UK A4 Pulling Left (Part 2)

Not on mine..

Does the "adjustment" phrase mention which corners were altered?

The reason I ask is that a diagonal will have most effect, and that the tyres could/would have worn to match the maladjustment..

HTH

H1K

No it doesn't.

Perhaps I should swap the tyres left/right and front/rear?

Might be worth a try, *but* check first that they're not directional!

It should be easy to spot if one (or both) tyre "shoulder" is excessively worn. Oh, and check the tyre pressures, as well (you've undoubtedly already done this, but it's worth checking, what with the variable temperatures we've had over here recently)

HTH

H1K

Monkeys, Sounds a bit like when I had the suspension rebuilt on my '87 5ktq - except that the steering would wander excessively when adverse cambered sections of road were encountered. I took the car to a local shop for a $$$ 4-wheel alignment ("Adjustment threads seized"....bla bla bla). Shortly after departing the shop, the car almost lept from the road at 60 km/h where the camber veered to the shoulder. Reason - passenger side strut top nuts loose. Needless to say - I went back and "tore them a new one" over that BS (also partially the fault of the original shop that did the rebuild). I sat there and watched while the mechanic did all corners over again. It sounds like there's something loose there (maybe a failing ball joint?) - or maybe bent - happens not only in accidents, but it can also be a result of an over-zealous shipping employee if the car is tied down by the suspension parts rather than the shipping lugs. I read a story once about a european car dealer who couldn't figure out why some cars would come in to the dealership from the boat with damaged suspension. They went to the docks to see why - the cars arrived tied down with lengths of rope, the shipping employee would cut the rope and drive through the ship to the ramp, the trailing rope would occasionally catch between the cargo deck plates.....Voila! Instant carrier landing demo. And damaged suspension part. The car should track straight ahead, steering wheel dead level, and not pull left or right under acceleration or braking. If it pulls like you say, something's not right - the "road camber" reason is a load of crap. As H1K said, find out what adjustment was made ... and why was it off spec? Cheers! Steve Sears

"Hairy One Kenobi" wrote in message news:0juUb.17845$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfep4-glfd.server.ntli.net...

Thanks for the advice, unfortunately I'm getting more and more hacked off at the service received.

The dealer is starting to suggest that as the wheels are in alignment then that there is no fault and this is just how Audi's are. They have also tried to blame it being a sport model (no honestly), as it has wider wheels.

They now want me to demonstrate the problem before booking it in again - no doubt it will be 'in tolerance' or some such bull. Even if not I will be waiting at least another two weeks to get it back exactly the same.

So I'm intending to take one of them out in it, let go of the wheel and see what they do when they see the hedge / wall / lampost /parked car coming up at them. Handy it's pulling to the passenger side for this. Quite honestly I'm so ****ed off that I'd consider sticking it in the hedge just to see the look on their face.

Monkeys, Maybe you should find an Audi Service Facility that are closer to the "Service" side of the tolerance instead of being near the "Dis-service" end. If they said they adjusted the alignment, then something must have been wrong. If they say that "Oh, well, we needed something to put on the bill to make it look like we did something, when our tech just pulled the wheel back in to alignment with a ratchet strap while the car was on the rack - we actually did nothing" - then take your car from them and run to another shop. The older A4's had a problem with the ball joints in the suspension wearing out prematurely - adjusting the alignment without fixing what set it out in the first place (ie - prematurely worn suspension parts/accident/pothole damage/???) is just fixing the symptom without addressing the real problem. Maybe Audi returned to the same suspension parts supplier? The wear on the outside of the tires seems to indicate a driver who loves fast corners - or a toe-in problem (instead of a ball joint problem). As for the wider wheels comment - good thing we don't all own Vipers (amazing how they stay on the road). There _is_ an adjustment for the steering wheel, but it requires some work other than a "shrug". Cheers! Steve Sears

TBH, I have to agree with Steve - it might be worth looking at another dealer or an independent to get a valid inspection (a sneaky way, that relies on a chat with the inspector beforehand, is to pay for an MoT and have the guy look specifically for signs of damage or unusual wear. He can also comment with authority on the legality of the tyres, as fitted)

Not that you should *have* to do that, of course! It might even be worth getting Audi UK involved.. particularly since one of their own dealers seems to be implying a design fault.

The fault itself should be easy enough to demonstrate (simply take then out on a quiet, straight road, release the wheel [fingers still wrapped around it, of course], and then grab it back before you hit the kerb..)

I'm getting tramlining a bit myself at the moment (TTR), which I'm confident will be solved by replacing the (very) worn tyres.. here's hoping that you don't have to do the same! (At your own cost, that is..)

H1K

if your car is pulling left then its probably the rear wheel alignment it is possible to compensate for this by a four whell track set up whereby the front wheels are adjusted so that thwe car crabs dwn the road in a straight line my 85 100 cd auto does this and every time I cahnge the tyres I have to have it tracked twicew because they check it for two wheel alignment and change it telling me its wrongly adjusted and will not corner properly then I take it to another garage who know how to do this properly and it handles briliantly and drives straight again.