Steering pulling to nearside

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Mon 10 Dec 2001 18:27
Steering pulling to nearside - Richard Blackburn
I'm just about to take my car in for servicing. When I booked the appointment, I asked them to check a couple of things - slightly rattly exhaust when going over a speed bump and the steering, which pulls, very slightly, to the nearside. The pulling is barely noticeable, and can't really be detected on (for example) braking. I've had this on other cars, and it's been due to misalignment, tyre pressures etc. I admit I was surprised to hear that 'they all do it'. Can this be true??

(By the way, it's a Merc C240)

Puzzled...
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Mon 10 Dec 2001 18:33
Re: Steering pulling to nearside - Honest John
Could be too many mini roundabouts in your area. These have the effect of wearing the shoulder off the nearside front tyre and the more this happens the more prone the shoulder is to wear. This gives an uneven tread pattern that could pull you to the nearside more than the camber would normally do. I think that every council that installs a proliferation of mini roundabouts should foot the tyre bills this causes, but if we went down that road, they'd also be paying for vehicle damage from road humps and other traffic calming measures and have nothing left to spend on those disposable road works signs they seem to discard everywhere.

HJ
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Mon 10 Dec 2001 21:50
Re: Steering pulling to nearside - El Dingo (Martin)
HJ,

In amongst my ramblings in the thread 'tyre wear & suspension design' I stated that FWD Audis seem prone to NSF tyre wear (especially the outer edge, or 'shoulder'). Is this then true about all FWD cars, the cause being mini-roundabouts?

I have had this phenomena on Audis since 1987, never having seen it on previous cars (but it is a long tima ago, and I suppose that's when mini-roundabouts first appeared in any number...).

I must admit that I can't think of any LH turns made so regularly and with such impatience!
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Tue 11 Dec 2001 11:22
Milton Keynes syndrome. - David W
Martin,

It is the roads, roundabouts, PAS and driving style these days that takes out the nsf shoulder.

I guess every other car I have in here gets a note on the report..."nsf tyre required before next service due to outer edge wear".

David
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Tue 11 Dec 2001 21:16
Re: Milton Keynes syndrome. - El Dingo (Martin)
David,

Thanks - now I know it's not just Audis....

Martin.
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Wed 12 Dec 2001 10:54
Re: Mini roundabouts - Andrew Smith
I'm generally in favour of roundabouts as an alternative to traffic lights as they promote a smoother flow of traffic. Mini roundabouts though an be fun in heavy traffic where you get a mexican standoff between all the different entering lanes....you first...no you...no you...no I insist you have priority..etc
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Mon 10 Dec 2001 18:51
Re: Steering pulling to nearside - Anthony Farrar
I had this problem on a Volvo 440. It was virtually cured by having the tyres moved round. Must be due to wear - but the camber must also contribute to it.
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Mon 10 Dec 2001 22:13
Re: Steering pulling to nearside - Steve G
Might be worth having the tracking checked.
My local tyre fitting expert says british roads are so bad that the tracking on most cars should be checked every 3 months.
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Mon 10 Dec 2001 23:16
Re: Steering pulling to nearside - Andrew T
Presumably somewhere like Turkey you would have to check tracking every 3 weeks ?
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Tue 11 Dec 2001 10:57
Re: Steering pulling to nearside - John S
Bet the taliban don't bother!

Regards

JS
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