Pulling to the left under power

[csimpson]

Hi folks,

In the seemingly never-ending list of things that aren't right with my '07 GTI, latest is this -

Just got two new front tyres and an alignment, and the car tracks straight when it's rolling freely, but under power, it pulls to the left (maybe 20 degrees on the steering wheel). This isn't a new problem, it's been going on for a little while now. The reason I got new tyres is that the outside edge of the front left was wearing far, far faster than the inside (inside, and the entire front right were wearing roughly evenly).

I'm pretty sure it's down to that, because coasting out of gear, it's fine. It has relatively new lower control arm rear bushes ('standard', not the SEAT ones, but these are the upgraded standard design I posted about a while back), but nothing else up front has been changed since new.

It's been going on for a while now but I want to sort it now that I've switched to new front tyres.

Any hints or ideas what to look at first? Should I be investigating front LCA bushes? Anti-roll bar bushes? The stupid ever-shifting subframe (which has those Audi shims, but fat lot of good they do)...

Cheers for your help guys!

[h100vw]

Really difficult to diagnose on line. Did you mention it to the alignment people. I'd have expected them to check everything was tight underneath before doing the alignment and certainly, they should have road tested it. If the wheel moves as you say then it wouldn't need to be booted to illegal velocities to demonstrate.

I'd go back unless you reckon you can find it yourself.

It could be a bad ball joint but I'd have pointed a finger at the rear LCA bushes if you hadn't already done them.

Gavin

[csimpson]

Mentioned it to the guys, they said everything with the alignment was spot-on (not the most reputable of places, but they have cheap tyres...). The LCA rear bushes are looking good, the front bushes look OK from the tiny amount I can see.

The boot on the top of the driver's side tie rod is split, but it looks recent - still greasy. ARB looks straight, can't really tell about its bushes though. Everything seems alright underneath the car, from the very limited knowledge I have of suspension.

I'd love to take a look at the LHS engine mount, since it's the only one I haven't replaced (dogbone has a poly bush, RHS engine is a replacement after the first cracked). I'll take it down to the dealership if I'm not able to find out anything more myself, I guess...

(by the way, these look like a decent enough construction, maybe a possible alternative to the SEAT set?)

[h100vw]

Mentioned it to the guys, they said everything with the alignment was spot-on (not the most reputable of places, but they have cheap tyres...). The LCA rear bushes are looking good, the front bushes look OK from the tiny amount I can see.

The boot on the top of the driver's side tie rod is split, but it looks recent - still greasy. ARB looks straight, can't really tell about its bushes though. Everything seems alright underneath the car, from the very limited knowledge I have of suspension.

I'd love to take a look at the LHS engine mount, since it's the only one I haven't replaced (dogbone has a poly bush, RHS engine is a replacement after the first cracked). I'll take it down to the dealership if I'm not able to find out anything more myself, I guess...

(by the way, these look like a decent enough construction, maybe a possible alternative to the SEAT set?)

I agree your bushes look to be ok. That split on the tie rod could be hiding something. With it jacked up on both sides and the steering lock tripped, can you move the wheel if you grab it at 3 and 9 oclock?

I wouldn't expect the engine mount to cause this, never seen it personally.

Did they adjust the tracking? Maybe it's just the awesome power?

[seangti]

I wouldn't expect the engine mount to cause this, never seen it personally.

When I had the new tyres put on the fellow that road tested mentioned the torque steer (which is really quite minimal in my case) was caused by the soft/wearing engine mounts. The bridgestones I'm running now have much better grip than the Kumho's I had, so now it grips and goes rather than spins and aims for gutters. Maybe find someone that knows what they're looking at to check the engine mounts and suspension components, cos yours sounds much worse than mine.

My car doesn't track particularly straight either, immediately after an alignments it's good, but give a few days/weeks and it's back to a light pull to the left. I've spent hundreds on alignments and now just accept it. My tyres don't typically last long enough to care much.

[a239947]

Hi folks,

In the seemingly never-ending list of things that aren't right with my '07 GTI, latest is this -

Just got two new front tyres and an alignment, and the car tracks straight when it's rolling freely, but under power, it pulls to the left (maybe 20 degrees on the steering wheel). This isn't a new problem, it's been going on for a little while now. The reason I got new tyres is that the outside edge of the front left was wearing far, far faster than the inside (inside, and the entire front right were wearing roughly evenly).

I'm pretty sure it's down to that, because coasting out of gear, it's fine. It has relatively new lower control arm rear bushes ('standard', not the SEAT ones, but these are the upgraded standard design I posted about a while back), but nothing else up front has been changed since new.

It's been going on for a while now but I want to sort it now that I've switched to new front tyres.

Any hints or ideas what to look at first? Should I be investigating front LCA bushes? Anti-roll bar bushes? The stupid ever-shifting subframe (which has those Audi shims, but fat lot of good they do)...

Cheers for your help guys!

It just sounds like torque steer to me. Any front wheel drive car will do it even under light load, just hold the wheel a bit more to control it. Its caused by the unequal length of your drive shafts and the torque produced by the engine.
If you tyres aren't very grippy it makes it worse.
If your outside front left tyre is wearing faster then the other this could just be too many RH turns on your way to and from work. It will work it harder especially the outside as thats where it loads up when understeering. My ute used to always weat out my left rear because it used to spin up on a bump coming though a tight RH turn on my way home every day. I changed my route and it didnt do it anymore. Sometimes it only takes one corner.

Sent from my GT-I9100