swapped 13s for 15s steering gear unhappy now

There is a lot of geometry that goes into effect when you change wheel and tire size on an independent front end such as our early A's. Make sure that your entire steering assembly is well-lubed and that you have a good alignment, and that your front suspension bushings are in good shape. If your upper control arm bushings are extremely worn it can do very wierd things to the steering and overall road-handling quality of the vehicle, ask me how I know.
-Tim