Help with wandering steering.......

[msisleman]

Guys,

I need pointing in the right direction for my girlfriends Ford Ka, now I know its not a Clio, but Ka forums are full of girls putting pink fluffy seat covers in their cars and heart stickers on their bodywork. And I'm sure this is probably a general automotive problem rather then specific to Ka's.

Basically, you hold the steering wheel dead still and straight, and accelerate, as soon as you back completely off the throttle the car wanders quite seriously to the right, plant your foot again and it seriously wanders back over to the left. This is a very repeatable and easy to demonstrate problem and it feels bordering on dangerous so needs to be sorted, don't like the idea of her driving it on the M25 like that....... Overall driving, the car generally feels like it wanders around quite a lot, but by accelerating and deccelerating like this it shows up the problem in the most clear way.

Driveshafts? Steering rack? Suspension bushes?

Thanks a lot for any help as I know it shouldn't really be on here, but your a nice lot!!!

 

[White16valver]

Tyre pressures
Worn tyres
Tracking
Ball Joints
Bearings(?)
Steering Column
Track rods - play at either end?
Rack

These are all things that could/do cause issues that I can think of!

 

[franx]

funny, i have exactly the same, only when giving it throttle mine pulls to the right, when releasing throttle it pulls to the left again.. feels very dangerous , wandering indeed, to drive ! I have gotten used to it by now but yesterday i went to make an appointement for MOT and i mentioned this.
The man said it could very well be the lower AR bush (in my case right one) that needs replacing. He was talking about the car/wheel following the route of least resistance, made good sense. Does the car also lean over a bit ?

Oh yes, my tracking was spot on. Checked this first.

Anyway, i will know next Friday if you can wait that long.. (do'nt think so because i know it feels very dangerous to drive) ?

 

[MarcoB]

Torque steer? haha

 

[JD]

sounds majorly like tracking to me, new tyres recently?

jamie

 

[franx]

.

 

[Peperami]

funny, i have exactly the same, only when giving it throttle mine pulls to the right, when releasing throttle it pulls to the left again.. feels very dangerous , wandering indeed, to drive ! I have gotten used to it by now but yesterday i went to make an appointement for MOT and i mentioned this.
The man said it could very well be the lower AR bush (in my case right one) that needs replacing. He was talking about the car/wheel following the route of least resistance, made good sense. Does the car also lean over a bit ?

Oh yes, my tracking was spot on. Checked this first.

Anyway, i will know next Friday if you can wait that long.. (do'nt think so because i know it feels very dangerous to drive) ?

Mine feels a bit like this!

I can drive it fast but it feels a bit 'loose' and 'lively' if that makes sense?

 

[ditz]

wishbones, common as anything,, change about 3 a day

12 quid a go from euro car parts, and half hour a side to change if you have never done it before



just to expand on that a bit,, its the forward bushes on the lower suspension arms that wear..

but wishbones are so cheap you just change the lot


expect to pay £65+vat a side at a garage

 

[ditz]

just seen your in basildon, if you want to drive to dagenham,, i'll do it for you after work @ 50 a side.

 

[ditz]

Mine feels a bit like this!

I can drive it fast but it feels a bit 'loose' and 'lively' if that makes sense?

and that sounds like leaking front shocks

 

[msisleman]

wishbones, common as anything,, change about 3 a day

12 quid a go from euro car parts, and half hour a side to change if you have never done it before



just to expand on that a bit,, its the forward bushes on the lower suspension arms that wear..

but wishbones are so cheap you just change the lot


expect to pay £65+vat a side at a garage

Brilliant stuff, that sounds about right to me. Thanks for the offer of doing it for me but I'll happily have a crack myself.

Cheers for the help everyone, especially appreciated considering the thread is not for a Clio (and don't we all just love Ka's).