I have a 96 Cabrio and the Steering Rack was recently replaced (as were the tie rods). At 60mph, the car was shaking - figured I needed an alignment (which they said they did). After about 180 miles, the car was not steering properly at all. The steering wheel was all of a sudden aligned vertically instead of horizontally. I brought it back in and they said I must have been hit because the left strut is dent and my rim is cracked. I feel like this mechanic is totally ripping me off. Is there any way he installed the rack wrong which could affect the struts? Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Replacing the rack is a time consuming task. The brake booster and master cylinder must be removed and of course the brakes must then be bled after reassembly. If they did not do that, then I'd question their skills. I can not think of a way the rack installation could dent the strut. Here's an issue that is not addressed in the manuals. The rotary valve/steering pinion shaft has a spring clip that fits in at the end that connect to the steering wheel coupling. This coupling will only fit over the spring clip one way. (It looks like a pin sticking up.) You have to center the left and right throw of the steering rack and get the steering wheel close to horizontal and then mate the coupling. If the steering wheel is off a lot you have to uncouple it and readjust the rack throw (a pain). If it is off a little, it can be adjusted out with the tie rods. That's why they replaced the tie rod ends, probably. Otherwise, you have to remove the steering wheel and recenter it or your turn signals don't shut off after a turn. For your steering wheel to now be 90 degrees off tells me these guys did not install that spring clip and the steering pinion shaft has shifted on the coupling splines, probably in a hard turn. The rack is a rebuild and I would insist that it be replaced under warranty and I would tell them to install the spring clip this time.
Here are the diagrams. The spring clip (pin) is item 21 and fits in rotary valve/steering pinion 22. The rotary valve/steering pinion fits through the firewall and looks like item 14 in the other diagram. Item 16 is the coupler that fits over this. It only goes on one way if the spring clip is installed. Otherwise it is only held in place by the splines and the bolt going through it. Seemingly, that should be enough, but obviously, Audi engineers wanted that pin in there for a reason.
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Steering Rack/Struts? - 
