T
Tim T
Guest User
Ok, a bit of a long post here. In part to gain some advice and also to order my thoughs and correct my *terminology* when I discuss this with the bods down at the VW service center.
We did have a fairly frequent but intermittent problem with loud *crack/boing* sounds from the front suspension. It was as though the springs were re-seating themselves, as though there was tension on them that was being released. As far back as the first service I was asking VW to inspect the front set-up as I was advised and felt myself (I'm handy with a spanner but guessing here) that there was something other than the tracking that was out of line.
Tyres on the front last 10k and are usually slightly more worn on the very inside edge, but have taken them down to the wear indicators without *excessive* wear on the inside edge, and I'm fussy about safety... Standard wheels and VW replaced OE tyres and tracking adjustments.
So, on the last service they found the top mounts on the suspension to have excessive wear and so replaced them. They feel the problem is fixed, I'm wondering if the wear caused the issue or the issue caused the wear...
But the other day something happened that made me sit up and say, "whoa, that's not right!"
I've not driven the van in snow before as I haven't needed to, but over the last two weeks in Scotland temperatures have been as low as -12 and we've had a covering of snow over ice, really nice powdered snow.
Anyway, van in reverse, onto full lock to turn round in the yard over the snow. You could feel the tension build up then release as the front wheels tracked out of sync with each other. This wasn't just a small creak but a definite release of tension and it happened *at least* every meter if not more. I know that the front wheels MUST track on different radii as you turn but this was as though they were both on different directions relative to the van and as they tried to pull the wheels apart (or squeeze them together) it put tension in the tyres until they exceeded the level of grip and *POW*, the tension was released.
Again, this was not just a *little creaking* but a very decisive *clonk, clonk, clonk*.
I'm sure this isn't the correct way the van should be, I always thought that the steering should be set up to account for the different turning circles at the front to the point where you don't notice on any surface. It's not going to be the wheels are *suddenly* out at full lock, but a progressive difference as more steering lock is applied. At speed you generally use very little lock, so there must be a tolerance. But what is it and what is the technical term for this? How do I tell the VW service center that I think the van is wrong, and has always been wrong? I certainly don't want to have to maintain an expensive warranty or face the cost of new upper strut mounts every 20k if this is in fact the cause.
Any advice of corrections of terms/assumptions will be appreciated.
We did have a fairly frequent but intermittent problem with loud *crack/boing* sounds from the front suspension. It was as though the springs were re-seating themselves, as though there was tension on them that was being released. As far back as the first service I was asking VW to inspect the front set-up as I was advised and felt myself (I'm handy with a spanner but guessing here) that there was something other than the tracking that was out of line.
Tyres on the front last 10k and are usually slightly more worn on the very inside edge, but have taken them down to the wear indicators without *excessive* wear on the inside edge, and I'm fussy about safety... Standard wheels and VW replaced OE tyres and tracking adjustments.
So, on the last service they found the top mounts on the suspension to have excessive wear and so replaced them. They feel the problem is fixed, I'm wondering if the wear caused the issue or the issue caused the wear...
But the other day something happened that made me sit up and say, "whoa, that's not right!"
I've not driven the van in snow before as I haven't needed to, but over the last two weeks in Scotland temperatures have been as low as -12 and we've had a covering of snow over ice, really nice powdered snow.
Anyway, van in reverse, onto full lock to turn round in the yard over the snow. You could feel the tension build up then release as the front wheels tracked out of sync with each other. This wasn't just a small creak but a definite release of tension and it happened *at least* every meter if not more. I know that the front wheels MUST track on different radii as you turn but this was as though they were both on different directions relative to the van and as they tried to pull the wheels apart (or squeeze them together) it put tension in the tyres until they exceeded the level of grip and *POW*, the tension was released.
Again, this was not just a *little creaking* but a very decisive *clonk, clonk, clonk*.
I'm sure this isn't the correct way the van should be, I always thought that the steering should be set up to account for the different turning circles at the front to the point where you don't notice on any surface. It's not going to be the wheels are *suddenly* out at full lock, but a progressive difference as more steering lock is applied. At speed you generally use very little lock, so there must be a tolerance. But what is it and what is the technical term for this? How do I tell the VW service center that I think the van is wrong, and has always been wrong? I certainly don't want to have to maintain an expensive warranty or face the cost of new upper strut mounts every 20k if this is in fact the cause.
Any advice of corrections of terms/assumptions will be appreciated.