YZ490
New Member
- Joined
- Oct 24, 2018
- Threads
- 1
- Messages
- 3
- Reaction score
- 1
- Location
- Easy Street
- Vehicle(s)
- 2017 Honda Civic Hatch, 2012 Honda Civic, 1984 Toyota LC
- Thread starter
- #1
I've got a couple questions about the electronic assist steering. I've had my car for 2 years now bought new) and it has 58k miles on it. It's been a pretty good car except for a body control module issue that I had early on that was replaced under warranty.
From day one, the steering wheel has been at about 11:55 while driving straight. I don't think there is an alignment issue as I'm not holding it at 11:55 to correct for a pull or anything like that. I can let my hands off the wheel and the steering wheel stays at 11:55 and the car stays going dead straight at 80mph down the freeway. If the road is straight enough it will track for quite a while with my hands off the steering wheel. I don't have any tire wear pattern issues as I'm still on the stock tires at 58k (although now I'm at 4/32nds tread so will need to replace soon).
I wasn't really worried about the steering wheel being off until a coworker of mine also bought a Civic and mentioned that he has the same issue. At first I told him it would be easy to correct if it bothered him. I remember having to change the steering column electronics on an old Mazda one time and remember putting the wheel back on slightly off center. I fixed it a few weeks later, but that was easy to do with the old steering setup as it was just a splined and tapered shaft that could be moved over a couple of teeth to re-align. Looks like that isn't the case from what I've seen online with the way the 10th gen Civic steering wheel is mounted up though.
My main question is: how can alignment of the steering wheel be done with electronic assist steering? Is the only way to move the tie rod ends? I'm not going to do that if that's the only way to straighten my steering wheel out to 12 o'clock while going straight. Not worth the risk of having the "alignment" make things less aligned since right now the handling is good, the car tracks well, no excessive tire wear, etc. Not worth it just to satisfy some OCD-ness.
Bonus question: Are these 10th gen Civics actually steer-by-wire? I've had a hard time finding that information online. I looked under the hood, but it's sort of hard to tell what's going on without getting under the car which I won't do for another 2k when I get the oil change done. It seems that a shaft does maybe come out of the firewall and straight down to the steering rack. Then I see a motor near the passenger side of the steering rack that I assume is the power steering motor for electronic assist. I have been told we have steer-by-wire, but I don't think that's the case since I can steer the car in neutral without the engine on (even though it is hard as hell). I tried that in an empty section of a parking lot with a slight grade.
From day one, the steering wheel has been at about 11:55 while driving straight. I don't think there is an alignment issue as I'm not holding it at 11:55 to correct for a pull or anything like that. I can let my hands off the wheel and the steering wheel stays at 11:55 and the car stays going dead straight at 80mph down the freeway. If the road is straight enough it will track for quite a while with my hands off the steering wheel. I don't have any tire wear pattern issues as I'm still on the stock tires at 58k (although now I'm at 4/32nds tread so will need to replace soon).
I wasn't really worried about the steering wheel being off until a coworker of mine also bought a Civic and mentioned that he has the same issue. At first I told him it would be easy to correct if it bothered him. I remember having to change the steering column electronics on an old Mazda one time and remember putting the wheel back on slightly off center. I fixed it a few weeks later, but that was easy to do with the old steering setup as it was just a splined and tapered shaft that could be moved over a couple of teeth to re-align. Looks like that isn't the case from what I've seen online with the way the 10th gen Civic steering wheel is mounted up though.
My main question is: how can alignment of the steering wheel be done with electronic assist steering? Is the only way to move the tie rod ends? I'm not going to do that if that's the only way to straighten my steering wheel out to 12 o'clock while going straight. Not worth the risk of having the "alignment" make things less aligned since right now the handling is good, the car tracks well, no excessive tire wear, etc. Not worth it just to satisfy some OCD-ness.
Bonus question: Are these 10th gen Civics actually steer-by-wire? I've had a hard time finding that information online. I looked under the hood, but it's sort of hard to tell what's going on without getting under the car which I won't do for another 2k when I get the oil change done. It seems that a shaft does maybe come out of the firewall and straight down to the steering rack. Then I see a motor near the passenger side of the steering rack that I assume is the power steering motor for electronic assist. I have been told we have steer-by-wire, but I don't think that's the case since I can steer the car in neutral without the engine on (even though it is hard as hell). I tried that in an empty section of a parking lot with a slight grade.
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