Steering vague

[Strev]

Does anyone know what might be causing excessive play in the steering of my 8v GTi? Has the effect of torque-steer when accelerating from standstill in 1st (feel I have to fight with the steering wheel) and when over-taking at pace seems to follow the camber of the road in a scary way! Any ideas? Have had the tracking checked and its fine.

Any ideas?

[DarnPB]

Check your tyre pressures first. This would give you very vague steering if excessively low.
 What size tyres do you have? The wider the tyres, the more they follow cambers and lines in the road. I had 235's on the front of my Cobra and that nearly caught me out a couple of times.
 Also, you say you have checked the alignment, but also check the camber. Your car may have the adjustable uprights and not the fixed ones. So this may cause torque steer and also bump steer.

[DarnPB]

Thought about it some more. You could also have lazy shock absorbers. Check for fluid leaks if they are OE.

[slyp98]

i've the same freakin problem  i'm gonna do a crossmember replacement in the next couple of weeks , i'm gonna do new shocks ,wishbone rubbers, rollbar bushes and hopefully that will sort it , its a real pisser you just cant trust it , mine tracks over any road imperfection , i know ive got a little steering fluid leak but its not causing this !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

[Strev]

Just had new rollbar bushes and shocks are only a couple of years old so don't think its that. Have owned car fo 8 years, so know its not right. It ruins the driving experience so have to get it sorted! Tyre pressures ok too. Could it be steering linkage or worn ball joints - car has done C. 185K so any wear is likely!

Cheers.

[Mk2George]

Might not be the cause but worth checking that the camber is right from your hubs to macpherson struts, if the 2 bolts on either side have been taken off and put back on randomly it will play all hell with the steering. Only say this cos I had a very similar prob with my Mk3 when I had it and thats what it turned out to be

[Strev]

Thanks MkII George. Is there room for adjustment with these? Is this something I could do myself or would it need to be looked at by a pro? If something I can do, how do i know the correct position?

[Mk2George]

Yeah there is loads of room for adjustment in them thats why they need to be right. Initially if you know that the camber is correct on your car you can just score around the bolts onto the bottom of the strut before you take them out. This way you can simply line them up when you put the hub back on, but if you arent sure that the camber is correct before you take the bolts out then id probably say take it to somewhere that has the right equipment to set it up. Not sure if the correct settings are available on this site or even if there is a way of manually setting them up. Have you had those bolts removed recently for any work to be done on the car?

[Strev]

Had new shocks about a year and a half ago and always thought the camber looked wrong, but handling was fine until I had the anti-roll bar bushes done. When the shocks were done, I used gas ones from GSF and the mechanic told me that there was no room for adjusting the camber. Where on earth would I get it looked at - I take it Kwik Fit wouldn't have the equiptment to do it?

[Mk2George]

Cant say for sure. Im certain that the local VW Dealership have got all of the kit to do it but who knows how much they might charge!