As the title suggests I am a noob to this forum and VW ownership in general. I have just bought myself my first Vee-Dub after going for Ford's, Peugeot's etc but picked this up pretty cheap. However she has a couple of problems!

First of all it's a '99 model without power steering, it's the pov-spec Polo 1.0 L...Though I have driven shitloads of cars without power steering this one really takes the biscuit the steering is extremely heavy, I have adjusted the pressures with little or no effect on the steering at all it doesn't seem too heavy on right handers but left handers it is extremely heavy...

Another problem is the brakes which I was assured had been repaired although I find them quite spongy and they seem to grumble or grind when braking...

Any ideas with the above problems?

Strange that its heavy, has it got the standard width tyres on it? that could make it heavier to turn. (I've got a mk2 Saxo with no power steering and while heavier going than the mk3 polo its not noticeably so)

As for brakes what was repaired on them?

Think they be standard tyres...they're very narrow wheels and tyres I know that much!

As for what was repaired I aint totally sure!

A thing to check would be the suspension top mounts, on one of my last polo's I had no pas and the steering was rock solid too, it turned out my strut top mount bearings had collapsed, they only cost me about £15 and took about 20 mins to replace (at my work with bench spring compressor.)

to check if they are tight/faulty jack the car up and remove the wheel, then the 2 bolts from the lower part of the shock and pull the hub out of the way, try spinning the shock and if it seems like quite a bit of resistance, the chances are they have collapsed,

if not, it could also be the lower ball joints.. but as a last resort I have a complete pas setup for your model polo so PM me if interested.

Hope this helps.

Rob

Not sure if it's of any use in helping diagnose the problem but on the MOT sheet I got with it the advisory notices that are on there are:

001: Nearside front suspension has slight movement at a wishbone pin or bush

002: Offside front suspension has slight movement at a wishbone pin or bush

There is a few others but not relating to the front end could these be factors?

Anybody?

That wouldn't cause any issues relating to heavy steering.

That wouldn't cause any issues relating to heavy steering.

Lower arm pin being caked in shit from a split bush would cause heavier steering, hardly noticeable mind.