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Steering issue?

CH2015GTI

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
Raleigh, NC, USA
I recently noticed that when I'm in stop and go traffic the steering seems to pull to the right when the engine revs. By this I mean if I'm on a road going 15 mph and I put the car in neutral or in gear and the engine revs up to lets say 2000 rpm, I can literally feel the steering pull to the right and or become very light. When the revs fall the steering goes back to the left and feels heavier. As I said, this occurs in gear and neutral so I don't think it's related to the shafts. Any ideas?

I recently hit a pothole and think I've bent at least one rim and probably messed with the alignment some but could a bum rim and alignment have such a weird effect dependant on engine speed? I've never noticed this until the past couple of weeks.
 

Lobster

Ready to race!
Location
Washington, DC
I'm confused - if you put your transmission in neutral, you're never accelerating via engine output. Do you mean the steering wheel just turns right whenever your engine cusps 2000 rpm?

The engine shouldn't affect steering output... Therefore you're likely out of alignment, specifically your toe measurement.

Still don't understand, though.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

CH2015GTI

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
Raleigh, NC, USA
I'm confused - if you put your transmission in neutral, you're never accelerating via engine output. Do you mean the steering wheel just turns right whenever your engine cusps 2000 rpm?

The engine shouldn't affect steering output... Therefore you're likely out of alignment, specifically your toe measurement.

Still don't understand, though.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Yes exactly. The engine revving shouldn't affect the steering at all, but it does. I first noticed this in stop and go traffic at approximately 10-15 mph. As I would let off the gas pedal, the steering would feel as if it was moving to the left. When I applied throttle the car would pull to the right some, but the steering became hard to pull back to the left to straighten out. I then did some further testing to realize the same thing happens when the car is NOT in gear, but I am moving and just rev the engine. I initially thought it was something with the diff malfunctioning and applying all power to one side, but with this occurring in neutral just by revving the engine I eliminated that.

At this point I'm not sure what is wrong. I took off two front rims and put them back on by hand making sure everything was adequately tightened to the same degree. It hasn't made any difference. I also didn't see any clear signs that a front rim is bent and I checked for play in swaybar links and everything felt tight. I'm starting to worry it's a bad mount that allows the engine to move so significantly it affects the steering angle. I have been trying to get my car in to the dealership for 7 days but they never called me back and each time I called them they said theyd call me that afternoon with an appointment time. Finally this morning I called and spoke to someone different and now have appointment tomorrow morning.

I'm not sure if the steering is engine speed sensitive and there's just some weird thing that makes steering get light at the certain revs or if it is a genuine mechanical failure. All I know is that the city I live in has agreed to pay for any damage as they failed to make a repair to a 4X6' chunk of missing pavement and didn't put up a sign or even stick a traffic cone in it.
 

CH2015GTI

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
Raleigh, NC, USA
Issue is still ongoing

I have had the car aligned 3 times now, bent rim replaced, reset steering angle sensor in VCDS, reset VAQ adaptations and nothing fixes this issue. I have had the dealership look for damaged or loose parts of suspension or steering, and they found nothing. I have taken the rims off the front and tried to shake the hub and sway bar end links but nothing seems to be loose. Does anyone have an idea of what could be causing my car to suddenly and randomly pull right (steering and wheels) at low speeds?

While driving in stop and go traffic or starting off and maybe going 25 mph my car's wheel starts to turn right and the car itself follows. The steering wheel feels as if something is physically pushing the wheels sideways and it becomes very difficult to straighten out as if the assistance suddenly cuts out. This is apparent only at low speed maneuvers, so its NOT torque steer. I've flashed my car back to stock and it still does it, so it's not something related to having "too much power" or anything of the such. Again, this is in light throttle applications. Any ideas for parts I may need to check? Car's alignment was fixed but this made no difference. Could some sensor be malfunctioning or need to be recalibrated? I'm just worried that I and the dealer have missed some mechanical defect and I will be going down the road and all of a sudden my wheel will go flying off or I'll lose steering or something. Since I can't find anything wrong and I have no codes to diagnose, what should I do? I have posted on VCDS forum for assistance with resetting a "yaw sensor" as someone in UK said their car became sloppy on the road and a quick dealer trip recalibrating the yaw sensors fixed their problem. I have no idea what yaw sensor they are referring to or how they even reset this, but if anyone has an idea I would really appreciate your help!

Thanks!
 
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