Golf Gti Steering Problem

[skinny]

I had an accident with my 08 golf gti and front lower lhs was damaged. As the wheel was pushed towards the door at the time of the accident i replaced lhs lower contol arm and steering rack (steering rack was replaced because inner rod was bent and that damaged the rack itself) and that seemed to have fixed the problem..After these parts were replaced and i tried to turn steering to full left lock, the lhs tyre hit lower arm slightly before full lock was completed. It feels like my steering rack was positioned more to the right when it was installed. Can steering rack be adjusted left or right or should I be looking at other possible problems? Thanks

[buzuki]

The rack can only move slightly, not enough to cause your issue. Have you checked how many rotations the steering wheel takes from centre to lock?

Compare left to right, usually about 2.5 rotations either way.

[skinny]

hi

My neighbour has gti as well and his one does about 3 full turns from one side to another...when i take my tie rods off i get full 3 turns which is ok...as soon as i put them back on i only get about 2.75 before lhs tyre hits the arm.

[GTI4ME]

Sounds as though there is more damaged components on the LHF of the car than you thought. Have you had a proper wheel alignment done since, and if so what were the readings for things like camber/caster/toe/toe out on turns etc?

[Umai Naa!!]

Sounds like the rack isn't centred.

Loosen the jam nuts on the tie rods, get a permenant marker, and draw a line along the tie rod end, and then onto the tie rod. Do this both sides.

Now, turn the left side one anti-clockwise a full turn, so that you're exposing more thread (i.e. lengthening the tie rod). Turn the right side one clockwise to shorten it the same amount.

See how it goes from there.

[skinny]

I havent done wheel alignment yet but i dont think that will be possible because in order to get wheels close to straight i have to expose almost full thread on the lhs tie rod and do the opposite on the rhs

[Umai Naa!!]

So do the exact opposite. The thread needs to be as close to equal on both sides as possible. This is centering the rack.

Ignore where the steering wheel is at for now.

[skinny]

Cannot be close at all..lhs i have to unscrew it as far as possible (expose almost full thread) and on the rhs i have to screw it in to the end (expose only little bit of thread because tie end cant go any further inside) and the wheels are still not straight perfectly...they need a bit more.

[Umai Naa!!]

Climb under your neighbour's one and measure the amount of thread you can see at both sides, and do the same for yours.

THEN go get a wheel alignment.

Basically, you've chased your tail trying to get the wheels straight, that the rack is miles off centre.

[skinny]

ill do that Monday or Tuesday and let you know how I go..thanks

[Umai Naa!!]

[Johnbu]

Insurance?

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