Strange handling

[yegnold]

Thanks to a stubborn 4x4 driver who was adamant that they weren't going to get their precious shiny car dirty, I was forced to go on the verge down a country lane about 3-4 weeks ago, and in the process managed to get the front left hand side of the car in a significant hole of some kind.

The handling on my VRS has been a little strange recently, and that is the only event that I can tie this down to... I can be going around a corner and suddenly the car will decide it is going to either turn in a little sharper or shallower than when I first entered the corner. The steering wheel just doesn't feel like it is directly connected to the wheels (at times) and sometimes can be quite heavy (this doesn't feel like a power steering issue)

Braking performance has gone down and the ABS seems to cut in more frequently.

A visual inspection of the suspension setup reveals no damage. We checked the tracking and it was ever so slightly out, but that has now been corrected.

My thoughts are that this has been caused by the console bush having been weakened by the "Impact" with the pot hole, and the strange handing around corners and strange behaviour whilst braking is caused because the wheel is moving slightly forwards and backwards when different turning forces are applied to it (due to a weakened console bush).

I might, however, be completely wrong (tyre wear at the moment seems to be even, but the tyres are relatively new (< 5000 miles)). Has anyone else got an idea of what may be causing this?

If it is this I was going to replace the console bushes with the Seat Cupra ones as I've been considering doing it for a while now.

[ap0gee]

AIUI, the bushes wearing has more to creaking over speedbumps, but I suppose they might have been permanently deformed by the impact. My money's on a buckled alloy, though...

[Lofty86]

A buckled alloy wouldnt make you steer shallow/oversteer i dont think.

Although if it is buckled, your abs would kick in alot more as your wheel is loosing traction when it gets to the flatspot on the wheel.

[AndyG_1979]

Hmmm this sounds very similar to what I'm experiencing

My problem started back at Round 1 of the BTCC at Brands when I got stuck in the car park. I keep meaning to get it looked at but as I drive like an old women these days Ive just gotten used to it

[jasc1988]

Sounds like a wishbone....


Mines was doing this, pulling right under acceleration and left under braking, turned out to be a loose wishbone... maybe yours had been damaged by the impact

[TommyC]

Could be a bit of both, buckled wheel along with bent or loose wishbone......

.......Bent or broken ARB drop link???

Fractured or bent console bush mount

Or any combination of the above??!!!!

Have you tried swapping the suspect wheel with the spare?? This may help with pinpointing the problem. It will give you the chance to inspect the wheel thoroughly but also see how the car drives with a wheel you know is fine......

And whilst the wheel arch is empty you can have a damn good look at everything in there (with a good torch!!)

[yegnold]

I think we managed to identify the problem

A close visual inspection of the wishbones and the console bushes revealed that paint had flaked off the rear of the wishbones (indicating a significant flex of some kind) and that the passenger side console bush was slightly rotated compared to the opposite one.

The tracking was also out by a significant margin.

We're:

Replacing both wishbones (I decided I may as well do both sides at once)

Replacing the console bushes with the solid Cupra ones

Having a full wheel alignment check done after

Hopefully this will solve all of my woes!

[yegnold]

We changed both console bushes to the SEAT ones and both wishbones last night, taking us about 4 hours in total (probably because we didn't use any lube to get the bushes in...)

The handling is now back to the way it should be (and, I think, a little better... though it's been so long since it handled properly I can't make a fair comparison)

Comparison of the old wishbones revealed that the passenger side one had indeed been bent slightly by an impact of some sort...

I'm getting the tracking done (at the moment the front wheels are toeing out quite a lot) and some new tyres put on the back this morning, so I'm hoping that by this evening the car feels like new again... I'll have a good opportunity to find out as I'm doing a 320 mile round trip to Pembrokeshire this weekend...

[TommyC]

Glad to hear you've got it sussed and sorted out

[Mossman]

Yep, good to hear all sorted out

[Basil]

Those wishbone bushes are a right PITA - even if you use washing up liquid as a lube...

Bet you're glad you won't have to do that again!

btw - did you notice any reluctance to engage 3rd gear around corners? That has now gone away?

I found my console bolts to be loose and a good tightening sorted that prob out.....

[Chrispy]

Even the dealers don't know why they fit such flimsy bushes as standard. They were asking me where I'd got my non voided ones from when it was in one time.

I simply said 'Seat Ibiza'.

One of the best things I ever did was fitting them. My creaking under braking and when going over speed bumps etc vanished and it made the front end seem sharper on turn in etc. Much better.

[yegnold]

The handling is much better even just from the tracking having been put right. I had 4 people in the car for that 320 mile round trip and it was going around corners more comfortably than when I had just 1/2 people in whilst the suspension problem was still there.

One major improvement is the ease of gearchanges. I was beginning to struggle to change down gears smoothly as the wheels would move forwards/backwards when the gears were re-engaged after I'd released the clutch.. creating very slight fluctuations in deceleration and hence me getting very angry that I wasn't changing gear as smoothly as I always used to. This has now dramatically improved and all gearchanges are completely seamless again...

The road noise has barely increased and although I can feel a bit more feedback through the steering wheel, my hands aren't being shaken to death, even on rough roads...

All in all, very pleased!