floating steering
 

had a 75 tourer yesterday but driving home I felt like it had floaty steering and what sort of worried me most was when I went over a bump the whole car felt like it moved to the right then went back...anyone any ideas what could be wrong and more importantly is it gonna cost a 2nd mortgage to put right

I had something much the same a little while back, turned out that my front nearside tyre had a bulge on the inside.
Most likely caused by all the pot holes in the roads:eek:

Check for a broken spring. Normally steering issues are caused by worn steering components (bushes track rods etc.) But on our cars, broken springs are quite common. I had the same symptoms on an old Passat. It would slide quite suddenly on the wet, quite scary at times, I knew the shocks were heavily worn, but I didnt know a spring had snapped too!

may be any of these or a combination (or something else).
I would jack the front end up, put her on stands and have the wheels off to look for play or damage in theses...

Coil springs
bottom ball joints
track rod ends
Steering rack inner tie rods
Middle wishbone ball joint
Wishbone rear mount
strut top bush (mount)
Strut top bearing

Wheels out of alignment - this is a common symptom on our cars.

And I'm talking 4-Wheel Alignment here.

thanks for the advice...I was hoping it could be this,just need to have it sorted.

thanks..i am going to have the wheel alignment done and hope its just that..but I will keep this advice in mind if its not the wheels

I am not sure if this is the same issue, but my car has developed a strange floating/drifting habit.

I have had the car since new, so I know that it is not as it should be. The car has always handled very well, but now there is that slightly rubbery feeling that takes the confidence out of cornering and causes a bit of drift if you are braking heavily.

There are absolutely no knocks or bumps from the steering or suspension.

So far I have replaced the steering rack (with brand new) and steering column (brand new), checked all the joints for wear, fitted poly-bushes, had 4-wheel alignment checked and replaced the tyres (went back to Continentals). A couple of years ago I had to replace the front struts, so the upper bearings are fairly new.

Each of the replacements made a tiny improvement, but the biggest improvement was to replace the tyres as it eliminated a very aggressive torque-steer (especially when you were overtaking).

The MOT station could not find any issues either.

I think that the only thing left is to replace the sub frame bushes.

By the way - it is still a very nice car to drive!

Springs getting tired?

New fronts with the struts and that was followed by new rear springs (because one had broken the end loop - it had been like that for 5 years). So they are about 3 years old max.