Okay so my car went in the garage yesterday, because I thought it needed the tracking doing, as I fitted a new wheel in March and never had it done. The car was swerving when I accelerated and changed gear, and was really rather scary.

So. It goes in. When it's done, the guy tells me that it will still pull a little bit when braking, because a suspension bush needs replacing. It never pulled while braking before I took it to the garage though. Also, I had the suspension bushes done in March, as they were both f**ked, but the car never pulled before that.

The guy isn't fleecing me as all of this is being done for free. Oh and also, I thought having the tracking done would make the steering wheel straight, but it's still way off.

I'm so confused. The car is swerving so much when I brake from just 30mph that it's not safe to drive, and I have to do 60 miles a day every day this week.
Anyone know anything about cars?

zipp0r wrote:

depends how hard your braking and what road surface your on and what tyres your using, tho tbh it should only feel like its pulling left then right when braking and not actually do it severely. go into a car park and brake with no hands on the wheel and see what happens.

garages can be useless at centering the wheel, sucks, but gotta live with it tbh as they will never get it perfect. a place where they do laser tracking should be able to get it closer to centre btw.

Brake with no hands on the wheel, are ye crazy?! I'll have to see how I get on tomorrow, they don't have this part in yet anyway.

If the fact that the wheel isn't centred is irrelevant and doesn't mean that they haven't done it properly then I can live with that.

Checked your brake discs? if they were warped that could also be causing car to pull when braking.

If you had the suspension bushes changed in march, id assume the tracking wasn't done properly, can't imagine they'd have failed in 5 months unless they were damaged in an incident.

when he done the tracking he prob didnt have the steering wheel straight... also depends if ur car needs 4 wheel alighnment i no at volkswagon we have cars tht onli have 2 wheel alignment and we have cars tht have 4 wheel alignment... also the bushes tht were replaced what quality were they?? some perish real easily and may need re-placing with polyurethane bushes... which are higher grade than rubber bushes

also depends if u have drums or discs on ur car... if drums then possible shoes need replacing or the wheel cyclinder could have gone bust.... if discs then check the piston on the caliper as they can seize aswell...

As mentioned, brake without touching the wheel, in an empty space and see what happens.

If it has just had the tracking done and now has a braking imbalance then I would look at the brake pads. They should have more or less even wear - but if you've been driving for a while with the tracking out, it might've worn unevenly.

My car had an advisory on braking imbalance - changing the front pads solved it.

if it was down to the tracking you would feel the car trying to wander all the time and get slightly more severe under braking , what your describing sounds more likely to be a braking fault but slightly possible if 1 bush has failed done only one side of the suspension , if its always pullingto the same side , then the chances are the brakes are poor/faulty on the other side i.e. if the car pulls left , then the right brake aint working

if its actually turning the wheel in your hand (or trying to) then its almost definately the front brake (as these are also the wheels that steer) , best thing you can do is get in touch with an mot centre and get them to brake test your car on the rollers for performance and imbalance , this will show if the brakes are faulty and show you which one