Wheel allignment

[Trickytree1984]

Hi All,

I am having issues with the wheel alignment on my 61 plate roc. I had a very noisy front nearside after the winter and the tyres were not worn evenly. I also had steering wheel wobble under hard acceleration.

A new set of fronts was required after 16,500 miles due to the uneven wear. I had the front tracking done at the same time. I then had an issue that the steering wheel was not straight. The wheel had to be pointed to the 1 o'clock position to drive in a straight line, although it was not "pulling" right. I took it back to halfrauds who re-did the alignment. Its now better but still has to be pointed to 5 past the hour position to drive straight. The noise from the front has gone, but the wobble is still there (albeit a lots less). They insist the alignment is bob on.

I have now noticed a noise from the nearside rear, like the bearing is gone. Could this all be down to rear alignment? If so, what are the chances VW will fix this under warranty?

My first service is about 1k miles away, and i am going to book in early to get VW to check it out. If they do charge me, does anyone know how much this could cost?

Thanks in advance.

[salsajoe]

Front tyre wear - centre wearing more than the edges is a common roc fault if that was the problem - looks like over-inflation. Some people run the front pressure slightly less than VW recommendations to compensate. When the front alignment was reset they should have made sure the steering wheel was centred so if it was recent then take it back for them to finish the job!! The rear noise sounding like a wheel bearing is probably tyre wear. The inside edge gets a sawtooth profile which you can feel if you run your hand around the tyre. Again a common roc problem. When fitting new tyres it is sensible to get a 4 wheel laser alignment check which not only checks toeing but also all other steering angles front and rear.

[mikealpha60]

Sounds like another case of poor wheel balancing regards your wobble under acceleration. Most garages can only do static balancing which doesn't accurately deal with certain forces which act in the wheel at speed... Apparently larger alloys are more susceptible to this. No matter what smaller garages do their equipment under static balancing will always show it s being bang on but dynamic balancing shows a different story and can require 2 weights to resolve the issue.

Also Scirocco alignment i believe from factory is set for enthusiastic driving and wears the tyres out funny due to the camber. It means you end up with the sore tooth/shark fining profile on the inside edge of the tyres which can cause a rumble at high speeds. I was recommended to rotate the tyres every so often to reduce the effects of this ut can't say i've really noticed it so far. You can always get the alignment set to comply with normal road driving but then it would probaly not be enjoyable to drive.

[Trickytree1984]

I have checked and I have the sawtooth effect on the rears. I will probably leave the set up because I like to throw it into the corners every now and then.

I have been back to halfrauds twice to get them to centre the wheel. It's still slightly off. I will ask vw the check the 4 wheels align as i only had the fronts done when they were changed. It depends of much they want to charge really