Yello,

I just picked up an 00 SiR a couple months ago and overall, the car is in pristine condition (~50K kms). There is, however, one small issue. I noticed that the wheel alignment was a bit off (~5 degrees to the right).

I went to a Honda dealership to get it realigned and afterwards, it was about 5 degrees off to the left. I didn't have time to bring it back so I just left it (rarely drive it)

I have another appointment with them this weekend, but it was brought to my attention that it might not be the alignment, but rather, the wheels or suspension (car is lowered).

If it helps, the car has H&R sport springs and Koni yellows (adjustable). I have 17" koni verdicts wrapped in 205/40/17 Kumho 712's. I check the rubbers daily and they show no signs of abnormal / uneven wearing. Tire pressure is at an even 32.5 PSI all around. The car might be dropped 1". There's still a good bit of clearance between the rubber and fenders (i.e. not tucked in)

but this alignment thing is still bothering me. I don't want to bother the people at the dealership again with my problem if it's not actually a wheel alignment problem. Wil they have the knowledge to know what's causing the mis-alignment even though it's been modified with aftermarket parts? could it be that the suspension is uneven? Would there be an easy way to find out if that's the case?

I was told to check here cause there's operating limits for the alignment adjustment.

Any help or advice would be great. I just don't want to find out when it's too late (i.e. tires bald unevenly/prematurely). I was told I only need a camber kit if it's dropped 1.5" or more. The car's had the same suspension for the past 12K kms and I've had no problems with balding.

Thanks in advance




Modified by the_fornicator at 12:57 PM 9/9/2005

 

there should be no problem with adjusting toe. they may be just blowing smoke up your ***, there may be issues with camber/caster with a lowered car but i have never seen issues with adjusting toe on a lowered car.but thats just me. it also depends on their company policy. there is a shop around here that will not touch a car if they cannot get at least 2 fingers width from the top of the tire and the fender.

 

excuse my ignorance, but how does one exaclty adjust the toe? not very well versed with cars yet... learning slowly but surely

I've read about toe angles ('toe in' is the equivalent of being pigeon footed, toe-out is the opposite, and toe-zero is both wheels being parallel), but don't know exactly what a toe is.

I got a 300 point inspection done 2000 kms ago and they mentioned nothing about the cambers or casters. any way I can check myself?

thanks in advance

 

Adjusting toe, toe-in same thing.

Maybe Honda is just aligning it to the "stock spec" which I don't think works out correctly if the car is lowered.

Also when I got my car aligned (it is lowered about 2"s) my steering wheel was still a little bit off center but was still good on the highway so yeah...

 

well they should be able to get the wheel straight by messing with the toe setting uner the car... another way to do it is to pull the steering wheel off and move it one spline. Not sure why they couldn't get it right the first time, its really not difficult, just lazy techs. tell them you want the wheel straight like you paid, and to fix it.
~Eyal

 

Well most of the time I think when your steering wheel is off center after an alignment is because the steering tie rod ends aren't adjusted the same amount, I have seen places try to make all or most of the adjustment on one side instead of both which then your wheel is off. Hope this helps.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Eyal 951 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">well they should be able to get the wheel straight by messing with the toe setting uner the car... another way to do it is to pull the steering wheel off and move it one spline. Not sure why they couldn't get it right the first time, its really not difficult, just lazy techs. tell them you want the wheel straight like you paid, and to fix it.
~Eyal</TD></TR></TABLE>

Pulling the steering wheel and moving it one spline is not a good idea, I wouldn't recomend that one, not trying to be mean or anything Eyal.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by haccord2.2 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Pulling the steering wheel and moving it one spline is not a good idea, I wouldn't recomend that one, not trying to be mean or anything Eyal. </TD></TR></TABLE>

good call!
you run the risk of breaking the spiral cable/clock spring if you do that.

you can tweak the tie rod ends with it on the ground to get it better. i have done this a few times it doesnt hurt.