'95 honda civic no power steering.

Steering has always been pretty sensitive with this car but I got quite used to it and despite the heavily worn tires it drove on the freeway very straight and smooth.
Fast forward to last week, had a tire puncture and decided to just buy all 4 new tires from Les Schwab (Toyo Eclipse). Got the car back and it handles much differently; and in a very bad, dangerous way. The steering now feels very light and sensitive. Almost like I'm driving on ice. On the freeway i'm constantly putting steering inputs into the wheel to keep the car in a straight line and it seems like the steering 'ratio' (probably an improper term) is way off. In other words turning the wheel to 9:00 or 3:00 from the straight 12:00 does not yield as sharp a turn as I would expect.

Over 300k on the chassis but there is no slop in the rack or steering components.

The car feels very dangerous to drive now but the tires are new and properly inflated. My guess is the old tires offered more resistance due to the treadwear but I cant explain how these new tires have a negative effect on the handling.

Its practically undriveable.

Any suggestions? Its not like I can ask for my old tires back.

 

How is the alignment? How are the bushings?

 

bushings appear to be in good shape.
didnt have the alignment checked but the old tires were rotated regularly and the shop said they were wearing well so I thought alignment was in spec.

I suppose it wouldnt hurt to take it back to Les Schwab and have them check it.

I'm just baffled the car went from handling well (inspite of decently worn tires) to all of a sudden handling like crap.

Almost lost it on the freeway yesterday; went to make a lane change right into a piece of road debris so I corrected back into my lane but with the sensitive steering caused a series of over-corrections which had me swerving in my own lane in order to get the car back on track. Scary stuff.

 

Sounds like alignment to me.
Toe settings.

 

I almost always get an alignment when I get new tires for peace of mind at the least. In this case you NEED it.

 

Your alignment may be off or the tires may have a very soft tread with very small blocks. Falken ZE512's felt like that. A new set felt worse than a set of snow tires on dry asphalt. The inputs were light...but lazy and the car would kinda wave and slither around.

 

Yeah. All season tires do tend to feel that way to some extent... Especially if you just came from something that didn't have much block left to it.

 

It almost sounds like overinflated tires. I know when I got my tires mounted they had the tire pressure a bit higher than I like and the steering felt stupidly light.

It didn't feel lazy though

 

You steering rack probably needs to be tightened up especially if it has never been done on your car. I just did this on my eg and it's a night and day difference especially at highway speeds. Like the others are saying check for worn bushings and inner outer tie rods and get an alignment after any bushings are replaced.

Steering Rack Guide Adjustment

 

Was there any problems with the suspension prior to the mounting of the new tires?

Given the only parts that are removed from the vehicle are the wheels/tire assemblies, that would be the only source of a concern (IE wheel loose).

New tires can have a looser feel because the rubber is stiff. This will cause a smeary feel for the first 5,000 miles or so until a permanent wear pattern is formed. This is very common on vehicles with over-sized rims, and rims that have the wrong offset (IE larger overall diameter), or tires that are too wide for the application (encourages darting/instability).

Verify the wheel alignment at least. This is a free service at most tire facilities that sell you 2 or more tires as a courtesy. Let us know what the measurements are at the minimum.

Excessive toe-in will cause darting and unpredictable movement off of center as the suspension height changes. Excessive toe-out will cause instability around the center point, and will improve with additional steering. This will also cause understeering if the total toe "out" and steering axis have been altered (IE lowered). In this case abrupt steering may cause smearing of the tire, which is the definition of understeer.

I would also verify the fit of all alignment parts as a precaution. It may be a coincidence that something else has failed within the suspension or steering. An alignment check will help determine static changes to the suspension.

Tire inflation does play a role here, but it is an almost non-existent effect on most cars today. There is enough caster and SAI to prevent tire pressures from commanding the steering wheel. On older SLA suspensions like pickups, pulling effects are much more sensitive because of the way the suspension behaves under a jounce and rebound. I've tested this on a few Ford strut style F-150's, and 10PSI over on the lower caster side will produce a straightening effect against the more positive caster wheel. I've also seen this on Chevy Trailblazer's as well. I would say this is due to the decreased tire contact area.

 

^^^