheel i would expect it to drift to the left slightly but it just seems more apparent now.
as it is at the moment the wheel is slightly steering to the right going straight as its pulling so the steering wheel is right but maybe tracking wrong somewhere?
the car has 1500 miles on all tyres are as new, check pressures at least once a week, everything is tight etc and its only started to do it since i had the 4 wheel alignment done. its something that i never noticed beforehand and I'm really picky with these sort of things
i fitted the WALK myself and ran it for a couple of days before i got alignment done and it ran straight then so it must be the alignment has changed something. the alignment was barely out when i got it checked and re-set.
on the print out everything looks perfect, the thrust angle and steering position etc are spot on 0' but something has changed
the only thing i can think of is VW build the right hand drive cars to counter steer to the right which is unlikely and now mine is straight it follows the cambers worse?!?
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Mine tracked pretty straight until I had my Monza Shadow refurbished twice. It pulled very slightly to the left. Then, as if my magic, after a day or two it was back to normal again. How strange I thought at the time. Maybe it took time for the tyre to bed in?
Now that you say that, I remember leaving the garage and thinking the steering was really pulling badly to the left on normal roads.
I had no time to take it back as I had to go home and get my gear and go to work.
I kind of forgot about the steering for a couple of days but when I tried it again, it was much improved. Still pulls slightly to the left as I previously said but that might be the camber.
I could be talking bollocks here but I think I've read about the steering being able to self adjust after several miles?!
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the only thing i can think of is VW build the right hand drive cars to counter steer to the right which is unlikely and now mine is straight it follows the cambers worse?!?
Could they have used the wrong settings from a different Golf?
I know when mine was done he had a job finding the right car as there were literally hundreds of options. I wouldn't have known this but the centre I had mine done at has a monitor in the reception and you can watch exactly what is on his monitor.
Just a thought.
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the settings were for 09> gti so I'm sure the settings were right but theres something fractionally out with the alignment IMO
will have it checked again tomorrow and get another print out done
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I got my alignment done five times at three different places, after hitting a pothole, and it still pulls slightly to the left.
If I drive on the wrong side of the road it then pulls to the right so I just assume it is following the camber and is OK.
I have never noticed any unusual wear on the tyres so I have just left it.
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yours sounds right then in that case
a few times now i have driven in the centre of the road and on dual carriageways in the middle and it still want to pull to the left.
had the wires car in for 4 wheel alignment today (different garage though) and its good but he hadn't centred the wheel so it was off centre.!!
i thought is someone taking the p!ss out of me here?
took it back and got it reset and its good now!
they obviously only could be arced to take one track rod end off
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the settings were for 09> gti so I'm sure the settings were right but theres something fractionally out with the alignment IMO
will have it checked again tomorrow and get another print out done
Not sure what machine my garage used but it had loads of settings even when he had selected my car.
Size of wheels, size of tyres, uprated suspension, distance from wheel arch to top of tyre and loads more that I forget.
I thought it would just be a case of putting in the car make and model but obviously not!
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took car in today
the lad said they just had their hunter machine re-calibrated and have since had a few people come back with their car pulling to the left
the re aligned the car on the machine and its great again so I'm pleased with that.
the numbers from the before (todays) and the after from last time were really different so there must have been something wrong with the machine the first time.
glad its sorted now!
also got a good deal on a milltek for my troubles :grin:
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How is it on the camber of the road now?
Glad you got it sorted as once you are aware of something like this it really niggles.
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do you mean if i drive along the centre of the road? it pulls straight
now in the left lane it pulls straight and if i let go it drifts very slight into the kerb as it should
before i was noticeably having to steer right all the time. its much better now
next step is a milltek to celebrate
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the re aligned the car on the machine and its great again so I'm pleased with that.
Ok they recalibrated and checked it again but what did they need to adjust if it steers ok now?
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well the 2 print outs were different so comparing the 2 was pretty pointless
he adjusted the right rear toe and front toe. camber and castor were good.
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mine pulled, tracking was out slightly though. probably the bastard potholes on the road that threw it out.