130bhp

I’m having a bit of a problem with the steering on my Superb. When driving, it ‘wanders’ in both directions, mostly to the left, but seems to pull to the right. I brought it to my dealer and they found that it needed new front brakes. That didn’t sort the problem though, so the tech brought her for a spin around the block. He told me that this is how a Superb drives because it has a multi-link suspension. This is my third Superb and the other two didn’t drive like this. Still not happy, I got the tracking checked. It was spot on. They also changed the front nearside wheel with the rear one because there were two different tyres on the front. This didn’t cure the problem either.

Has anyone had this problem or has anyone got an idea what might sort it out? Sould I change the offside wheels around or is it a problem with the steering mechanics?

Any help would be appreciated. This is doing my head in!

mluton

Have you got wider / bigger tyres on this superb ?

Seems quite common on the skodas, but strange as your other superbs never had the problem.

I have a little issue on mine, which sounds the same.

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130bhp

I don't know if the tyres are different to the other Superbs that I've had, to be honest. But, both front ones and the rear offside ones are the same on this one.

rotodiesel

You need to check the front suspension carefully. For wandering, I would check in order: Inner and outer track rod end joints, lower rear control arm balljoints and finally upper arm joints. If the front lower joint has gone, it will usually knock.

Passat problems coming home to roost I'm afraid - GSF are your friends for bits. Hope the pinch bolts aren't seized.

rotodiesel.

130bhp

Would this be covered by the warranty?

Stuart_J

Ours is developing similar tendancies, I just assumed it was tracking & was going to get it checked when the new tyres go on in a few weeks

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rotodiesel

It would be covered by the warranty only if you can find a dealer honest and knowledgeable enough to pinpoint the problem. My MOT tester (independent) is an expert on B5.5s and says they are very difficult to diagnose for slack suspension as most of the joints are preloaded due to the excruciating geometry. (Take a look at it whilst someone turns the wheels lock to lock).

I would find a good MOT tester and ask him to check it. My tester's method is to remove the hub cap (mine is a poverty spec model) and put a 17mm hex key in the centre bolt. Use a long tube to revolve the wheel in each direction on this bolt whilst observing the (4) ball joints for free play. This test usually shows it up. He was good enough to show me this when I took my Superb for its first MOT.

If you do this and it fails his test - get him to MOT test the vehicle. You can then roll up the failure sheet and shove it....

rotodiesel.

130bhp

Thanks for the advise. I'll get onto this straight away.

pete1234

Hi, I had a similar problem with my superb,and at first was putting it down to the fact that it had 17" 225 wide tyres as I had read a lot about tramlining etc, caused by wide tyres but I was never really convinced, so I took it to a tyre centre to have the the tracking etc, checked , They could not find any fault but the guy doing the tests said that although the front tyres were in good nick he reckoned they were a cheap tyre and recomended putting a good set on the front. I took his advice and have never looked back,the difference was amazing , it felt like a new car. It might be worth asking someone like this for an opinion before going to a lot of trouble,
Best of luck,

tarzey

I have that size Michelins as the OEM tyres fitted, and I nave not noticed any handling problems. The car basically goes where I point it, and that all that can reasonably be expected of a barge like the Superb. It ain't no go-cart.

Baker21

It can be.......LOL!!!

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130bhp

My problem is that it goes where I don't want to go. LOL.

Supurbia

I'd agree with that, I use a lot of tyres, I used to go for the cheap ones but found life and handling suffered, I now use Bridgestone Turanzas, I got them for £20 each more than a cheapo tyre, and for £80 more for 20k of safer motoring I think it's money well spent.

