GTI Post Crash Advise Needed

[mac7]

Vibration of what - the steering wheel, the whole car, just a droning noise? The wheel bearing could be damaged, the CV joint, the drive shaft, stub axle, steering rack. You can't diagnose things like this on an internet forum, a mechanic needs to drive it to help diagnose the problem and take it apart to inspect, but all the parts mentioned can be damaged by sliding sideways into a kerb.

I'd also be concerned that the castor is out of spec - and the fact there was no explanation? Also why did changing a wishbone move it out of spec on the undamaged side? Altering castor angle alone will not cause vibration of any kind, however.

[smithian]

Hi.

Thanks for the reply... Vibration is through the steering wheel and I feel it through the accelorator and rest pedal. There's also a drowning noise.... VW have looked at the car for the last 3 days and said there's no problem with the steering, wishbones, drive shaft etc. They wouldn't check the CV joint or bearing without me paying for an hour and a halfs labour to take the wheel apart.

I'm also concerned about the caster, but have been told by the service maanger and dealership manager that as long as the 2 sides are similar values (which they are) that everthings OK. Before the wishbone change the left side was within caster spec and the right side was 1 degree out. Now both are .7 of a degree out....

Do you know if VW have a technical group that I can ring to ask if this is OK as backup to go back to the dealer?

[JonnyG]

Have you tried changing the wheels over (back to front) ?

That would rule out stepped tyre tread / balancing problems / buckled wheels. 

There have been threads about weird stepped tyre wear on GTi's on the inside edge.