Steering issue-UPDATED

[telboy]

havnt others had new struts done and its not cured it ?, tbh i guess the dealer gets paid whatever so no reason they shouldnt be right ?, hope it sorts it mate

Yep totally agree, I must admit others have had this done without it curing the problem although as this dealer pointed out, not all of the creaking style noises are down to the rack, however I'm with most of the forum on this, that a new rack is the only answer!!! Will hopefully get a second opinion tomorrow.

[KentBladeboy]

Telboy, obviously not every noise will be the rack, but I went through 2 sets of top mounts, wheel bearings, then both front strut assemblies, then the front springs were supposedly incorrectly torqued at manufacture, even though they were removed and replaced to change the struts!!! So guess that means the stealer re-torqued them incorrectly at strut change, lower control arms, track rod ends, then finally the rack.

Ahh....the rack......then the noise stopped       

[182_blue]

havnt others had new struts done and its not cured it ?, tbh i guess the dealer gets paid whatever so no reason they shouldnt be right ?, hope it sorts it mate

Yep totally agree, I must admit others have had this done without it curing the problem although as this dealer pointed out, not all of the creaking style noises are down to the rack, however I'm with most of the forum on this, that a new rack is the only answer!!! Will hopefully get a second opinion tomorrow.

look at it this way you get loads of new parts for free 

hope it gets sorted for you mate 

[KentBladeboy]

182's right, I got a new front end for free   

[hotrod]

UPDATE,

Been to dealer today and they are 99.9% sure it's not the steering rack as common faults if it is the rack are;

Mainly makes a long grinding niose when on left lock, noise sounds central in the engine bay and steering can appear heavy when on left lock.

My symptoms are light ticking niose when turning from left lock to right lock, intermitent, sometimes makes a scraping sound that goes away if foot placed on brake, VW diagnose replacement strut mounts will sort this?

I went on and on about the rack and they wouldn't budge as they didn't think mine had the right niose!!!! Must admit I went to a good dealer who spent a lot of time on the car and even located the noise by placing their hands on top of the strut mounts where they found it made the clicking niose, common fault apparently that can sometimes be mistaken for the rack???

Not sure myself and feel this won't be my only visit to sort this out somehow???

Hi Telboy,

My metallic sounds started this morning... only 4-weeks old and 750 miles.

It only started after driving in the salty, gritty snow on Sunday... that’ll teach me to go the the Breakfast Club at Goodwood. Still seeing a convertible Maclaren uner 5 inches of snow was fun.

Spent 5-hours yesterday really cleaning off the salt and crud... I wonder whether any muck has got into the suspension area. I was very lucky... no damage/chips to bodywork!

The noise is a ticking sound on left and right lock, not bad sounding... just weird metallic ticky, ticky sounds. If that makes sense!!??

I guess you’ve been to Breeze in Poole... I’ve always found them to be helpful! I’ll be getting Loders in Dorchester to investigate if it gets worse.

Keep us posted... cheers Hotrod

[telboy]

UPDATE,

Been to dealer today and they are 99.9% sure it's not the steering rack as common faults if it is the rack are;

Mainly makes a long grinding niose when on left lock, noise sounds central in the engine bay and steering can appear heavy when on left lock.

My symptoms are light ticking niose when turning from left lock to right lock, intermitent, sometimes makes a scraping sound that goes away if foot placed on brake, VW diagnose replacement strut mounts will sort this?

I went on and on about the rack and they wouldn't budge as they didn't think mine had the right niose!!!! Must admit I went to a good dealer who spent a lot of time on the car and even located the noise by placing their hands on top of the strut mounts where they found it made the clicking niose, common fault apparently that can sometimes be mistaken for the rack???

Not sure myself and feel this won't be my only visit to sort this out somehow???

Hi Telboy,

My metallic sounds started this morning... only 4-weeks old and 750 miles.

It only started after driving in the salty, gritty snow on Sunday... that’ll teach me to go the the Breakfast Club at Goodwood. Still seeing a convertible Maclaren uner 5 inches of snow was fun.

Spent 5-hours yesterday really cleaning off the salt and crud... I wonder whether any muck has got into the suspension area. I was very lucky... no damage/chips to bodywork!

The noise is a ticking sound on left and right lock, not bad sounding... just weird metallic ticky, ticky sounds. If that makes sense!!??

I guess you’ve been to Breeze in Poole... I’ve always found them to be helpful! I’ll be getting Loders in Dorchester to investigate if it gets worse.

Keep us posted... cheers Hotrod

Hotrod

Yours sounds just like the strut mounts, very similar in sound to mine. Had two dealers look at the car and one even showed me the top of one of the mounts was rusted and got me to place my hand on the top of the mount so that I could feel the ticking sound. This is very different to the rack noise/problem which is more of a long grinding niose while on left lock. I took it to both Breeze in Poole and Heritage in Salisbury, both very good tbo, know the Salisbury service manager very well.

The strut mounts are prone to letting in water, the new strut mounts apparently are sealed a lot better and are a lot less likely to let in water, grit etc. I pm'd Mat ed30 as he had the same issue and low and behold his noise went away as soon as the struts were replaced. Fingers crossed on this one!!!!!!!!!!

There is of course no guarantee that replacing the mounts will cure this, however it is booked in next Weds for it's service and strut mount replacement!!!

Will let you know how it goes mate

[hotrod]

Thanks Telboy,

I’m at Loders on Sat, so I’ll get them to check out the strut mounts... cheers buddy!

[hotrod]

Hi Telboy,

Been to Loders (Sat) to check out the metallic sounds. Popped it up on the lift and had a poke about with the mechanic, seems it was a panel of metal extrusion under the engine bay shielding the steering components. When the wheels were turned something was pulling on this aluminum panel, we gently twisted the panel and no more sounds... excellent.

They were aware of the rusty strut mounts issue... but this was not the case with me.

Hope all goes well on Wednesday... cheers... Hotrod

[telboy]

Well I'm pleased to report that it was the strut mounts after all that, no noise at all now, well pleased!

To all those experiencing noise through the steering, it won't always be the rack and I understand the GTI's are prone to the mounts going, quick 1.5 hour job and all will be ok!!!!!

[182_blue]

Well I'm pleased to report that it was the strut mounts after all that, no noise at all now, well pleased!

To all those experiencing noise through the steering, it won't always be the rack and I understand the GTI's are prone to the mounts going, quick 1.5 hour job and all will be ok!!!!!

what exactly did they do ?

good news by the way