Audi 80 play in offside front wheel - not wheel bearing.

[barkersbenjamin]

Hello hello,

From driving my Audi 80 you can quickly feel the offside front wheel being loose and wandering at low speeds. After recently having the car fitted with new anti-roll bar links and outer tie rod ends I took the vehicle in for a wheel alignment where I was shown the excessive play in the left wheel. 

The garage has suggested a worn inner tie rod or potentially steering rack issue...

I'm dubious at how this play was not realised/mentioned during the MOT or work done just one week before? Or how such play could be developed in just a week? 

Can anyone help?!? 

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1993 Audi 80 Avant

2.6l V6, Automatic

[Magnet]

Hello Ben,

Sorry to hear of your issue. 

Perhaps a couple of explanatory comments:-

Such play/wear is unlikely to occur in a week. Detection of all issues, or potential issues at a MOT station cannot be taken for granted. Things are missed or even considered not worth of comment. Garages carrying out replacement of specific components cannot be relied upon to inspect, leave alone assess wear, in other components. It very much depends on what they are specifically asked to do, compared with what may appear to be a common sense approach to associated components. Good MOT stations, good garages, reliable in depth inspections? Ideal world yes, in reality - questionable. 

Anyway to move forward:- excessive ( in caps)  play at a particular wheel should be account for by a specific fault. OK, possibly rack or inner rack joint is a possible, but are they confirming this? You would need some fair degree of wear to account for the wheel movement you describe. My first port of call would be to check for any the wheel bearing movement, by jacking the car up securely and attempting to move/rock the wheel ‘in and out’ at the 12 and 6 o clock positions. I.e. push in at 12 while pulling out at 6 ,or vice versa. If you find play here, then hold your foot on the brake while someone checks again. No movement at this second tests would suggest wheel bearing issues. Free movement at 9/3 o’clock suggests steering wear. 

Perhaps you could come back to us at this stage. 

Kind regards,

Gareth. 

[barkersbenjamin]

Hello Gareth,

Thank you very much for your time on this response and apologies for the slow reply.

After using a local garage the issue was quickly identified as something as simple as the nut below (number 4) being loose. I'd suspect this could've been worked loose at an accelerated rate due to the poor wheel alignment and a long high-speed drive. 

Thanks again.