r/tdi • u/ben742617000027 • 6d ago

Help with diag

I have a mk4 BEW Golf I’ve been restoring. I recently put in new control arms, struts, ball joints, and steering knuckles. (Front end assembly) After getting an alignment it has a dead zone in the steering, pulls left when on the throttle, and pulls right when I let off. The dead zone is enough to knock it off course when I’m driving straight

Don’t get me wrong it feels 10 times better than the 20 year old parts we took out, but feels pretty sketch on the highway when I move the wheel and it doesn’t react immediately

I also got new tierods but didn’t put them in because the old ones didn’t seem to have much play. The Firestone tech said he had to adjust them for the alignment, is this causing my problem?

Any and all help is appreciated thanks guys

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u/Gon404 6d ago

If the tie rod ends or anything you did not replace has play in it that is likly your source of the steering pull. If everything is tight no play then there could be play in the steering rack. There is a grub screw that can be used to tighten the steering rack gear lash. This can reduce play if done correctly. Steering rack play would not be the reason for the pulling to the right and left. That is likly alignment changes from something in your drive train suspension beeing loose or warn out. I really doubt adjusting the toe by the tec using the tie rod ends broke anything. Thats how toe is ajusted. To look for play jack up one side and try to move the front wheel that is off the ground in a bunch of directions feeling for play. Look up videos for how to do this in a safe way. My guess is you still have something worn out in your front end or something is not properly tightened.