Hey Panda-Fellas,

bought a used Panda and it's all well and great; 1.1 V8 Active, small and lovely wee car. However, when I am on a motorway at about and beyond 75km/h the car has a slight tendency to not go just straight ahead, but a little left-ish(sorry, no a native english speaker).

Friend of mine said that sometimes happens if the previous owner hit the curb too hard so it makes the steering to be a little bit off center.

Strangely enough it's all good at slow speedies.

Anyone had a similar experience?
Any experience in terms of monies for having it fixed by a mechanic?

Cheers,
Dan

Hi Dan,

Some say that the rule of thumb to decide what causes is wear on ball joints and the like or tracking.

Looking at your front tyre wear will give you some indication of the problem.
If tracking is suspected, like wear on outside or the inside of the tyre, it could be a tracking issue.
If you find that while driving the panda along the motorway, and when it is safe to do so, clutch your pedal to the floor. At this point, see if you notice the pull to the left is less prevalent. Then release the clutch pedal and drive as normal. If there is a difference, then its wear on steering or suspension components.If there is no difference, its down to tracking.
The theory behind it is, under load, components get pulled into certain positions, if there is wear.
Check your tyres for wear. Check the suspension components. Check your track rod ends for movement. Check your drop links as well. This would rule out possible causes of your car pulling to the left.
Nearly forgot to mention it, car by their nature will pull to the left by their manufacturers, its asafety issue, just in case you fall asleep at the wheel. Hit the ditch instead of an oncoming car.
Hope this might help you out.
John.

There are similar threads on here.
It seems to be a bit of a 'characteristic'. If the tracking is out, or there are any other issues with the suspension it'll be worse, but with everything as good as it can be, it'll probably still pull a little.
Quite likely the bodyshell is not quite accurate, with manufacturing standards so good these days, they probably are all like it. not quite perfect, but all exactly the same.

Worth taking it to your local tyre shop and asking them if they think aligning it can help. They will then likely any tyre balding (as mentioned above) if they notice it - this is how I discovered I was subject to those issues mentioned above. Fixed the issue for me, though I did need a new tyre as the worn one was almost dangerous!

Thanks for all the responses so far. I wouldn't be able to take tyre wear into consideration as they're all new(less than 500km on them).

So I guess I'll check with a mechanic - just to be sure. Also, murfman, thanks for your advice - I'll check that out

If the tyre pressures are different on one side to the other, it can also cause pulling. Check your tyre pressures all round.