front end mystery

[Kevin Collins <kevinc@flashcom.net>]

Looking for any theories anybody might have...

I just got my car back from the Potterman.  Over the last 4 months, virtually
EVERY wear item in the suspension has been replaced: new Bilstein Sports all
around, new Neuspeed bars f&r, new tie rods, new ball joints, new control
arms, new rear axle bushings, new strut bearings, new H&R springs.  Doesn't
leave much (if anything!), other than maybe something in the steering, which
always felt fine before I started replacing all this stuff.

Now that I have it back (last piece of the puzzle just done was the Bilsteins
and bars, other stuff was already on there) the suspension feels AWESOME, but
I now have a nasty wander in the front end.  I took it in to have it aligned,
the dude came back from test driving it and said that "it's gonna pull to the
right" and that there's nothing he could do about it, nor did he have any idea
what might be causing it.  He swapped the tires around and that made no
difference.  So I drove off, and didn't find that it was pulling either way,
at
first.  But it WAS very squirrely - it would want to veer in either direction, 
kinda on its own.  It will even do this at VERY low speeds, like sub-5mph in
parking lots.. the wheel just kinda tugs you over towards one side or
another.  On the freeway it feels pretty good, in fact you can let go of
the wheel and it generally stays pretty much on course.

I am putting new SP8000s on it next week - just ordered them today.  BTW, as
a side note, I was informed by America's Tire (retail arm of Discount Tire
Direct) that there are grand total of *8* of them in 195/50/15 left in the
country (which he said after getting off the phone with Dunlop, NOT his own
warehouse), and I just got half of 'em.  Apparently the rumors of the SP8000's
demise are true - it's being dropped in favor of a new 6000-series tire.  I 
have no idea if the tires will make any difference.  It now has P700Zs on 
it, which are in decent, evenly-worn shape in the front, though one of the
rears is more worn than the other (at least one was replaced as a single due
to a blowout by previous owner).  Anybody have any theories what could be
causing this?  Steering rack?  Some other mechanical item I didn't mention
that could be going bad???  It's SO close to perfection now, I just need
to get it tracking true and I'll be cookin' with Crisco!!  Any ideas most
appreciated.. Potterman is stumped at the moment.  Any of you SoCal boyz
are welcome to take it for a spin....


--
Kevin Collins
Huntington Beach, CA
'86.5 Scirocco 16V 2.0
'97 GTI VR6

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