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Poor steering and veer


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Hi,

I'm trying to track down the cause of my steering problems. It is a G reg One Ten and I think I have more than one issue here. All bushes are yellow polybush and were fitted by previous owner. I have had the car for around 4 years now I think.

1) Firstly when I come off the accelerator the car veers slightly to the left and when I put on power, it veers slightly to the right.

2) The whole car sometimes feels as though it shimmies. I can be driving along and it feels as though it the back end has snaked gently. I won't have hit any pot holes or bumps.

3) If I do hit a pot hole or bump, I really feel it on the steering wheel.

I have so far replaced the drag link ball joint, put in a new damper, replaced one rear bearing and tightened up the other and this Saturday I am replacing the drop arm as the ball joint is knackered. The track rod ends are fairly new and don't look as though they have gone.

I have heard that issue 1) is caused by worn panhard bushes. I have had this picked up twice on an MOT and twice and I have replaced the bushes/bolts twice and now they are less than a year old. Could I have a worn mount instead and if so is welding a washer on the best move or are there other options?

Would replacing the rear radius arm bushes help with 2) or is this the A frame balljoint?

And what is causing number 3) ?

My actual steering is tight, I don't have any excessive play and I replaced the steering column lower UJ last year.

I have inspected all the bushes and can't see any excessive play in them but maybe I'm not beeing forceful enough and should pry them harder.

thanks for your help.

Heds

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Thanks for your replies.

I can't feel any shimmy through the steering wheel.

I will start with the radius arm & trailing bushes first before moving on to the dreaded A frame. Should I do the front first or the rear first? And if I go Genuine, do I need a press to get them in or are these all two part bushes? I can't remember off hand.

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Should I do the front first or the rear first? - it depends if it is coming from the front or back to determine which to do first, but I would replace all bushes front and rear to avoid missing the culprit. The genuine bushes are one part, and will either need to be pressed or drifted in. I know britpart do yellow polybushes as do another brand Flo Flex but I'm unsure of the quality of them both, but if they keep wearing out I'd consider fitting Genuine Bushes or Super Pro. Good luck with it hope you find the problem.

Also have you checked the swivel pins for excessive play?

Jack

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I had this swing-to-the-left-n-right-sort-of-pendulumial drive some months ago. I bought a set of superpro poly bushes and stripped the truck of all original (fake I suppose) bushes. Truck drives so straight I could drive 1 km without touching steering!!! All from panhard rod, A-frame radius arm, trailer arms.... :i-m_so_happy:

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Should I do the front first or the rear first? - it depends if it is coming from the front or back to determine which to do first, but I would replace all bushes front and rear to avoid missing the culprit. The genuine bushes are one part, and will either need to be pressed or drifted in. I know britpart do yellow polybushes as do another brand Flo Flex but I'm unsure of the quality of them both, but if they keep wearing out I'd consider fitting Genuine Bushes or Super Pro. Good luck with it hope you find the problem.

Also have you checked the swivel pins for excessive play?

The trouble is I can't tell if it is coming from the front or rear. It could be both. I think a Super Pro kit is in order and just change everything. I'm going to hopefully borrow some arms so I can have the bushes pressed at my leisure rather than taking a day off work and cycling to the garage with them strapped to my back as my wife & her car would be at work.

And no I haven't checked the swivel pins yet...

I had this swing-to-the-left-n-right-sort-of-pendulumial drive some months ago. I bought a set of superpro poly bushes and stripped the truck of all original (fake I suppose) bushes. Truck drives so straight I could drive 1 km without touching steering!!! All from panhard rod, A-frame radius arm, trailer arms.... :i-m_so_happy:

Sounds promising. A full kit and some pressing is in order.

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.....

All bushes are yellow polybush and were fitted by previous owner. I have had the car for around 4 years now I think.

....

.....

I think a Super Pro kit is in order and just change everything. I'm going to hopefully borrow some arms so I can have the bushes pressed at my leisure rather than taking a day off work and cycling to the garage with them strapped to my back as my wife & her car would be at work.

And no I haven't checked the swivel pins yet...

Sounds promising. A full kit and some pressing is in order.

If you have already have a full set of polybushes fitted and are going to replace them all with SuperPro bushes do you need to do any pressing? I thought they were all 2 part bushes, forgive me if I am mistaken

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I finally got round to sorting out exactly the same symptoms that I've put up with for months. Living in the sticks you don't notice it on our appalling roads but as soon as you are on a smooth road it feels like the back end is self steering on camber or lorry ruts

Apart from new cranked trailing arms and A frame ball joints about 18 months ago I was on all the original bushes.

I've just replaced all the front bushes and although none of them looked particularly worn I suspect they were all a bit soft. A couple of the radius arm bushes took 20T to start shifting ( a problem you wont have!) This has tightened the handling up considerably and I get little pothole feedback through the steering. There is still a touch of shimmy from the rear which has to be the top A frame bushes which I'll do shortly.

To be honest, if I was you I'd bite the bullet and change all your bushes. Some polybushes don't seem to last long so either use OEM bushes (I did) or Super Pro ones.

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