Hi All,

This week I picked up my new (to me) 2014 SDV8 AB and it's spectacular. However, now that I've lived with it for a couple of days I've noticed what feels like an issue with the steering / tracking and I'm looking for a little advice.

The problem seems to be somewhat intermittent, but these are the symptoms I'm experiencing:

- Sometimes there is a pretty significant pull to the right in the steering, significant enough that a reasonable about of force has to be applied to the left to prevent you drifting out of the lane. This doesn't seem to be linked to a particular speed or road surface, and it is definitely definitely not present all the time. It will happen for a short time and then 30 seconds later at the same speed there is no pull at all, hands off the wheel and it's straight as an arrow.

- "unusual" steering weight. Sometimes the steering feels nice and light and at other times it feels really quite heavy, not to the point where there is no power steering or anything approaching that, but definitely heavier. Sometimes it feels like I can drive with my fingertips and at other times the steering seems to weight up and almost fight me.

There are definitely moments when none of the above are present and it feels brilliant, but there are times when it feels like something is definitely "wrong". Due to the inconsistencies I'm having trouble putting my finger on what might be causing it.

Tyres are all pirelli scorpion verde's with 5-7mm of tread. Ranging from 1218 to 0822 in age. I know the car did very little mileage in the 12 months before I bought it so initially I was thinking flat spots but not sure if that accounts for the issues I'm experiencing. I'm also getting no vibration through the steering wheel which in my mind makes flat spots unlikely.

Any advice or recommendations? Can anyone think of anything else that I could do to troubleshoot the issue and try to narrow down the problem?

Thanks,
F

Flat spots / uneveness would as you say come through as vibrations. Rear vibrations you would feel through the seat. Front through the steering wheel in your hands. Normally when you are steering gentle bends / changes of direction either side of straight ahead, you'll feel shimmy in the steering wheel.

Beyond that, it could be a number of things.

Alignment - doesn't take much for it to be out. Depending on DIY inclined you are, you can check this yourself to an extent. Jump to 24:45 to see an easy driveway method of checking if your miles out.



If you have a good eye, you can do it by eye too somewhat.


Bushes - cambers of roads can lean the car on its bushes as it goes along, which if worn badly can affect the geometry of the suspension such that the alignment goes out slightly ... but then when the road and suspension changes, it goes back into alignment ? I had this on a mini once ... everything looked ok bushes wise, but when cresting either side of the camber in the road, it would pull to either side when holding the wheel straight. New bushes completely eliminated the issue.


Less likely: Steering angle sensors ... the steering has a hall-effect sensor in it and the car does all sorts of adjustments to the steering without you knowing about it. The workshop manual describes the operation. Is it possible that its adjustments are being noticed. V8 or else ...

Cheers for your reply, all very useful and interesting.

I drove it again this morning and it didn't seem as pronounced as last time, there are definitely points where it just feels a little bit "off" but like you say it doesn't take much from an alignment perspective to cause that, and I am driving on some fairly rough country roads which might be making it feel worse than it is.

Interesting about the steering angle sensor, but I presume that would be throwing codes if something wasn't working correctly and I definitely don't have any steering angle sensor codes at the moment.

I think I'll get it booked in somewhere that can give it a general once over and have a good look at the tyres and alignment all at the same time and just see if anything is obviously out of whack and go from there.

Fingers crossed it will be something nice and simple to fix!