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Fw: Torque steer from hell



I had HORRID torque steer on my Rabbit (yeah I said Rabbit).  The car was given to me and had sat for about 2 1/2 years in the same spot in WA state.  After I got it running and got it home, I put springs on it and took it for a hard drive and it felt VERY tight.  After some time, I noticed that I was getting some wander in corners.  After I did the 16v conversion I started noticing a little torque steer.  I got new tires and noticed it even more (got an alignment with the new tires).  I fought with this for a few months not being able to figure it out while it kept getting worse and worse.  I finally got it on a lift and used a pry bar to find that the bushings between the lower control arms and body had a bunch of play.  I never thought of this to be a problem becuase they were all polyurethane.  SO, this is what happened.  While the car sat, the steel sleeves that go through the urethane bushings got rusty and corroded.  Once the car was driven again, whenever the suspension gave, the rust would eat away at the urethane until there was so much slop that I had MAJOR torque steer.  All I did was replace the $25 set of urethane bushings, and viola, no more torque steer.  Of course I had to get it aligned again, but I was HHHAAAPPPYYY that the torque steer was gone.  From what I have read so far with everyones compaints (i.e. the 'hitting a bunch of gravel' problem) that place in the frame where sciroccos have problems would be worth checking out.  My problem happened over time, a problem that all-of-a-sudden shows up, would more than likely be caused by some accident or broken something or rather.  Hope this helps!
 
Dave
77 Rabbit 16v

 
>Hi All,

>I've just resubscribed to the list 'cos I have a major problem. (some of you
>might remember me from three months ago - mkII GTX with 17s in the uk).

>The problem is my car will pull to the right when accelerating and will dive
>left when I lift off. It will only do this if the steering wheel is held
>tight. If you let go of the wheel (or hold it very loosely) and try it, it
>goes in a straight line, and the wheel moves. It has been doing this since
>it was bashed on the front left corner.
>I have had it checked on a jig and it was perfectly ok, *but* the left front
>wheel is ¼ inch further back in the arch the the right front. The wheelbase
>is the same on both sides (odd!). The castor is slightly different side to
>side, but not by much.
>I also have a mkII Storm which has been hit on the opposite corner - this
>was actually pulled on a jig, and drives perfectly. Rather strangely, the
>left front wheel is also in the same place as the GTX! I have checked on
>another GTX which has never been hit, and the wheels are in the correct
>place, but every measurement I can make on the floorpans of all three cars
>come out to within 2-3mm!

>Aaarg! I can't work this out!

>Does anyone have any bright ideas? I had thought the problem was because of
>the positioning of the wheels, but the Storm is ok. Maybe something has
>moved on the GTX that I can't see?

>Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

>Thanks,

>Mike Smith