General 1997 Punto SX Steering is off...

[davemuzza]

Hi,

I was forced off the road a week ago by a maniac in a Citroen and hit a kerb. It took a chunk out of my tire and bent my rim. I got a new (second hand) wheel and fitted it. Then had the tracking done. Twice!

Car is still pulling slightly to the left. I have swapped the new wheel around the car but always pulling slightly to the left, and the steering wheel does not return to the centre when i turn left. When I turn right, it returns as normal, but when it turns to the left it will only return to about a quarter of a turn to the left of centre and stays there. So any uneven road I go over and it will turn left a bit and stay there.

I have an MOT coming up and so if it's going to cost loads to fix and then I have to pay for the MOT it wouldn't be worth the expense, but I'd really love to just get it back to normal and carry on with it because I can't really afford a new car!

Thanks for any advice you can give me.

Dave

 

[Mdeko]

Firstly are your tyre pressures correct?, if the front left is low it will cause it to pull to the left.

If they are it sounds either like the tracking (even though you have had it done, did they actually put it on a machine to check it? and give you a print out? Ive had to nag and nag some places to put it on the tracking checking machine, they sometimes just look at it and say "yeh its ok")

or something has been bent/broken when you hit the curb.

 

[davemuzza]

Thanks for replying Mdeko. Definitely not the tyre pressure, I checked that when I put the new wheel on and again after ATS 'fixed' the tracking.

They locked the steering wheel and then put equipment (like a cradle?!) on each wheel and fiddled around with it. When I took it back and told them it was still pulling to the left they did the same again. My girlfriend took it back again this morning and they say it is definitely not the tracking - they didn't give me a printout though, what would this show me?

If it isn't the tracking, what could it be?

Thanks again

Dave