View Full Version : V5 behaving badly
Here's a Friday brain teaser for you.
Handling on my V5 is getting worse and worse. Seem to have lots of bump steer and steering wander. Sat on the M3 this morning at 70 (+20) and had a hard time keeping the car in a straight line.
Every bump in the road surface seems to cause the steering wheel to tug at my hands and causes the car to wander. Increase amounts of vibration through the steering too.
Recently put Goodridge rubber on the front and had 4 wheel alignment and balancing done (3 times). Not a happy car at all at the moment.
Any suspension gurus have any idea where to start ? Cars on 73K now by the way, and used to blast along a motorway without any fuss whatsoever. Still goes round bends OK.
Cheers people.
are the struts leaking?
if you do the 'bounce on the wing' test - how does it fare?
wheel bearings?
Mark
Thanks Mark,
Will give the front a good bounce at lunchtime and see how it looks.
Cheers.
And the results of the bounce test are...
All seems to be OK - push down hard, release and both sides bounce up the same and then settle.
Checked wheel bolts too - all OK.
Did notice however, when bouncing the nearside front, there was a noise like air escaping or being drawn in but not on the offside ??
might be the damper internals making the noise. I guess the car is level though? - as in one side is no lower.
it's a funny one.
are the tyres seated correctly? are they free of lumps & manufacturing faults?
Yep all looks level, and tyres seem OK.
Indeed it a strange one. Somethings a miss.
Driving at lunchtime - hit a small (normal) pothole in the road and
the steering wheel actually did a tank slapper in my hands as the suspension bounced.
Not good. Will get her jacked up at the weekend and have a decent inspection and check wheel bearings, springs, dampers, tie rods etc. Just the 'interesting' 65 mile drive home to contend with.......
Cheers.
To me it sounds like a an upper strut bearing that shot. The struts could be in pretty bad shape and still pass the bounce test.
Paulo,
Upper strut bearing. I take it that's same thing as top mount bearing (ones that you mount a strut brace around in engine bay).
I guess that feasible - heavy front end on a V5 !
Any advice how to check them mate ?
Cheers
Yes that same one Stu! Not sure how to check it though.
One more thing to add from mine:
from 20000km until replacement at 60000km, everytime I hit a pothole or uneven pavement (going up from old pavement onto new pavement) or those painted speed bumps I could feel it going through the steering wheel.
After changing the suspension (unfortunately both shocks & upper bearings changed) it stopped happening.
Sounds promising. Will check this out.
Much better to approach the dealers with an idea of what's wrong.
Thanks indeed for you help Paulo and Mark.
:cheers:
Do you have worn bushes? That would cause your suspension to wander a bit. The worn bushes won't show in an alignment either.
Thanks Ed,
Another thing I will look at tomorrow when scrabbling around under my motor (in the rain probably :mad: )
Cheers
Originally posted by edc
Do you have worn bushes? That would cause your suspension to wander a bit. The worn bushes won't show in an alignment either.
I supose your speaking of the A-arm ones? I changed the mk3 golf ones for the polyurethane ones. What a difference it made.
I'm not sure how to check this but in effect under load your wheel will 'waggle' (technical term) about. You might be able to simulate this with your bear hands but I doubt it.
On one of my old motors I had worn rear bushes after 55k, which caused a knocking sound at the rear. Didn't realise the bushes were worn but the knocking was annoying cos it happened over most holes and whenever the rear wheels went over dropped kerbs/ruts at and angle. The handling was crap anyway so there wasn't much noticeable deterioration. You can't recreate the same movement unless you have it on a ramp and wedge the bush with a crowbar.
By hand no way.
Possibly if rock the car back and forth or from side to side you might be able to find play.
Does anyone know where to get polyurethane for the toledo?
Found no obvious cause of the handling woes at the weekend.
powerflex (http://www.powerflex.co.uk)
do a poly bush kit for the Mk4 Golf/Bora. Don't know if this would be common for the Toledo ??
Bonrath (http://www.bonrath.com)
Do poly bushes and sports top mounts but don't give an application list on the website ??
Can anyone tell me if this sounds right ?
Had another check of the front end last night.
With one front corner jacked up (ie. other side firmly planted and weighted to the deck). Holding the wheel at 9 and 3 o'clock with a side to side movement - should the steering wheel waggle side to side (quite a bit) ? Same if you repeat the proceedure on the other side.
I would have thought that you should only get movement through the steering wheel if both side were jacked ??
Any thoughts greatly recieved.
Something broken in your steering might explain the steering kick back but wouldn't solve the handling.