Steering rack OEM Volkswagen or ZF

I had my pressure hose go out, then the rack go in a similar situation to you (a little leak turned into a blown out rack). go get a zf rack, and replace the hose (sadly, they both cost about the same, and it's not cheap). i've been running solid since then.

Wow, adjusting the steering rack tension made a huge difference, car feels way more responsive now.

Most VR6s came with a ZF brand steering rack which uses different length tierods than ABA engined cars which mostly came with TRW steering racks.

Just swapped an r32 rack into my GLI. so awesome, totally notice a difference right away.

I have a r32 rack in my 2000 NB. I will never ever drive a mk4 without one. Yes it makes all the difference in the world.

I've had the R32 rack for a few years and love it. Granted I did a full blown hybrid suspension swap when it was installed but I think it feels great. Overall turn-in response is sharp and responsive, my mk4 feels almost mk2 go-kart like.

I gotta say that I like the feel of the rack more now than I ever have.

Yes I installed it a good 6 months ago. The rack did reduce lock to lock. I do enjoy the difference, but I could live with the stock rack.

YES my car does this also, it started at about 12,500 miles. My car is a 2017 4-motion S sportwagen, mine is so bad that you can duplicate it when the car is stopped or when it is driving.

There's a couple reasons I've found by taking one apart that failed within a year. I've never been happy with the steering response from a re-man. I found the center wear between the rack and pinion gears to be almost laughable. There was an eighth of an inch of slop between the teeth. That's why I could move the steering wheel from side to side while going straight and nothing would happen. The biggest problem I found was the abundance of rust pitting on the cylinder walls. Obviously hydraulic fluid is hydroscopic and moisture getting in causes that. Brand new seals won't help if the mating surface is pitted. I think it's just the luck of the draw. You might get one that's in good shape internally and never have a problem. Then again, you might get one that was sitting for ten years full of water before it was rebuilt.