Got a steering issue

[Mrk_Mickey]

Recently I've had some problems which have just gotten quite bad tonight. I'm getting it checked out tomorrow, but was wondering if anyone may have had a similar experience, or would know what I should be looking at?

This is my problem:
--First off the car's wheels are badly aligned. The wheels are toe-out, left wheel is worse. Obviously this is going to cause tracking problems, but other issues lead me to assume this might not be the sole issue.

--When the car leans over to the right (say on a road sloped over to the right) and I am turning left, the wheels will grip and bite causing me to jerk to the left. This is the same for vice-versa. Over different bumps along the road, it does this left-to-right thing a fair bit. This may also just be a tracking/alignment issue...

--When rolling back, either in reverse gear or in neutral, i may hear a loud ''clunk'' or knocking sound from the left front wheel. Rayray has had a similar noise and found that his swaybar was the culprit, however after taking the left wheel off I don't find anything wrong with the swaybar.

--Today it got really bad. After leaving the car parked, I turned it on and went over two speedbumps (in a carpark) and heard the same knocking sound as I occasionally do in reverse, and my left wheel was toe out by about...10degrees. When I locked the steering full left, I heard a loud click just before I hit full lock, and when locking full right I heard nothing. The clicking noise happened every time I locked full left (I checked it three or so times)

--When limping the car home (tyres screeching because of severe tracking) my steering wheel was turned 90degrees to the right while my car headed forwards. After hitting a bump, I had the same issue with the left-to-right jerking, except the difference was it actually fixed the tracking and my steering wheel went straight.

--After limping the car home (despite the steering wheel now being straight and the tracking okay) I stopped and reversed on the street into my parking spot and I heard the same knocking sound and the steering wheel went back to 90degrees right.

I jacked up the car and had a look for anything loose etc...I couldn't really find anything. I'm going to go get it aligned and get everything checked out for issues tomorrow, but if someone might have any clue what this is I'd appreciate some advice.

[malteser]

Whoa man, that sounds really bad...

I haven't heard of anything as extreme as this. It's gotta be something linked with the suspension change. Changing the suspension would have majorly changed the geometry of your setup. Probably getting it all aligned again is a good idea.

Mark

[Mrk_Mickey]

Yeah I looked at all the suspension bolts, too

After the problem got bad at the carpark today I noticed the camber was horrendous...but I'm not sure why that would change if the two suspension bolts are correctly torqued

[Soundofav6]

You probably know but just to remind you to have a wheel alignment yet after suspension install. IF you haven;t done so.. do it ASAP.

[Jmac]

Mate what suspension do you have???? i know you have probably mentioned. Sway bar is where i was going to jump. you have had the thing jacked up recently doing all of your work , is your springs seated properly?????? Now we had big problems in the UK with clunks on Mk2 and 3 and it was the insert that goes up through the subrame bush into the chassis. This was a metal insert that used to break away (in the Uk it was mainly from corrosion). Your rear subframe bolt goes up through this insert. When they are stuffed this causes movement in the subframe especailly that reverse clunk you are getting. I will do a bit of research as i cant quite remember if the VRs have this
Jmac

[Golf Loon]

Could be a cv clicking too, due to the lowered suspension.

Get a wheel alignment tomorrow, something is obviously loose or missaligned.

[gldgti]

noones mentioned the rear control arm bushings yet!

these things are pieces of poo. i've broken 2. the middle part that the bolt goes through breaks away from the bushing outer (because the voids are HUGE). when its broken, the castor (and hence toe) of the front alignment will change a lot! also makes a clunking noise.

if your camber is changing, i'd also say that someone hasnt done the strut-to-bearing housing bolts up properly.

[Mrk_Mickey]

Lol it's funny...ray and I worked soooo hard to tighten those strut top bolts as tight as we could. I didn't check those but everything else seemed in order. Thanks for the suggestions guys, I'll write them down and ask about it all tomorrow

Just for reference:
Louis - yeah I do know I need an alignment when I do the suspension change hehe
Jmac - I'm running Koni shocks with Eibach springs and Ground-Control coilover sleeves. They were installed on sunday, however I first heard the clunking noise rolling backwards out of my driveway on friday or saturday.

EDIT: And yes I have made sure the springs are seated properly. I have to make sure of that every time I lower the car, I've been very aware of that every time

[rayray086]

We have a Bentley here and we tightened the bolts to torque spec. I took notice of the right units as well... Have to see how it goes after alignment.

[Mrk_Mickey]

Well! I have some excellent news to report to you all.

I took the car to Midas this morning, and told them the issues I was having. When we hoisted the car up we could immediately see the lower control arm thingo (mechanical term...) was uhh....not connected lol. Two of those three bolts that bolt into the bottom of the wishbone (god help me, am i getting this right??) on the left hub assembley were MISSING, and the little bracket was held on by one loosened bolt. My disc was also too close to the caliper, so the guys there got to work disassembling the left hub and fixing it all up. $190 later, I have no more steering issues, no more ''engine knocking'' sounds (must have been the wheel the whole time) and no more brake shuddering issues!

....But they said my car is too low for them to align it properly . Does anyone know where I can go for a *GOOD* wheel alignment despite having a slammed front end?

[Pullstarter]

Pedders have always done good alignments no matter what the height, they're used to dealing with lowering junkies like us

[Jmac]

OMG mate there is only 3 hold your lower ball joint in and you had 1 left????? Geez you are VERY lucky mate. There is little wonder you were having shudders man. Good to see you got it sorted. BY the way the suggestions made here were for a tight suspension. Thats what makes diagnosis on a forum hard as you take for granted sometimes that these things would be checked, Always better to sight the vehicle in question. All good now though .
Cheers
Jmac

[Mrk_Mickey]

Yeah, cheers Jimmy