Steering Nervous/Twitchy.

[davman]

Hi All, I would love your collective input and experience.
I have a MY19.5 Rline with S&V and Sunroof that now has 1000 kays on the clock.

Since picking up the car, i have always felt like the steering is too light, so I drive around with the custom profile set to Sports steering, as it firms the feel up quite a bit.

On the weekend we took the car down to the country, driving on 100 & 110kph roads, which had uneven sections, and the normal low budget Australian road repairs completed on them.

Due to the suspension being quite firm (even on comfort modes etc), the car felt like it was minutely pitching from side to side a the higher speeds when it came across undulations. This then made the steering quite nervous and twitchy - with a slight tram lining effect being the best way to describe it. However I would say the twitchy feeling was slightly there also on seemingly even sections of road as well.

Now I have turned the lane assist off - so this feeling isn't down to me getting too close to the lines, however what I am trying to explain has a similar, but less noticeable feel than lane assist pulling you back into line.

Now is this normal for you guys on 20" Tyres?

Thanks in advance.

[Razor80]

Have you checked your tyre pressures since collecting you car from the dealership? The tyre pressure guide is located on your drivers door seal. When I collected mine, the pressures were higher then what was recommend and uneven from left to right. If too high and unbalanced will cause car to drift and steering will feel lighter. Will cause uneven tyre wear.

[brad]

I would check tyre pressures IAW the placard on the fuel flap and also the wheel alignment front and rear. If the toe is to far out it will dart all over the shop.

[Simonr23]

Yeah, check pressures. I’d be having them in the low-mid 40’s (psi) when the tyres are cold (driven less than 2kms ideally) since you have the 20” wheels. if you can’t do them ‘cold’, go straight for 45psi.

I have the 19” wheels and run 43/40 front/rear, for a reference point.


It’s possible your alignment isn’t perfect, but start with the simple stuff

[davman]

Both front tyres are at 40psi cold.

I notice that INASNT's car had incorrect toe, but the camber was out as well - great that it cant be adjusted.

[iDiesel]

Wow, those pressures sound high
I run 38 for day-to-day and 40 when travelling loaded up for holidays.

As for OP, we’re the undulations side to side or front to back?
I notice that travelling up the freeway from Sydney to Newcastle, there are times on the freeway when the back end feels like it’s having oscillation on the rear suspension. This was made worse if towing a trailer at around 95-105kph. Above about 115-120kph it seemed to settle down.

[davman]

Side to side movements. I was reading up on negative camber on the Tirerack website, and it does sound similar to this.

"If the vehicle encounters a bump that only causes one tire to lose some of its grip, the other tire's negative camber will push the vehicle in the direction of the tire that lost grip. The vehicle may feel more "nervous" and become more susceptible to tramlining. "

[brad]

Camber can be adjusted.

The front is give/take from side to side by moving the subframe (or it was prior to the MQB chassis).

The rear is individual adjustment assuming multi-link.

To the OP. Does the Tiguan have shipping spacers in the suspension? VW PD are notorious for not removing them. That will cause an "odd feeling"

[brad]

Wow, those pressures sound high
I run 38 for day-to-day and 40 when travelling loaded up for holidays.
.

What does your tyre placard say?

[Guest001]

Mine is absolute opposite to the degree that i can take hands off the wheel at 100kph and it will just go down the road good as gold till it tells me to take over again. Even on the rough parts on the Bruce its OK and car is set on Comfort

[davman]

After a few more days driving, I think I have a different perspective on the issue that is peeving me - thanks to some of your thoughts above. I think the suspension on the car, tends to have a considerable left to right to left rocking motion when you go over undulations (even small ones) in the road. Different DCC settings don't seem to make any difference, but just mask the effect.. So when travelling at speed, and you hit multiple undulations, you feel this through the steering. Does this sound familiar to any of you?

[Guest001]

After a few more days driving, I think I have a different perspective on the issue that is peeving me - thanks to some of your thoughts above. I think the suspension on the car, tends to have a considerable left to right to left rocking motion when you go over undulations (even small ones) in the road. Different DCC settings don't seem to make any difference, but just mask the effect.. So when travelling at speed, and you hit multiple undulations, you feel this through the steering. Does this sound familiar to any of you?

No more than any of my other VW's

[davman]

Mmm, I have had heaps of VW's, none have had this problem. Only car that had this similar problem before was my Lifted 200 Series Cruiser, which had Caster adjustment issues.

[iDiesel]

not me either.

What does your tyre placard say?

2 people = 38PSI
Fully loaded = 39 front / 45 rear

[davman]

Yep that's pretty much it when you do the conversion to PSI