Hey guys, noticed yesterday that the steering is occasionally heavy and pulling to the side but isn't constant issue, as it will go light every now and then as well. Drove the car today and as I put my foot down a bit more it ripped the car to the left (doing only about 30-40mph), was a good job I had both hands on the wheel otherwise I'd have probably ended up in the hedge, it pulled it quite hard. Wondering if anybody has had a similar issue? Not wanting to drive the car now until I can sort it as the resistance with the steering is becoming a concern. Any help would be greatly appreciated before I get it looked at. Cheers Paul.
Amazing coincidence as I am suffering from the same thing. Car drives perfect straight and true if driving along a motorway/dual carriageway but either braking or booting it at low speed seems to set the car up to pull hard to one side or the other. Oddly I have also found that if I wiggle hard on the steering to counter steer against the direction of pull it seems to reset everything and the car tracks fine again. My car has new shocks, top mounts and steering arms so I am thinking that is this clearly torque related I may have worn torque links which don't show up as worn when the car is on a 2 post lift and everything (now) feels really tight (in my mind the extended suspension may be pulling the torque link tight). BTW I found my car has absolutely 0 torque steer or wheel spin now when booting it on a bumpy road as a result of the new components and 0 toe alignment completed recently, the pull seems to only happen on smooth surfaces I am not even sure if a camber on the road has much effect as the pull left or right doesn't seem hard correlated to road camber but more as a result of accelerating. All very odd as I never had this in any other car but then this is the first car I have owned with this type of torque steer compensating split hub and strut design.
It will be the steering swivel bearings corroded and needing replacement. Have you had salt put down near you recently? I have the other side to do I mine and it picks up the salt/crud and starts sticking . After a week of good roads it clears up. Best way to check is get the wheels off, remove the track rod ends from the hubs and try and turn the hubs left and right. Any resistance will be easily felt. On one of mine, on the side I replaced, you couldn't budge it by hand. Totally locked up. So what happens is the rack can move it but any wear in the steering system means the position it comes to wont be perfectly right. That is to say the toe on that side will be out, as if poorly tracked. Then the affect is made worse by uneven road camber or braking and it will just pull in whichever direction it's toeing to. Don't think these cars have much caster so self centreing isn't the best anyway. I find acceleration helps pull them straight or conversely snatch braking on flat roads. Obviously it's not safe. RS 175 Cup Lux
Don't know about the OP but I haven't driven on salted roads in months. I hope its not my swivel bearings are that worn as the steering arms were only replaced last week and Paul would surely have noticed that, but I will ask him on this specifically anyway. Its disappointing as the car feels so close to perfect now with all the new bits on there but this one odd effect spoils it a bit. The cars actually have quite a lot of caster but you wouldn't know it by the way they steer.
Do you have an original steering rack bush in? Tbh I was really responding to the OP but yours may be the same. Just because the arms were changed out doesn't mean they articulated the hubs fully. You'd not need to. RS 175 Cup Lux
Cheers for the info. Symptoms sound exactly what the problem is. Its like its poorly tracked but there seemed extra force in pulling towards that direction. Not laid or seen any salt on the road here for god knows how long. Had the tracking done about 2 weeks ago and it was all centered up then. Under braking it can pull but when I first noticed it I thought it was a braking issue as they'll need to be replaced soon. Only over the past 2 days ive noticed its not as its been randomly pulling to the side. If I go around a corner it will pretty much switch to pull the direction I turned. It an expensive job? Got a mate that a mechanic but just wondering what sort of figure I'm looking at price wise. Appreciate the explanation as well. Far more understanding of what the issue is now. Paul.
I do have the original bush because I asked for it to be checked (I have the TFD replacement) and it was fine. There is movement in the rack mounting bushes apparently but Paul claimed this is normal on the Megane, he couldn't find anything wrong with the original bush so refused to waste time/money changing it out. To be honest I think you're right and my swivel bearings are starting to show wear. I drove up into the south east today, 200 mile round trip. It was a really odd drive, low speed and low speed booting it car pulls hard sometimes really not nice. All the way along the A303 and M3 though the car was perfect, tracks like a missile. The fact I can correct the pull by wiggling the wheel hard to reset everything makes me think you must be right and its catching on a point of wear/corrosion on the bearing which is overcome by the wheel wiggling. I have ordered a couple of bearings and will order some seals soon as well thanks for helping to shine a light on this problem. Pretty fed up though with continually fixing this car.
Hi Paul I did mine myself. Wrote a guide which is a sticky on here. I think you're looking around £150 a side. The bearing itself can be bought for £10-£25 depending on quality. If your turret that the bearing swivel rounds is badly pitted these can be bought too with the bearing for £50 although you'll need a new bolt as apparently they are a different pitch. Where are you in the world? RS 175 Cup Lux
Ah sound, didn't think to look at the guides on here so will take a peak. A cost I was hoping to avoid as the cambelt is due for a chance this week as well but this may have to take priority as the drive is too risky to leave given the sudden pulling, best put that overtime in lol. Down in west wales mate.
Managed to drop one of my arms down today and fit a grease bolt I'd made. Hopefully this will prevent them ever going again with grease being sent through manually every six months or so. RS 175 Cup Lux
Seriously. I checked my other side with the track rod off! Couldn't budge it. Seized to hek! Lots of rusty brown marks all beneath the swivel joint. So I swapped it out. Not before time. I'm 99.9% sure this is your issue! Mine was driving okish on this, with the odd sticky moment: RS 175 Cup Lux
Will take a look at some point this week pal cheers, cars off the road now for 2 weeks after an altercation with a badger on the way to work this morning so will have plenty of time to take a look at it.
