Pulling to the left

dcouponzzzz

Hey, so I bought a 61 plate polo 1.2 bluemotion last Monday and noticed on the drive home it was pulling to the left when ive got a light grip on the wheel (no I didn't think to check on the test drive!). It was bought from a national dealership 100 miles from home, and I was told any problems could be dealt with from the Liverpool branch.

I've take it to Liverpool twice. They've looked at the tracking, then performed a full wheel alignment. It's improved slightly but still pulling. I've checked it on straight roads with no camber. Does anyone know what else could cause this problem, as they're trying to say they've checked everything already... thanks!

Edit in response to your queries:

If I hold the wheel with my fingertips and no pressure I can let the car change lanes for me on a straight flat stretch of motorway which takes roughly 3-5 seconds at 60mph.

If I have the car pointing straight and briefly let go of the wheel, the wheel shifts about 2-5mm to the left, appearing to set itself more central than when I was holding it.

The wheel alignment report provided by the dealer for before and after was showing results for each tyre in degrees to 2 decimal places, which I'm guessing is a relatively reliable tech.

I've tested this on industrial estates and car parks where camber is minimal, and roads where I know my previous car didn't pull at all.

On the last MOT cert the tyres were at 2-4mm requiring attention before the next test (provided by the dealer I purchased from). When I received the car, it had 4 new tyres but my dealer have no record of replacing themselves, so have been replaced by previous seller and quality isn't yet verified.

Tyre pressure on receipt of car was spot on - I know this only because they didn't set the warning indicator and it flashed up on the motorway home (stopped in first services and every tyre was correct pressure). It was still pulling despite this.

arcon5

Bushes.
Play in bill joint(s).

Get it checked independently.

molerat

Swap the front wheels over (providing the tyres are not directional)

Iceweasel

Try swapping the front wheels side to side first.

Are they a matched pair - same make and approx the same tread depth?

Other wise check if any work has been done on the front suspension - new dampers for example.

The VW Polo has a fairly simple McPherson Strut set up, which would be liable to pull either right or left if the centre nuts on the top mountings were tightened with the steering even slightly off centre.

The problem is that the rubber bushes will always try to return to the position they were in when the nuts were tightened.

There is an easy fix - with the car on a flat level surface - a garage floor or level car-park will do - and the steering central - you slacken off the top nuts on both sides 2 or 3 turns - do NOT remove the nut completely.

Then (usually with the aid of a friend) you bounce the front of the car a half a dozen times - roll the car forward a few feet and bounce again - then back a few feet, then more bouncing.

Check each time that the steering is still dead ahead.

Do that a few times and any twist in the rubber bush seating will be centralised.

Finally re-tighten the top nuts to the correct torque setting of 55 ft/lbs (75 N/m)

arcon5

Highly unlikely to be strut mount bolt! The top mount bearing wouldn't spring back in any position and the top mount itself would be solid when torqued up.

dacouch

When I saw the thread title I assumed it would be about the Labour Party and Jeremy Corbyn

darcy2009

Possibly brake pads sticking on the front left

Iceweasel

arcon5 wrote: »

Highly unlikely to be strut mount bolt! The top mount bearing wouldn't spring back in any position and the top mount itself would be solid when torqued up.

Unlikely perhaps - but not highly unlikely.

I've seen it a few times in cars where only one strut has been worked on- and of course it was the last thing we looked at.

It's the rubber bushing which is under a twisting tension when the wheel is turned.

Either way it's a no-cost quick job and it can do no harm to check.

UncleZen

Sometimes this happens even on brand new cars.
I once bought a 1 month old car, that had done 1000 miles. It pulled to the left.
I had then tracking and suspension alignment checked by a reputable company and it was bang on.
The guy told me that a car pulling to one side was more common than you might expect and he'd even seen it occurring on expensive premium brands.
I kept the car for 5 years and even though it pulled left all that time it didn't manifest in excessive tyre wear as you might expect. I got used to it.

EdGasket

My car pulled to the left AFTER I had tracking done. I undid the offside track adjuster and turned it half a turn at a time so that the wheel pointed to the right until the car ran straight again. Tracking can be somewhat hit and miss depending who does it and what equipment they have. On an older car steering can be biased due to bushes and suspension wear; you either have to live with it or learn a bit about tracking and compensate for it yourself using the track adjusters. Of course you can't go potty with adjustment without causing uneven tyre wear but careful adjustment and keeping an eye out for uneven tyre wear does the trick for me.

Ectophile

Check the brakes. If the brakes are failing on one side only (perhaps by contamination with oil, grease or brake fluid), then that will cause it to pull.