Hi,

This is a very clear symptom now I've done some careful observations. On a straight road with foot off the accelerator it pulls very very slightly to the left, not enough to really mention if that was the only issue.

When I apply power gently then at a certain point it pulls (steers) to the right, enough that the top of the steering wheel has to be moved around 1-1.5" to keep the car straight. This happens with only quite gentle power, and accelerating harder doesn't increase the effect.

Lifting my foot off slowly then just before the power is off complete, the car steers back to the left, and the wheel needs to move back that 1-1.5". Again, harder deceleration or braking does not make it pull any further to the left.

Driving along gently is very weird as you keep passing through this point giving a very imprecise and queasy feeling as if the car was being affect by cross winds.

The odd thing is that it's gone through MOT with this issue, and nothing was picked up. At that time I though it might be uneven tyres but since then the fronts have been changed and are a match.

Any ideas? It seems to me that with that very clear symptom it ought to be possible to narrow down the cause somehow.

Thanks, Tony S ----------
Tony S

Have you had the tracking checked ? Tyre rotation may help ? It’s a strange one.

This could be caused by multiple things, all not good. I'd take it to a trusted shop for diagnosis ASAP.

Plus one for tracking.
MoT doesn’t cover this as far as I am aware. The only time it would be mentioned is if there was uneven tyre wear.
Odd that when the new tyres were fitted they didn’t check tracking. That’s usually free. It’s the adjustment that costs money.

Hi, I would have a look at the Lower Arm bushes, especially the rear bush, as it comes apart at high mileage. I have recently replaced one with an OE type as some of the cheaper ones do not have the Hydraulic bush them. I had a Triumph Dolomite in the early eighties that did this feature, and it was the inner lower arm bushes on that, both sides. A failing rear differencial does a similar thing. I have just had to do both the rear diff, and bevel box on my 2009 TD4, caused apparently by a sticking Hand Brake two years ago. £2300 worth of work.

This is also called ''torque steer'', you can look it up in web. I had the same exact problem a few weeks ago. First I checked all the bushings, and all of them were OK. Then I checked the tyre pressure, all was fine. Took it to wheel alignment, didn't solve the issue. I was pretty much out of options, but then I checked if all the bolts were tightened, and it turned out that one of bolts for right control arm was very loose. Tightened it up, and hey - problem solved.

Jagracer wrote:

Hi, I would have a look at the Lower Arm bushes, especially the rear bush, as it comes apart at high mileage. I have recently replaced one with an OE type as some of the cheaper ones do not have the Hydraulic bush them. I had a Triumph Dolomite in the early eighties that did this feature, and it was the inner lower arm bushes on that, both sides. A failing rear differencial does a similar thing. I have just had to do both the rear diff, and bevel box on my 2009 TD4, caused apparently by a sticking Hand Brake two years ago. £2300 worth of work.

Thanks for all the comments. For some reason the notification went into my spam so I've only just had a chance to review.

So in no particular order. Tracking hasn't actually been checked recently so that is an obvious one.

Tyres have been changed around - I did once have a vaguely similar issue which reversed when I swapped right and left front tyres, those were non matching tyres and it was resolved by moving the odd tyre to the rear. This issue doesn't change, and the tyres are the same type, same age and virtually same amount of wear.

I don't think it's torque steer as normally defined, because the effect doesn't become any more pronounced with hard acceleration compared to gentle. It kicks in with gentle power and doesn't get any worse. It's an on/off effect.

I need to check out the control arms and other joints mentioned. It's hard to see how it could be anything to do with the back wheels, but I guess anything's possible.

Thanks, again. ----------
Tony S