Possible causes of rear steering effect

[Rosssco]

Folks,

I'm just getting my Rev 4 back on the road after sitting for around a year. All seems pretty decent, but it's suffering from a fairly bad case of 'rear steer' where the car will pull to the left when travelling in a straight line..

I had the garage do a full alignment check, but this has had little effect. My next obvious port of call would be the rear brakes, as if the passenger rear was dragging (doesn't feel like it though) this would produce the yaw effect I'm experiencing. I presume things like dampers / uneven tyre wear would not produce as dramatic an effect at low speeds(20-30 mph)

Any other possible causes? My mind skids to potential scienarios of the diff having duffed up, but the car hasn't been moving much

Cheers,
Ross

[PFrazier]

Check your rear ball joints

[alanmilton]

wow, I have the same! I have just changed the engine, the back steps out, more when over humps. I have had he 4 wheel alinement done and yes two was out fixedbut it still is the same. antiroll bar?? not sure,

[Peter Gidden]

For starters, check rear ball joints, control arm-to-chassis bolts, rear tie bars and rear strut bars.

[alanmilton]

thank you for getting back, would a MOT pick it up, as the car had 2 due to a problem, I would have thought that would have found the problem? with regards to the ball joints what am I looking for? alot of play? thank you

[Peter Gidden]

A good MOT tester would find a bolt not fully seated, but depends on the tester.

Most ball joint issues can be found by jacking car up and levering the ball joint up and down whilst feeling the ball joint. However we've found play in ball joints which felt fine using that test, and the play only became apparent when we removed the bolts from the ball joint-to-hub and moved the ball joint by hand.

[alanmilton]

I will do, thank you and I will get back with my findings. alan

[RyanRs]

jack up the car, hold the wheel at 12:30 and give it a wobble, if does not wobble then try at 09:15, if Does wobble then i would point your attention toward the spherical bearing in the hub. this seems to be a common failure and its turned out to be the cause of my steering issue (after months of trying to figure it out!)

You need to press out the old bearing and press in one from twosrus.com (iirc)

[Rosssco]

jack up the car, hold the wheel at 12:30 and give it a wobble, if does not wobble then try at 09:15, if Does wobble then i would point your attention toward the spherical bearing in the hub. this seems to be a common failure and its turned out to be the cause of my steering issue (after months of trying to figure it out!)

You need to press out the old bearing and press in one from twosrus.com (iirc)

I tried it at Midnight and couldn't see a thing...

Well, I just put my car through it MOT (failed and the handbrake cable ) and they didnt highlight anything when I asked them to look, although and MOT will only highlight anything obviously wrong. I then asked the garage to do an alignment check and adjust, but this has made no real difference. Its going into another garage on Thursday to check the alignment settings again, and to investigate...

I changed the struts / springs, but didnt touch any other suspension component other than the front drivers steering arm (to remove the hub). The car did sit in the air with the rear suspension hanging for a while (couple weeks) while I sorted some parts, and obviously the ball-joints sit at an extreme angle during this, so I wonder if this has had an effect..

I'll report back also as to what happens!

[Peter Gidden]

the ball-joints sit at an extreme angle during this, so I wonder if this has had an effect..

No need to worry at all

[Rosssco]

the ball-joints sit at an extreme angle during this, so I wonder if this has had an effect..

No need to worry at all

Thanks Peter that's good to know..