Knackered wheel and suspension is this the end of the road for my A3

[Vince70]

Over the last couple of days I started to notice that the steering on my car was acting rather strange (more strange than normal) in that I had to hold the steering wheel to the left to steer it in a straight line.

I always knew the car had taken a bang in the OSF wing as it had been badly repaired before I bought it but just put it down to the tracking being out but also when reversing this week started to get a grinding noise on full lock.

 

Then on the way home from working away today I got a terrible shake through the steering and was greeted to this.

 

 

 

 

The sidewall and alloy also look as bent as a banana so lucky for me I went on eBay and found the correct alloy with a brand new tyre on it for £44 delivered so I decided to put the spare on for now while waiting for the new wheel.

 

Now this is where the big problem is as when I fitted the spare I noticed that the gap between the wheel and strut is only about a cm and on the other side the gap is about 4/5cm also it looks like the wheel has been touching the inner wing as paint has worn off on it (I guess from when on full lock sometimes).

 

So would you think it's going to cost a fortune to fix..

I always thought the steering was rather heavy on this car and it also kind of jumps rather than grips when going around corners.

 

I'm not to optimistic about the outcome...

It's a shame really as its low mileage and the engine is a real gem.

[jonathan_dyane]

Second hand strut (possibly from a golf) and you're back in the game!

[MarvinsMom]

i'd be fixing it with some petrol, some matches and some fire, lovely lovely fire.

 

with luck it would just be the strut that is bent, but it could be more especially given how the wheel is rubbing on the inner wing. could be that the front end is all out of kilter making the car a real plonker....

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Yeah you might very well just need a new strut or suspension arm to sort that.

[Pillock]

That's similar to what Shitpeas had with the GTI, wasn't that just bolt on parts to fix?

[Bren]

Try a strut before condemning the car.

 

When the metal that it bolts to is bent it's time to worry....

[Jim Bell]

That's similar to what Shitpeas had with the GTI, wasn't that just bolt on parts to fix?

 

Yeah. I did bottom arm, strut and tie bar. Still dunno what was bent, but its right as rain now.  Surely its worth saving for the sake of a few cheap bits.  Or if you dont like it, frag it. Theres plenty more fish in the sea.

[skattrd]

mk4 golf type lower arm with bushes and balljoint is around £40 new from ecp/gsf, strut similar, plus fitting ...

Bottom arm is easy DIY, bolt on part, strut needs spring compressor which not everyone has access to

[dieselassist]

check that the shock'spring/strut hasn't 'slipped down the top bit on the hub carrier's 'clamped reviever' for the shock/strut; theres no stop on the strut body to stop the hub carrier 'slipping up the shock  - you basically just nip up t fugg the bolts on the hub carriers clapming ring n hope it says where it is- I had a tdi mk4 that the previous owner 'kissed the ditch' with n this was the damage... the wishbones looked well crusty so I just changed them out as I had a pair onhand in a box full of mk4 golf bits I bought for pennies...

...I had some hassle getting it tracked up right, but in the end loosenin off the subframe bolts n tappin it with a lump hammer this way n that got everything just within tolerances...

 

They are really soft cars mk4's - much less robust than mk3's; also have yr rear axle checked for straightness; they bend at the slightest knock...

[RoadworkUK]

Surely more likely to be making tyre contact with the top arm than the inner wing? If it's anything like the A4 there's approx one nano-gnatscock of clearance. Even a slightly bent strut could cause conflict.

[Vince70]

I've just got back from my local garage and the news is good as it looks like it just needs a top mount and wishbone arm and he did comment that there's an awful lot of play on that side.

 

So it looks like the old wheel and tyre must of taken most of the impact,

I did notice that the car did steer better than it's ever done with just driving on the old worn out spare while driving to the garage.

 

So it's booked in next Tuesday week

[Jim Bell]

Top work man.