noticeable torque steer?

[JoeGTI]

Hi folks,
Just looking for some ideas here before I go taking my car back to the tyre fitters. I had my front passenger-side tyre replaced a few weeks ago, as the original tyre had some sidewall damage after hitting a pothole.
Anyway, ever since, I'm not sure if its all in my head or not, but I think the car has a noticeable "pull" to the right, i.e. into oncoming traffic(!), when I put the boot down. Its not noticeable at all in normal driving, only under heavy acceleration. Neither is there any steering vibration, so I don't think there's a wheel balancing problem.

I know a certain amount of "torque steer" is to be expected in a FWD turbo'd car, but I'm sure this wasn't so apparent before! I always felt the GTI felt well planted, but mine seems a bit keen to pull right now when you give it beans!

Would this be down to the alignment needing a slight adjustment do ye reckon? The new tyre is an identical brand, tread, etc. as the old one.

[182_blue]

so you just had the one on the front changed ?, thats probably your issue, because you have a new tyre that needs wearing in, and you have a used tyre on the other side, you could have also knocked the tracking out in the bump too

[Greenouse]

As Blue said, if your other front tyre is alot lower in tread that could make a difference to the balance at the front. Would be worthwhile getting the front suspension and alignment checked or you'll scrub that new tyre pretty quick!

[JoeGTI]

Yeah, I just had the one tyre changed. Not ideal I guess, but the fitter reckoned there was no way I needed to replace the other. The one on the other side still has plenty of wear left on it though (only 8000 miles on it).
I'll probably get the alignment checked. I'm thinking this "pull" is classic symptom of mis-alignment?

[182_blue]

Yeah, I just had the one tyre changed. Not ideal I guess, but the fitter reckoned there was no way I needed to replace the other. The one on the other side still has plenty of wear left on it though (only 8000 miles on it).
I'll probably get the alignment checked. I'm thinking this "pull" is classic symptom of mis-alignment?

try putting the two backs on the front, see if that cures it

[NewGolf]

I used to work at a tyre shop for 3 years, and from experiance you should always replace 2 front tyres at the same time to avoid this type of issue. If you cant affors to replace 2 at a time, put the 2 rears wheels onto the front and the new one on the rear. I would also get an alignment if you have hit a big pot hole, as mentioned by JoeGTI. If your alignment is out it will make the car "scrub" the front tyre and make the cars handling less than perfect.

With a front wheel drive car I normally swap the rear wheels over to the front when the fronts get worn down to half tread. Then when the fronts are bald, replace them as a pair, or depending how the rears are replace all 4. Make sure that all 4 are balanced as well otherwise when you put the rears up front you will get speed wobble which sucks !

When you are swapping them over (doing it yourself as opposed to the garage) make sure you use at least a 2ton axle stand to hold the car up if you are taking both wheels off one side. DON't use the standard jack to take 2 wheels off at once as I've seen a car slip off.  It just missed seriously injuring a friend of mine, and it did damage to the underside of the car and both disks. While you have both wheels off use something like Meguiars Hot Rims to clean the wheels up, and give them a good coat of any wax you have all over the rim, makes them look a lot better and easy to clean for quite some time.  I use tech wax then coat it with Klasse Sealer. Brake dust just rinses off...!

 

[JoeGTI]

Thanks lads, appreciate the advice. I might try swapping rears to front so, see what effect that has. I'm still not 100% sure there's anything actually wrong, driving in to work today it felt ok, it seems much more noticeable on certain roads.

[maxamus]

As stated by other above, you should replace the front tyres at the same time (rather than just one) or swap rears to front.
If you replace just 1 of the fronts then ecause of the thread differences, the car will have better grip on one side which can cause the car to drift.

[JoeGTI]

is there anything to watch for when swapping back to front? Sounds like an easy enough DIY job (even for me  ) The rears are already balanced so I'm assuming its just a swap with no balancing/adjustments needed?

Will give me a chance to clean the calipers properly if nothing else 

[NewGolf]

Clean the wheels as well while they are off!

Do you have an axle stand? Dont try to do it with the single jack  :embarassed:

I put some "copperslip" or whatever its called on the hub part and on the threads of the wheel bolts to stop corrosion and make getting them on/off easier, its a high melting point grease.