Volkswagen Polo III (1994 - 1999) - 98 1.9d bearing change affect steering geometry ?

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Tue 15 Apr 2008 20:44
98 1.9d bearing change affect steering geometry ? - SwedishPolo
Looking for some opinions on something I was told by a garage after a tyre on my Polo exploded. Basically:

***If a wheel bearing (RHS front) has been swapped, would it be safe to assume that the steering geometry will not be affected?***

Background is that I put my car in for service (not a certified VW dealer, but I have used them before without problems) and as part of this, the RHS front wheel bearing was replaced as it was a bit worn. Otherwise the car was described as 'fine'

About 5 weeks and maybe 1500km later, one of the front tyres literally exploded whilst driving on a motorway. Fortunately, I was able to keep control of the car, and change to a spare to get me to a tyre place. Further inspection showed that both front tyres were worn down to the belts on the inside edges - literally no rubber remaining over 2-3cm of the tyre and any trace of the tread only remained on the outside 3-4 cm. These tyres could really be used in a 'black museum' of tyre wear.

I took the car in to a tyre place I trust and replaced the tyres and asked them to set up the steering. They said the geometry had been totally wrong, with the toe-in being about 1 degree wrong on both wheels, amongst other problems.

I then contacted the garage where the service was done. They were polite and tried to be helpful, but they were very firm in their claim that they did not disconnect any part of the steering. Furthermore, they said that they did not check the steering geometry as there is no chance that replacing the wheel bearing would affect this

I know for certain that the tyres were fine (well inside legal limits) before the service and that the car has not been crashed or anything like this. Most of the driving has been on motorways and major roads, so the tyres have gone from legal to fatally worn in a very short time. I did notice that the steering wheel was slightly off-centre immediately after the service, but did not think anything of it. The steering did feel a little bit odd at times, but nothing too significant, so I could convince mysef I was imagining it. I knew the car would be going through the Swedish equivalent of the MOT shortly afterwards anyway..

I should add at this point that I live in Sweden. The car was bought here and has only been driven over here. It is left-hand drive, but I don't think has any bearing (haha) on the situation

What I am lookig for is opinions from anyone with experience: Is what the garage told me correct? To me, it sounds dubious, but I want to be sure I am not being unreasonable in thinking that the bearing replacement could have caused the tyre-wear.

My thanks in advance

Niall Forrester

Edited by Pugugly on 15/04/2008 at 21:35

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