Steering wheel wobble?

[danzman2002]

Hi guys,

Just wondering if anyone has any idea what's wrong with my car?

Basically, the steering wheel wobbles quite a lot when driving and the car makes a loud knocking noise coming from the front (the knocking gets faster as I increase speed). If I let go of the steering wheel the car pulls quite badly to the left, if I apply a small amount of right turn to the steering wheel the knocking noise stops - very odd!

Appreciate any help!

Daniel

 

[Av4nt]

could be a wheel bearing on its way out or wheel alignment. Have you hit a curb or pothole recently to cause it to put the wheels out of line?

 

[danzman2002]

could be a wheel bearing on its way out or wheel alignment. Have you hit a curb or pothole recently to cause it to put the wheels out of line?

Potholes around here are really bad around here at the moment, so it wouldn't surprise me if this was what caused it!

 

[Av4nt]

take it for a wheel alignment and they can tell you through the computer if its that. wheel wooble and juddering is usually misaligned wheels. if not i would suspect a wheel bearing which also causing juddering and wheel wobble if bad enough.

 

[carpetbagger]

For the wheel wobble check for tyre distortion

 

[Mike_B]

Ball joint(s) ?

 

[Andy27168]

Hi,
If it is knocking like that there is no point taking for a wheel alignment, it could be many things with those symptons anything specific would only be speculation, get it booked into a good VAG independant and get it checked.
Did it just suddenly happen? if so have you hit a kerb something? the symptons you are describing don,t normally appear but develop over a period of time.

 

[danzman2002]

Right.

I have taken the the alloy wheel off, and put the spare (steel) wheel on. And hey presto, the steering wheel
wobble has gone!

Does this mean the alloy is definitely bent, or could it be still that the alignment needs doing?

I am hopeless with cars, I'm just trying to rule things out myself before I take it to a garage to be diagnosed! As far as I can tell, it's looking likely I'm going to need a new alloy?

Many thanks for your help so far!

Daniel

 

[Mike_B]

I'd be inclined to go to my local tyre place and ask them to spin the wheel on the balancer and check for deformation. Candidly though, from what you described earlier, it's astonishing that changing the wheel seems to have fixed the problem so I'd still be inclined to have a professional look over the car. Mike.