Steering vibration

[Alan Gowdy]

My Ibiza's coming up to 20,000 miles and has been admirably trouble free. However over the last 3000 miles it has developed a steering vibration which is only apparent when accelerating. The harder I accelerate, the more it vibrates. At constant speeds it all but disappears.
Also the steering wheel (should you take your hands off while accelerating!) oscillates slowly, just a few degrees either side of centre.
This leads me to suspect misalignment rather than an unbalanced wheel or two. I've heard that the Ibiza / Polo / Fabia ranges are a bit 'weak' at the front and prone to getting knocked out of alignment by speed bumps etc.

Incidentally the Pirelli tyres on the front have still got about 5000 miles worth of legal tread left - not bad for a torquey diesel.

Any views or similar stories?

[sportbilly]

Firstly I would get your wheels balanced and tracking done, if its ok it wont cost you anything to check .. at most places.

[muddyboots]

Originally posted by Alan Gowdy
I've heard that the Ibiza / Polo / Fabia ranges are a bit 'weak' at the front and prone to getting knocked out of alignment by speed bumps etc
That figures, my tracking's been knocked out twice, both times causing the inner front edges to wear alarmingly (to the extent of holes appearing through the rubber :eek: ). At least I'm on the SMT contract so it didn't cost me any extra !

Where did you hear that this is a common fault ? It would be interesting to hear of other people's experiences with this problem...