Tracking Issues

What could cause a car to be a bugger to track/keep tracked?

I must have had my car tracked 3 times now and it just wont stay I initially thought it was because of my top mounts being set up wrong, but it's happened since

Could it be the track rod ends? what else could it be and what's worth/cheap to change while doing the track rod ends?

cheers

worn steering rack?

Tiz wrote:

worn steering rack?

How can I tell if its this? Also, would this make 1 wheel stick out slightly further than the other?

The guy at the garage who tracked the car said it's very, very stiff to track and he needs to heat it no end to make it budge - how can i fix this?

Ashley wrote:

Tiz wrote:

worn steering rack?

How can I tell if its this? Also, would this make 1 wheel stick out slightly further than the other?

The guy at the garage who tracked the car said it's very, very stiff to track and he needs to heat it no end to make it budge - how can i fix this?

with regards to your wheel sticking out further on one side, dont even know if this is possible but there isnt any chance at some point its needed a wishbone and somebodys put a wider track gti one is there? That would probably make it painful to track as well. With the heating he probably mean the trackrod ends were well seized onto the trackrods.

for rack wear shake the wheel a little bit and see if there is any play ie can you turn the wheel a little bit each way and the wheels not move at all.

If all that seems fine, try 2 whole new track rods, not a great deal more expensive than just track rod ends but worth it a lot, they normally come with new trackrod ends on them too... bonus

Tiz wrote:

with regards to your wheel sticking out further on one side, dont even know if this is possible but there isnt any chance at some point its needed a wishbone and somebodys put a wider track gti one is there? That would probably make it painful to track as well.

OK for the wishbones, are there different lengths for different models?
I'll go and measure them in a moment to seem, but that makes sense.

Tiz wrote:

With the heating he probably mean the trackrod ends were well seized onto the trackrods.

I think he did mean that yeah, he said about getting the whole lot off, doing something then putting it all back on and it should be fine

Tiz wrote:

for rack wear shake the wheel a little bit and see if there is any play ie can you turn the wheel a little bit each way and the wheels not move at all.

Pretty sure my car does this :( Is it difficult to fix?

Tiz wrote:

If all that seems fine, try 2 whole new track rods, not a great deal more expensive than just track rod ends but worth it a lot, they normally come with new trackrod ends on them too... bonus

Could it also be the sub frame is off center, or can it only be central when putting it on?

cheers for the help Tom :bounce: