Technical tracking

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Technical tracking

On the flattest of roads, if I hold the steering wheel dead straight, it glides me over to the left and once I let go of the wheel, it goes back to the right.

This might sound a bit silly but would switching the two front wheels sound like a good plan? Then seeing if the car wants to pull left, rather than right.

Matt.
No - changing the wheels should make no difference to where the track arms are pointing. What you've described is as you've mentioned further up but maybe more clearly this time: with the road wheels pointing dead ahead, the steering wheel is offset slightly. The cure is to adjust the tracking again with the steering wheel absolutely dead level. But it rarely ends up 'perfect' (it may also be that the non-adjustable rear tracking is off slightly too, which can also affect everything...)
 
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Hi,

I'm wondering if I've cocked it up!! I counted the tie rod end turns before starting and it was 11 on either side. So no problem there (Also to add, I did not use ANY tracking apparatus. I just used my own judgement and going for short drives to correct any steering angles.

Now, the bit that I believe I cocked up! The offside front wheel (Passenger) appeared to toe out quite dramatically compared with the nearside front wheel. I started by extending the track on the o/s but this required TWO FULL TURNS to even look remotely straight. The n/s required a small amount of adjustment. Took it for a drive and the wheel aligned perfectly with no pull, drag, squeal from the tyres etc...

My only concern is the track on the n/s is longer by two rotations compared with the o/s. The steering wheel set up is great and the car mildly pulls left or right when on a road with a slight camber angle.

What do you think? Personally I'm thinking to reset it all (I did tipex it before I started, so that I could put it back to how it was in case I screwed it up!)

Matt.
 
Sounds like you're getting there.
If your tracking is spot on, the car should behave as you've just described and the steering wheel should be centrally aligned.
The only sure way is to measure the toe in/out, but if you're happy with the result so far, why not use the car for a few days and see how it drives. Check tyre wear carefully.
Although a rough and ready way is to count the exposed threads like you've done, if at some earlier time a non-oem track rod end has been fitted, the thread lengths could be non-standard. This means that your tracking could be correct even with uneven exposed thread lengths side to side - if you see what I mean.
 
Hi Sweetsixteen,

The Panda has a full FIAT service history and no reports were given about the track rod end being replaced. I was just a bit concerned about having to turn the track rod on the n/s twice, which to me seemed a bit drastic.

The steering wheel centres pretty much straight which is strange as I've become used to the wheel centralising far too much to the right.

I'll keep an eye on the tyres as I don't want excessive tyre wear, particularly as the tyres are only a year old. I have noticed, looking at the tyres today that the outer tread grooves are lower than the inner side, probably due to tracking although they've worn evenly.

Matt.
 
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