Is my alignment off or is there some other issue?

[suhhh]

Got an alignment at a reputable tuner friendly shop that works on a ton of cars. I had a previous alignment at pepboys which was all wrong and I got a refund for but only drove a few hundred miles on it.

After going to the new shop I got everything fixed and aligned (everything checked out on the report) but for some odd reason my car pulls ever so slightly left when I'm driving fast on highways and such. Going slow/medium in normal traffic my car drives perfectly straight, but as soon as I hit 80mph and if I leave my steering wheel untouched and centered, the car will gradually pull to the left. I notice that if I want to drive straight at highway speeds I need to slightly put some pressure on the wheel to turn right every now and then.

What could be the issue here? I don't think it's a tire issue because they are all brand new and barely driven on a bad alignment, and the alignment results all come back ok.

Sponsored

 

[CVCTURBO]

1. A tire can have a belt slip and cause a pull.
2. Low tire pressure can cause a pull.
3. The crown of roads can cause it to pull.
4. There's a little play left to right in the steering wheel when adjusting caster, this must be evened out as best as possible on the steering wheel. Also this is when centering the steering wheel is done. If it's not done correctly the "play" can be to one side more than the other and maybe this is what your feeling.
5. You can swap front wheels left to right and see if it pulls the other way, if so it's the tire.
6. Post a pic of the alignment sheet

 

[Icebear]

I would swap your left front and right front tires , and see if the pull follows where you swapped your tires , to make sure it’s not a radial pull .

 

[suhhh]

1. A tire can have a belt slip and cause a pull.
2. Low tire pressure can cause a pull.
3. The crown of roads can cause it to pull.
4. There's a little play left to right in the steering wheel when adjusting caster, this must be evened out as best as possible on the steering wheel. Also this is when centering the steering wheel is done. If it's not done correctly the "play" can be to one side more than the other and maybe this is what your feeling.
5. You can swap front wheels left to right and see if it pulls the other way, if so it's the tire.
6. Post a pic of the alignment sheet

I would swap your left front and right front tires , and see if the pull follows where you swapped your tires , to make sure it’s not a radial pull .

Thank you both! I have a feeling it could be #4. I had trouble getting my steering wheel centered from pep boys and when I went to the new shop it was ALMOST perfect. I ended up disassembling the steering wheel and adjusting it over one tooth and now it's straight.

I checked my tire pressure for the first time today after getting the car and turns out it was unevenly overinflated, I had 38 psi in the front left and around 40 in the rear. Lowered everything to about 32 psi and it seems like it's mostly correct on my drive home.

Played with the steering and my car was able to drive straight. sometimes it would pull left but I would give a slight adjustment and the car was driving straight.

 

[suhhh]

1. A tire can have a belt slip and cause a pull.
2. Low tire pressure can cause a pull.
3. The crown of roads can cause it to pull.
4. There's a little play left to right in the steering wheel when adjusting caster, this must be evened out as best as possible on the steering wheel. Also this is when centering the steering wheel is done. If it's not done correctly the "play" can be to one side more than the other and maybe this is what your feeling.
5. You can swap front wheels left to right and see if it pulls the other way, if so it's the tire.
6. Post a pic of the alignment sheet

Here is the alignment sheet btw

 

[tacthecat]

Just looking at the numbers Front caster measurements are still out or sketchy.
Rear doesn't look like it was touched AND is still out of alignment everywhere!

 

[Icebear]

Just looking at the numbers Front caster measurements are still out or sketchy.
Rear doesn't look like it was touched AND is still out of alignment everywhere!

Yeah , the caster split appears to be off , it should be about the same on both sides to keep from having a pull .

Also the rear camber is still out of spec according to their specs .

 

[suhhh]

Just looking at the numbers Front caster measurements are still out or sketchy.
Rear doesn't look like it was touched AND is still out of alignment everywhere!

Yeah , the caster split appears to be off , it should be about the same on both sides to keep from having a pull .

Also the rear camber is still out of spec according to their specs .

Thanks guys, I'm going to go to the shop tomorrow to see if he can adjust that.

The rear wasn't re aligned at the new shop, I was told that there's not much that can be done until I get some camber arms because of the natural camber from D2 springs

 

[CVCTURBO]

Did u say u removed the actual steering wheel and put it on straight??
You can't straighten the steering wheel like that!

When they adjust the caster, they center the steering wheel, put a tool on it to hold it center, then they adjust caster.

Have the shop remove and reinstall ur steering wheel how it should be before they do an alignment so they really don't start chasing their tail...

 

[suhhh]

Did u say u removed the actual steering wheel and put it on straight??
You can't straighten the steering wheel like that!

When they adjust the caster, they center the steering wheel, put a tool on it to hold it center, then they adjust caster.

Have the shop remove and reinstall ur steering wheel how it should be before they do an alignment and then they really start chasing there tail...

Ah well shit

I only moved it over one tooth and I marked it with a sharpie just in case so I'll go ahead and do that tomorrow too.

Thanks for that didn't realize it'd fuck with w re adjusting the caster

 

[JT Si]

Ah well shit

I only moved it over one tooth and I marked it with a sharpie just in case so I'll go ahead and do that tomorrow too.

Thanks for that didn't realize it'd fuck with w re adjusting the caster

Fix your steering wheel back to original ASAP.

I recommend after doing that, pull the negative battery cable. Let it sit for 10 minutes. Then reconnect.

On the first start your car will tell you the drive systems are initializing. You won't have sport mode, traction control, or any driving assistance during this time.

The first 1-2 minutes you drive it re-learns the neutral steering angle, then the message will go away and you will be fully functional again.

It seems to me like the car maybe has the neutral angle learned wrong, possibly from your bad alignment at Pepboys. If the car thinks neutral is slightly to the side, the electric steering gear will return steering to a position that is slightly to the side, not center/straight ahead.

It's free and quick to do, and our cars do not lose settings or programming with the battery pulled so you won't have to re-setup anything. You'll only lose your current trip distance/economy measurements.

If you relearn the neutral angle and it still pulls, you can move on to more in-depth troubleshooting such as inspecting your front tires, swapping them, or going back to the alignment shop to get it checked out again.


Edit: I checked the service manual, re-learning the neutral steering angle is a step that it calls for after any alignment changes.

 

[tacthecat]

Thanks guys, I'm going to go to the shop tomorrow to see if he can adjust that.

The rear wasn't re aligned at the new shop, I was told that there's not much that can be done until I get some camber arms because of the natural camber from D2 springs

This is first mention of a modified suspension - could be the cause of all your issues.
How many miles on car?, how many miles since you did the mods?

 

[suhhh]

This is first mention of a modified suspension - could be the cause of all your issues.
How many miles on car?, how many miles since you did the mods?

About 3300 miles,
Springs have been on since about 1k miles

 

[waterudoing]

I'm in a similar situation. My car pulls to the right slightly, so I drive with the steering wheel about 2 degrees CCW. I got an alignment about a month ago, and it only took 2 days for the alignment to go out of whack again (and that's with the biggest bumps being entrances to driveways). It's been doing this for a year now. Even last summer, I got an alignment and a few days later, it's pulling to the right. Idk if something's broken or the Civic's alignment is sensitive. I've hit big bumps in my other cars, but have perfect alignments.

 

[tacthecat]

About 3300 miles,
Springs have been on since about 1k miles

Not sure how to proceed as you apparently need more parts to complete the set-up and then get the rear into proper alignment. Was everything good before you started making changes to the suspension?

Sponsored