going through tie rods a little too fast

[bojo_ri]

Hello all,
I bought my '03 Leon PD150 TopSport at 93k and had it for almost 2 years now.
It now sits on 113k miles.

When I bought the car, I went to the garage I normally service the car, and had it checked.
Among all the things that needed replacing were the tie rods, both of them.
OK, so I have them replaced and also have the alignment done.

After about 6 months into my ownership, I unfortunately hit a curb at low(ish) speed with my front right wheel (Left hand drive), I was doing about 25 mph.
After that the left tie rod went and had to be replaced again, so I did that a second time.

After the second replacement of the left tie rod, the car still keeps pulling to the left, and I had it serviced for a third time and the guy (a different one from the first two times), says the left tie rod has gone again while the right one (which is on the wheel I hit) is still in pretty good shape.

The car has 225/45/-17 summer and 205/55/-16 winter tires.

So, does this Leon usually like to eat its tie rods, or could it be that something else is wrong?
The garage said that they didn't find anything else wrong with the car.

Cheers

 

[DrewCole]

I would suggest that the firsts ones may have needed to be replaced.

The second one that was replaced after the accident, may not have been the only thing that was bent... which is probably why it still pulls to one side even after the alignment.

Even with a low speed hit things will bend with relative ease, so the third rod was probably put under strain from something else being out of kilter, thus bending it.

I would get under there and have a good look for any signs of stretch in the metal of folds, have you have the wishbones checked?

 

[bojo_ri]

Well Im not all that amiliar with suspension parts tbh.
The guy from the garage told me he checked and didnt see anything out of the ordinary.
So I guess I'll have to trust his judgement as I dont have adequate space to have a look for myself.

The tier rods have been changed the first time since it was necessary.
As it is, the left hub is on its second new and the right one on the first new tie rod since my ownership.
Now the garage suggests that I buy both new.
And I will, no problem, and then they'll do the alignment, but I dont want to keep replacing tie rods/other parts..

Seems to me somebody missed something..

 

[Alexis27]

Pretty unusual for them to fail. If you change them they should last for years

 

[bojo_ri]

Since the garage said that the left tie rod was the culprit, I was a bit too suspicious about it being knackered as I had it changed not 2k miles ago... So I jacked up the front left of the car in this cold wet weather and tried to rotate the left wheel to simulate steering, and sure enough, I heard a klick-klick sound coming from somewhere near the wheel hub.
I reached in and grabbed the tie rod/wheel hub connection and tried to move the wheel again, and sure enough, the loose connection was present at the joint.

I also checked my records
It was as follows:
- both tie rods (among other things) replaced at 95k miles uppon purchasing the car, also did a wheel alignment
- left tie rod replaced again at 112k miles and both rear control arm solid bushings (Cupra R/TT, I was told) + wheel alignment
- now the left tie rod failed again at just under 114k miles

This is really strange.
Factory defect perhaps?

 

[sockpuppet]

Just replaced the left tie rod on mine but that was down to the ball joint flexing. If your tie rods are knackered again then I would get ball joints and wishbones replaced and then get geometry checked.

 

[mty12345]

Hello all,


After about 6 months into my ownership, I unfortunately hit a curb at low(ish) speed with my front right wheel (Left hand drive), I was doing about 25 mph.
After that the left tie rod went and had to be replaced again, so I did that a second time.

Cheers

Is there still damage from this incident that is putting extra stress on the tie rod?