hey i almost crashed going to school today. i think something might be up sus.?

so hear is what its doing:
-when driving the car pulls to the left (i understand its probally the alignment)
-whne switching lanes, like on the freeway, the car feels like its gonna break loose when go over those lane divider humps. like the car wants the back end to slide foward.
-also today in the rain, my car felt like it was hydroplaning, i have good tread on the front, the back isnt so good. could that be the cause of the car feeling like its gonna break loose?
-its odd. cause this can happend when the roads are dry and sunny, but it acts up more in the rain, specially today.
- on regular roads, when i drive over lump/bumby roads, the car feel likes like rocking back and forth, like it would merged into the otehr lanes and crap, did that on the freeway too.

i havent crashed in to anything recently or ever... i did recently re did the front brakes myself.. replaced rotors, pads. maybe i did something wrong? i put nesupeed sports on the same time... so i dont know what's up. if you guys have any idea.. please let me know. thanks

 

Check these things;
tire pressure
Ball Joints (upper and lower)
Tie-rod ends (inner and outer)
Check all the bushings and just give it a good look over. See if anything feels loose or looks broken.
Get an alignment if everything seems fine because that's prolly the problem.

 

thanks for the reply, i'm gonna get the alignment done and see if they can check other thinks out as well.

since you have the same car i do, i have 4WS si 92' is your car lowered? mine is on nuespeed sport and the back is cambered in and kinda points in...like whne you turn the front wheels and the back turns in.. just a bit though. wondering if you have this... i'm also hinking that since the back end is kinda swing around, perhaps the 4ws has something to do with it? idk. thansk for the replythough...

 

You mean your rears are always aimed in??
Some people claim that their 4WS has done stuff like this before but I pretty much doubt it unless the light is on. If you think that might be part of the problem you could reset the ECU. I have found that fixes a lot of the 4WS problems.

Just make sure that if you do reset the ECU and you have a stock stereo you have the code. Also you might want to pull any codes before you reset it also.

Mine is not lowered. How much is your lowered? IIRC anything below 1.5" you are going to need a camber kit.

 

my prelude has been lowered since 1996 with a couple different sets of spings.

but the 4ws light isn't on. it just looks like it's aimed in a bit like this:

|_| |_| -front wheels

/_/ \_\ -back wheels


that's looking at the car from the top down. the back isnt pointed that radically, just a tad bit it seems. they car is lowered on neuspeed sport which is Front 1.5 / Rear 1.5.

hmm i dont know.. i'm gonna kac the car up and take a look.. to see, then i'll drop it off to get an alignment tomarrow monring. thanks for your help bro. ;

 

You need a steering alignment especially the rear wheels, they should point straight ahead when steering wheel is centred, even though your wheels point in slightly when you hit a bump in road and one wheel leaves the road even momentarily the rear of the car will try and follow the direction of the one rear wheel that's making contact still, causing a snaking feeling on the rear, when the other wheel then makes full contact it will suddenly try and correct the snaking and cause a sudden twitch, it's a wonder your tyres on the rear have tread left as in effect your dragging the back end even though it's only slightly.

 

You need a camber kit. And your wheel bearings are probably also shot.

 

britishlude: snaking feeling is exactly how it felt. by any chance you know if the the alignment shop can correctthe 4ws? being that i know nothing about the coponents in how it works.. i know they can do 4 wheel alignments, but the back is "in" a bit.

satan: last time i checked i didnt think they made camber kits for the 4ws model. but i could be very wrong. know lowering most cars will jack up your tires(inside) but i just recently noticed how much it camber in.. more than before.

thanks for the advice dudes i'll look in getting a shop to take a look tomarrow morning.

 

The Toe in can be corrected with the adjusters on the end of the rear steering actuator arms where they join with rear wheel assembly, any good alignment workshop can do it & also sort out the camber on them they may need a camber kit, they will have all the alignment equipment needed if it's a professional set up.

 

alright guys, thanks for the help, just got back from the shop, car feels alot safer, went on freeway, did couple lane changes.. didnt get the same "snakely" feeling. steering is some what straight.. they said that my tires could be the reason why it's still pulling slightly to the left. (i have mis-matched tires on all four wheels and they said it was over inflated). they said to come back again when i have new tires since it's mistmatched and teh abck are bald and they will "dial" it back up to spec.. that should take car of the "lefty" prob.

i have a pic of the specs from the alignment... if any of you guys know alot about how to read the specs please let me know.. would a camber kit fix all/reduce the camber problems? my car is a 4ws, not sure if there is a camber kit for the rear.. thanks guys