What would cause my steering wheel to snap back violently upon corner exit at any speeds? Maybe you guys in the road racing/auto x forums could help me out with you expertise. My set up is 90CRX SI, d16z6 motor, ZC LSD TRanny, zc intermediate shaft, 90 teg axles. Whenever I take a corner the steering is ultra hard and when exiting corners the steering wheels snaps back violently to the middle position. When I jack the front end up the steering is free without binding, no issues. It feels as the wheels are trying to get back to spinning at the same speed which in this case would be going straight. Could it be my diff locking up at all times?? Caster issue???

I'm at a loss and dont want to go another season with this persisting problem.

Thanks for reading and I hope we can resolve this issue.
Cheers
Rick

 

do you have power steering?

 

No.

 

What are your alignment settings? What is your castor set at?

 

What wheels/offset do you have? Any traction bars adjusting the caster?

 

I'm not sure of the alignment settings. I had an alignment done a couple of months ago at Can Alignment. The local auto cross guys rave about his abilities. I'll have to find the spec sheet. The guy at the alignment shop asked me what kind of driving I'd be doing and I told him its a street car which I'd like to bring to the track on occasion. He set it accordingly. My wheels are stock Honda CRX wheels W/Azenis tires. I'm using ETD gen 3 traction bars.
Thanks

 

busted adjustable upper control arm gave me a similar issue on corner exit, but not as bad as you are making your issue out to be.

 

UCA's are new from Honda.

 

Id say your alignment deffinatly. If your caster is out somewhat, then your running alot of camber it could cause it to be like that.

 

id say redo your alignment like everyone else said, but if it still does this, my guess would be your lsd. my cousin had the same problem with his b16 that had a lsd. does it feel like your axle is about to push out when you take a turn?

 

Scott at Can-Alignment is awesome....not that people don't make mistakes, but I'd look elsewhere, I doubt that it is an alignment issue.
That said give him a call and describe the problem and ask for his input. Scott works on everything from Roundy Round, Drag, Autocross, and Roadrace cars. - and he drives them too!

Good Luck

 

Scott is good or so I hear. I doubt its the alignment. I had the car aligned at another shop previous to can alignment. 2 alignments later the problem persists. Not the alignment.

 

If you have a problem it is in the suspension, take it to your alignment man, if he is that good, he will be able to tell by visual or the numbers what the problem is.

 

id say jack your car up n shake down the front end and give a good lookk around of your suspention components like bushings tierods and such

 

Start simple. I'd say the easiest part would be to check your alignment. If your angles are correct, then check all the bushings. It's up to the bushings to keep those alignment angles true and to allow the arms to move, obviously. Maybe you've got some bushings that are broken, and when a certain force is applied they bind up and wack out your alignment angles until the force goes away. If your bushings are all solid and there aren't any broken arms then I'd suggest checking the LSD. Maybe that was built with the wrong innards. You have to check everything in order to rule stuff out for sure.

It's the alignment guy's job to align the car--not check your bushings and arms. If he's good he'll take a look and make sure he did his job right, and that nothing else is compromising your alignment. Ask him to check everything out to make sure--he's the suspension expert.

 

I have energy suspension bushings installed all around. The upper controll arms are new from Honda as well. I triple checked EVERYTHING. Its gotta be the dif. All this started when I swapped motor and tranny to a zc LSD tranny with intermediate shaft and b series drive shafts. It has to be either the drive shafts or dif. What else can it be???

 

Did you install the upper arms on the correct sides? Swapping them will result in increased caster.

 

I checked the upper arms. Thanks for the replies!

 

A vehicle will not retain correct alignment settings with worn or damaged bushings and joints.

All professional alignment specialists will perform a through suspension inspection including bushings and joints before even attempting an alignment.

Alignment specialists perform this inspection because they are well aware they are wasting their and your time attempting to align a vehicle with worn or damaged parts.

It is also the alignment guy's job to test drive and verify settings post test drive.

If an alignment guy does not verify his work he is not doing his job and he is no professional!

Once again take your car to a professional and get it aligned.

 

It was pro aligned!!!! TWICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

To those of you with LSD's on their cars. For daily driving do you notice a difference in the steering characteristics. ie, more difficult to steer @ low speeds?
Thanks

 

Your diff, it's a torsen style diff, right? If so, I doubt it's your diff. Sounds like something is binding. A bad outer joint on one or both of your axles could give you this type of behavior. How does the car drive when it's going straight? Does it pull to one side when you stand on the throttle, then the other way when you let off? If not, then it's probably not a bushing issue. If it does pull in that scenario, then it might be bushings, but it could also still be an axle.

If you're running BIG caster, then you might have the same issue. Your comment on heavy steering at low speeds would lend towards an excessive amount of caster. Do you have the stock strut rods and cross member? If so, remove your traction bars and put the stock bits back in, then check your toe setting with some toe plates (Longacre). If the toe is off by a lot, you probably had a lot of caster in the car. Reset toe back to zero and see how it drives. Remember, Hondas don't need a lot of caster because of the way the front geometry is set up and the large amount of pneumatic trail a fwd car has already.

Or just post your alignment sheet. BTW, what does your alignment guy have to say about the issue? You did ask him about it, right?

 

Mr Deathwish purchase a used front clip, cut yours off, weld the new used one on, problem solved!

 

Ha....