Twitchy steering wheel

[petemc]

I've only recently noticed that my steering wheel has become twitchy. When driving I can feel it moving. While driving in a straight line I can see it move left and right a bit. It just sorta rocks left n right. You can definitely feel it in your hands too.

Any ideas?

[leowyatt]

check the tread on your tyres :) had this with the polo. Fitted ones with more tread and the wobble went away.

Also worth getting your tracking checked.

[petemc]

Boo. Bet that means it'll cost. Oh well, best get it done. Driving down south for Xmas so it'd be silly not to have it checked.

How safe do you think it is to drive with this issue? I've been driving it for a week thinking "Must sort this." It's going in tomorrow but I may need the car later. Well, only for a 10 minute drive. Should be ok I guess?

[leowyatt]

It depends what tyres you want to put on your car. You could go part worn which are cheaper than brand new tyres. If you are in town call into Metro Tyres on Regent Road, they do decent part worns.

[petemc]

*shrugs* I think I normally go with something around the £70-100 mark. Brand new ones I assume.

[volospian]

My initial guess would be wheel balance. If the tread is legal, try getting them re-ballanced first.

[leowyatt]

I think given you will have similar sized wheels to the Polo the part worn Michelin ones I'd buy were between £20-30.

[volospian]

petemc,

Sorry, I have a bit more time to answer this now. A wobble in the steering can be any of a hatfull of issues, including (but not limited to) wheel balance, tyre issues (flat or low pressure), damaged wheels, worn bearings, worn brake discs, worn bushes, sticking calipers, worn steering rack, damaged or rusted mountings, worn drive shaft UJ's, and so on...

My guess is that your car has just thrown a wheel weight or something, causing the wheel balance to go out. I wouldn't expect it to be tread depth by itself. Replacing worn tryes will also fix a balance issue as they will re-balance the wheels when they fit the new tyres. I would recommend that you visit a decent tyre shop and, if the tread is still legal, just ask the shop to re-balance the lot. It shouldn't be much. However, take it to a decent tyre shop, rather than a big chain or a cheapo cowboy operation, they both usually screw balancing up.

Also, personally I wouldn't bother with part worn tyres, but that's just me. I say you get what you pay for and second hand tyres seems a bit of a risk to me...

If the balance doesn't fix it (and presuming the tyres are legal), I'd have them check out the suspension for play, and have a look at the discs. I have had a bad wobble with worn discs before. They can crack or splinter and go out of balance. New discs sorted my intermittent wobble for good.

[divine]

If you have the money for new tyres, I wouldn't bother messing around with part worns personally.

That said, check the tread depth yourself, no point buying new tyres if there is nothing wrong with them in the first place and someone in the business of selling you tyres may be a little bit more keen to assure you they need replacing if they can smell a quick profit.

Check the pressures, make sure they're equal. Balancing as volospian says is your next best bet. After that i'd get the tracking checked.

(You should really be checking tread and pressure yourself at regular intervals anyway though, monthly at least)

[A Place of Light]

You just don't know the history of a part worn tyre.

[Garp]

You just don't know the history of a part worn tyre.

+This. The quality can be so variable and the results of spot tests done by various consumer watchdogs leave me adamant against ever getting part worn tyres.

[petemc]

I completely agree on part worn tyres. I would rather pay for new ones.

[petemc]

Just been called by the garage. Had an out of shape tyre at the front. *shrugs*. The guy said 2 tyres were also close to the legal limit and advised getting new ones before making the trip down south. £50 each works for me. Much better than the previous garage that was £100 each. Different tyres I think. Currently got Continentals. The garage didn't say what make but said they are V-Rated for speed on the motorway. Gotta be better than my current close to the legal limit tyres.

[Desmo]

V rated for speed is all well and good but will they have the same grip as a £100 tyre when you're trying to stop from 70mph? I can see cars and tyres aren't really your thing, but it's something to think about next time around :)