When driving your vehicle regularly, you’ll get used to the way in which it runs, so when something starts to feel different, its highly likely you’ll pick up on it. This includes your steering. Over time, our cars can experience faults which may affect the steering of your vehicle, and this is something that you should flag up with your local mechanic, allowing it to be professionally assessed and repaired.
So, how can you identify a steering fault? What would it feel like, what could have caused it and can it be prevented? Let’s take a look.
Loose steering
There are three main symptoms of loose steering which will be fairly evident whilst driving. These include your steering wheel ‘overturning’ when you take on a bend in the road, an unstable steering wheel which moves on its own accord whilst driving at a relatively high speed or the presence of a knocking or clunking sound when hitting a bump in the road.
Each of these signs and symptoms can be caused by:
- The linkages connecting your steering box, rack or pinion that join the steering wheel to the steering column that may be worn.
- A fault with the linkages that connect your vehicles steering box to its front two wheels.
- A defect with the vehicles front suspension.
If you experience any of these signs whilst driving, waste no time in booking your vehicle in for an inspection. With a host of repair options, your mechanic will be able to find the ideal solution that allows you to return to safe driving once you leave the forecourt.
Heavy steering
Whilst there may be many causes for heavy steering, the issue has only one main symptom, and that is your steering wheel becoming stiff or difficult to turn, resulting in more strength from you to operate your vehicle safely.
With a host of triggering issues, the most common include:
- Incorrect wheel alignment, causing your tyres to wear unevenly which could result in pulling and heavy steering.
- Incorrect fluid oil, whether this be lack of or overly thick substance due to a build-up of debris overtime, your system could struggle to become lubricated efficiently, causing heavy steering at low speeds.
- Irregular vehicle servicing could allow an underlying issue to become increasingly present as time passes by.
The common causes indicate that may be simpler to prevent heavy steering issues, over loose steering issues, but these faults can often occur without any indication or through no fault of our own. As well as arranging annual servicing inspections for your vehicle, your local mechanic will be happy to assess your vehicle at any point throughout the year, providing you with the confidence that your car is safe, with any issues repaired effectively.
If you suspect that your vehicles steering is faulty, get in touch with our team at Bromley Vehicle Test Centre who are on hand with expert knowledge to advise and repair your vehicles steering fault, keeping you safe on the road. Give us a call on 020 8460 6666 and we will be happy to help you.
