steering strangely light - advice?

[eddiew]

Hey peeps,

Seeing as we have a motors section I might as well ask this here

TLDR:
- new tyres (conti sport contact 5) at the end of november, along with annual service
- got a puncture around 5th jan when some idiot forced me up a kerb at speed because apparently that dashed white line was his turf (screw in tyre from roadside debris, impact wasn't that bad)
- replacement fitted, same type, obviously almost the same age

Since then, the steering has felt unusually light. Dints and bumps in the road seem to twitch the steering wheel more than before, and there's a regular sense that I've just gone onto ice and it might slide away.

Despite this, road holding is actually fine, it has yet to slip, and if I let go of the wheel on a good level road, it doesn't pull to the side. There's no clunks or bumps in the steering, it's just... easily persuaded from both ends. In my mind, it used to be more resistant to letting the road push back at me.

Have checked...
- tyre pressure; all equal at around 30
- power steering fluid; filled to the -max- marker

Any thoughts? I'm a complete ignoramus with cars and I suspect its something to take to the garage, but curious to know what would make it feel like this. I'd have expected any failure in the mechanism to make it heavier, not lighter...

Thanks!

 

[Akagi]

First off, did you get the tracking and alignment done following this? If it was bad enough to trash a tyre, it much have been enough of a whack to make a few things go slightly out of adjustment I would have thought.

If you have the same problems after that then obviously its something else, but I'd do that first.

 

[Armageus]

Probably worth getting the alignment checked (especially if you can take it to a tyre place etc that does free checks)

Are they the same tyres you had pre November? Obviously if you had different brand before they may feel slightly different

Weather has been reasonably bad since November, so can be difficult sometimes to differentiate between wet/greasy roads causing different "feel" and an actual issue

 

[eddiew]

First off, did you get the tracking and alignment done following this? If it was bad enough to trash a tyre, it much have been enough of a whack to make a few things go slightly out of adjustment I would have thought.

If you have the same problems after that then obviously its something else, but I'd do that first.

Sorry, should have been clearer; the puncture was from a screw that I assume was in the gutter debris. Tyre was flat the next morning, but was 'fine' driving the last 2 miles home.

That said I haven't had the tracking done, no. I'll get it to the garage and see if they can solve it

 

[eddiew]

Probably worth getting the alignment checked (especially if you can take it to a tyre place etc that does free checks)

Are they the same tyres you had pre November? Obviously if you had different brand before they may feel slightly different

Weather has been reasonably bad since November, so can be difficult sometimes to differentiate between wet/greasy roads causing different "feel" and an actual issue

I had conti sport contact 2 before, so I'd hope they were pretty similar ^^; Admittedly they were 4 years old, so it is possible I'm just feeling the difference... but I'm 90% sure it started with the bump, not the service.

Trying not to be the idiot who takes a car in for a fault that's not a fault

 

[Akagi]

Ah ok. I made an assumption because you said you got forced up a curb at speed.

Still worth getting it done, for the sake of the £20~ that some places charge.

 

[tom_e]

Weather has been reasonably bad since November, so can be difficult sometimes to differentiate between wet/greasy roads causing different "feel" and an actual issue

I'd say there's quite a good chance of this combined with it now being a bit of a mental thing.

Up until the start of this week the roads have been greasy, salty and very slippery even when it's been far too warm for ice. I notice this a lot more due to being on a bike but it gives a similar vague feeling even though the tyres aren't actually letting go.

 

[eddiew]

Up until the start of this week the roads have been greasy, salty and very slippery even when it's been far too warm for ice. I notice this a lot more due to being on a bike but it gives a similar vague feeling even though the tyres aren't actually letting go.

Yeah, basically I'm worried I've just gotten super-sensitive to everything related to steering/traction since getting about 100m down a steep slope on a total flat before realising what was up. Luckily I always carry a footpump and it bought me enough time to turn around and go back home until the AA guy could fetch and fit a new tyre (on a side note, that's a really useful service)

In the end, it's not getting worse; I could just let it sit for a couple of weeks and see if the february rain washes the roads clean Worst case the alignment's out and I lose a bit of fuel economy until it's fixed?

 

[Lumeycom]

worst case is you wreck the tyres and/or have an accident as your car tramlines etc.

Go get it checked, its free.

I'd take a punt that its toe'ing out

 

[eddiew]

Well, the annoying steering saga continues... Took it to the garage at 9am. They ignored it until 5pm when they gave it a quick run and said it feels all right, but they'll look again in the morning.

Guess I can at least insist they do the alignment/tracking, but for goodness sake what is it with garages and leaving investigations until it's too late to actually do any work?

 

[mrk]

Wait, so they just took it for a drive and didn't do the alignment check, and are now going to do it tomorrow?

I hope they are not charging you labour for the massive waste of time thus far?

It will almost certainly be an tracking issue, usually when one wheel is in disagreement with the opposite end's alignment.

 

[eddiew]

Well, turns out the front left was toeing out by 2 degrees - not surprising, since that's the one that hit the kerb. Now fixed and on the whole feeling better to drive, with more tendency to come back to centre.

On the other hand, it's still tending to turn into a corner when it's close to full-lock, such that it turns tighter rather than straightening up. Not really a problem, since the only time that's going to happen is when parking or 3-point turning, but certainly a bit annoying. Would quite like to know why that's happening...

And fortunately no, no labour costs beyond the usual for a wheel alignment. No idea why they took so long yesterday to actually look at the thing... not super keen to go back to that garage, tbh. They usually know their stuff, but their admin is poor and they've twice turned a one-day job into an overnight stay :/