Astra Stearing

my 02 astra is the same on the steering.

vibration in the steering can be down to so many things from tyres to suspension.

When you say the tracking is fine, what have you actually had checked?

The vibration will be the wheel balance - take it to a tyre place and get them to re-balance the front wheels.

The steering issue will either be because the track rod ends have been unevenly adjusted, or that the rear wheel alignment is out and the car has only been front wheel aligned, which is how all of the tyre and exhaust places do it. Watch out as well, they call what they do a 4 wheel alignment when it is nothing of the sort. The only solution is to take to a genuine 4 wheel alignment place, and get it all checked out, which will cost you no less than £70-80. You can probably find the best four wheel alignment place by phoning around your local body shops - a seriously crashed car will need proper alignment. Alternatively, call around local places that do performance tuning on sports car suspension, they will know where to go. Ask if they align the rear toe settings, as this is what is required on the rear. Whatever you do, do not go to your local tyre place for steering alignment, you will be wasting your £30! I've no idea why anyone goes to have only the front wheels aligned...

Andy.

I haven't had it checked no, my rather presumptious statement was based on the fact the when I let go of the stearing wheel the car stays in a straight line for ages :-(

The fronts are on there last legs anyway so I will get it all looked at when the new ones go on.

Thanks for the advise.

Does the car still go straight when accelerating hard? For instance, would you be totally happy to takes your hands off the steering wheel doing this? The suspension geometry can be way off whack and the car might still go in a straight line at a constant speed.

If you buy new front tyres then the vibration should go away as they have to balance them when they fit them. Just for goodness sake don't get them to do the wheel alignment, as I said they just don't usually have the equipment or training to do it properly.

Yoiu need to get it checked. Thick Gits did the tracking on a Sierra I had once. It drove in a straight line with the hands off the wheel yet it still scrubbed the insides of the tyres to cord in under 500 miles.

An smallish error like that could be due to a number of things. It could be that the track rods are not the same length. If they are, maybe the steering column splined couplings, assuming it has them, do not allow the steering wheel to be perfectly aligned. There is probably also a small amount of play in the steering rack mountings. Clearance on the bolts etc. Meaning the rack is not 'precisely' located before it's tightened. All this means, is that the steering wheel position is not infinitely adjustable, but it can probably be improved. Maybe by a small adjustment of the track rods, or repositioning the steering wheel, and/or column. I would think accident damage, while still a possibility, is the most unlikely, but a full 4 wheel alignment check, should find something like a track arm that may have been bent by heavy curbing etc. Mike.

Mario Lanza ( snipped-for-privacy@accessplus.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

LargeFastFitChainFuckwits have set the tracking at some time, by just doing one side, rather than making sure the rack's centred.

Wheel balance. You've not had any tyres put on the front whilst you've owned it? If you want to prove it, just swap 'em front-rear to see if the shake follows the wheels.

Not necessarily.