Stuart_J

Well 2 new michelins & a re track, problem sorted. The old tyres were Michelins but down on the wear blocks but as I did the tracking at the same time I dont know if it was worn out tyres or tracking that caused the problem although as the problem appeared to get progresivly worse my money is on it being related to tyre wear

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Speed is an addiction for which thankfully there is no cure

Stuart_J

To Update the problems come back so its off to the stealers again

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Speed is an addiction for which thankfully there is no cure

130bhp

After all the "there's nothing wrong with it" replies I almost decided that it was me, and not the car, that was out. However, after a visit to Kwik Fit to get the AirCon charged, I decided to get them to check the wheel allignment. It would seem that the sub frame is out and needs to be brought back into place.
So, now I need to know how this could have happened. I haven't even hit a big pothole. And, is it the dealers responsibility to put it right?
Nice to know that I was right all the time though. Now all I have to do is get put right.
All replies welcome, BTW.

rotodiesel

Two questions: How much of the car's history do you know and is it manual or auto?

Subframe misalignment is often the result of inexpert gearbox removal - if it's manual has it had a new clutch at any time?

These cars require very careful and painstaking attention to get the front end alignment correct in all respects - including "raised toe" which most places haven't a clue about. I would have to include VAG dealers in this category. Subframe misalignment adversely affects camber.

Find a good Independent with an interest in the problem, intelligent mechanics and the right gear to set it all up.

rotodiesel.

Stuart_J

The dealer found ours was out when he did a 4 wheel alinement on the car. It had never had any work done on it & no accidents. He would not admit it but my suspision is that it was like it from new.
We had an Escort years ago that had a rear end shunt, after it was repaired it was far better to drive than it was when new. build tolerances are often slack, you only have to look at all the Octy 2's ripping out rear tyres.

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Speed is an addiction for which thankfully there is no cure

Supurbia

Scrub that, they lasted just under 10k on the front and the rears are gonna need replacing in another 5k.

130bhp

I don't know anything about the history of the car and it's a manual. There was 48500 on the clock when I got it and I've only done 4000 in it. However it's still under warrenty and I've only had it for 7 months. Should I be talking to the dealer that I bought it off? Or is that a sill question?

rotodiesel

If it's still under warranty - back to the dealer. You want a print out of the 4 wheel alignment dimensions, one as it is and one after correction. The allowable tolerances should be shown on the second result so that you can see how close they got.

Don't let them fob you off with anything less - this is the only proper way to do the job. In practice, most dealers don't have the equipment, let alone the knowhow to use it. That's not your problem - let them send it to someone who can do it properly and pay the bill. You should still get the result sheet or a copy of it.

It's a bit of a run from London but Micheldever tyre (at Micheldever station) made a perfect job of my PSA car which was wrongly set from new. I have the read-out and have since done over 100k miles with it and the tyres wear absolutely evenly and it goes straight when you let go of it on a non cambered road.

So, it can be done but I sincerely wish you the best of luck faced with the competence of what VAG call their dealer network.

rotodiesel.

Supurbia

Just to add a bit to this, although my car seems to wear the tyres a lot quicker and unevenly than other cars I've owned, I had the 4 wheel alignment check when I had the 4 new rubbers fitted, KwikFit told me it was all ok and the car doesn't drift at all, maybe a previous owner of yours had the wear issue and someone has set the tracking to try to compensate this and that's why yours wanders, if it's not ultra annoying I'd leave it until the tyres need replacing and see what sort of mileage they did before adjusting anything. hth.

rotodiesel

KwikFit are not the people to work on this type of machinery. You need skilled motivated people who know what they're doing, not monkeys. The question to ask if you have a B5.5 is : How are you going to set the raised toe? That will usually exclude 90% of the people you ask.

I've just looked at the Micheldever result sheet (the work was done in 5/01 and the car is still OK)

Initial toe L: -.58 R: +.21

Final adjusted toe L: 0.11 R: 0.11

Tolerance on toe: 0.00 to 0.33 All units degrees.

So you can see it was miles out and they ended up very near the centre of the allowable range. This is the proper way to solve a problem like this. The Superb is a fairly good piece of machinery don't let the wrong people wreck it.

rotodiesel.

Supurbia

Did you have the tyre wear issue Roto?

rotodiesel

Uneven tyre wear and non-centred steering.

rotodiesel.