First off I have an 04 accord sedan LX, tires 215/50/17 Yokohama ES100 (thx for advice nsxstasy, running great through 7k, little tire wear) Lowered on Tein S-Techs (1.8 front, 1.3 rear) and Progress Alignment kit front and rear. After the lowering, I waited a month before I purchased the alignment kit, and after the lowering, I noticed a bit of understeer. After I got the alignmet kit put on and properly adjusted, a slight bit of that disappeared, but it was still there.

Now, it has been 2 months since my last alignment, and its starting to get very noticeable like the tires are grabbing and having serious understeer. My caster is slightly out of whack from an accident involving the front axle 2 years ago that may have caused problems. Whenever I look down the side of my car, it seems like my front wheels are bent almost inwards, as opposed to every other car and my rear wheels where it seems like theyre riding more towards the inner edge of the tire. It is a very noticeable thing, that the wheels look almost bent in (not really, its an exaggeration, but I can tell that something is definetly not right)
Is this something that can be fixed?

 

First of all; what is an alignment kit? Are you refering perhaps to a camber kit?

With a front wheel drive car you can almost always expect that it will understeer, it's what they do.

It sounds like you are describing like you have negative camber. This happens when you lower a car unless you get the appropriate camber kit. This doesn't sound like a wheel or tire problem but more a suspension issue.

The alternative solution would be just to put everything back on your stock suspension but somehow I don't think you are will to do this.

 

No, I understand the understeer part with a FWD car.

The alignment kit is a camber kit, which was properly adjusted after I got it installed.

It just seemed like the tires were grabbing on the front left side, more than they should be. Maybe I'll just go back and have it realigned and solve the problem. Besides, I get free alignments til I die.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by msedacca &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I get free alignments til I die.</TD></TR></TABLE>

How?!?!?!

 

Yes, I would say, check the alignment.

Also check the tire pressures.

Also - if the front tires are worn more than the rear tires, that can cause understeer. Are you rotating your tires between front and back? On FWD cars, the front tires wear faster; rotating them (in general, putting the ones with more tread on the front) will even out the wear so that they all wear out at the same time, and it should help avoid understeer.

 

Tire pressure, if anything may be a little bit overinflated (idk how, but they have decreased from 40 psi, which is what the tire shop set them at max psi, to 37 psi in 4 months of driving)

Wow, thanks for reminding me, I haven't rotated my tires since I got them (mid January).

I'll do all of the above within the week and see if that solves the problem.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by msedacca &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Tire pressure, if anything may be a little bit overinflated (idk how, but they have decreased from 40 psi, which is what the tire shop set them at max psi, to 37 psi in 4 months of driving)

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Yes, I would say that is overinfalted. Try going with the car's recommended pressure and work from there. Setting the pressure at the maximum is not a good idea. Kick the tire shop guy in the nuts. It is also normal to lose a few pounds in a few months. You should check your pressure weekly and before any long car trips because they will lose air and the pressure will change due to temperature fluctuations.

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Wow, thanks for reminding me, I haven't rotated my tires since I got them (mid January).

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It really depends on how much you drive. If you haven't driven much since you mounted them then it is not a big deal. I forget what the recommened milage interval is for rotaions.

 

Tires should not be set to their max pressure!!! They're WAY overinflated. No wonder you're having problems!

The best place to start with your pressures is with the pressures recommended for your car, which you can find in your owner's manual and also on your door jamb or glove compartment door. After doing that, check them at least once a month (tires lose air over time, and outside temperatures also affect pressures). If you need to, you can change them to something other than the recommended pressures to adjust for uneven tire wear, your preference for handling vs ride comfort, etc; if so, change them in 2 psi increments. But, in the absence of any other information, the recommended pressures for your car are the best place to start.

Also, the ES100 has a tendency to wear a bit more rapidly in the center than at the edges. With most other tires, this is normally a symptom of overinflation, but I've heard enough reports of this with properly-inflated ES100 that I think that's just what they do.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by old man neri &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">It really depends on how much you drive. If you haven't driven much since you mounted them then it is not a big deal. I forget what the recommened milage interval is for rotaions.</TD></TR></TABLE>

The purpose of rotating the tires is to even out the tire wear. I would suggest rotating them at least 4 times, and preferably more, during the life of a set of tires, so you can use that as a guide (e.g. if your tires last 40K miles, do it at least once every 10K miles). If you change your tires periodically anyway (e.g. to put on winter tires or track tires) you can just do it at that time.