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Car wandering, steering wheel doenst return to center

Steering 
7K views 18 replies 7 participants last post by  atom3624 
#1 ·
Hi,

I have a quite annoying steering issue. The problem is, after I make a turn steering wheel doesnt come back to center completely. It tries to but it is quite sticky. So I have to center it manually each time I make a turn or after changing a lane. It is coming closer to center after left turns. Another issue is car is pulling to right side slightly. I need to make constant minor corrections all the time which makes driving quite tiring. Another thing is when I go over bumpy roads I hear sort of a jingling, clicking sound below passenger side corner. It is like sound is coming just below the footwell.

So what has been done so far:
- Steering rack, tie rods, stabilizers, wheel bearings both sides has been replaced.
- All the components at front chassis has been checked by several mechanics everything is in order (according to them).
- Allignment made by Honda dealer everything is within factory specifications.

Any ideas what it could be?
 
#2 ·
is it always the same side it goes to
could be a binding brake
or a potential diff problem or cv joint
antiroll bar bushes are about the only thing near the floor pans
some times different tyres do strange things to cars
just noticed you say it pulls to right
jack drivers side up and see how free the wheel spins
also was the rack new or a used part
 
#3 ·
I had a brake job as well few months ago. Same steering issue before and after. The rack was brand new. Could it really be diff problem? I was thinking potential strut top bearing issue because of that jingling sound on bumpy road. Or I thought ball joint issue. I could check what you mentioned also.

By the way another thing to mention is that I live in Finland and here usually roads are inclined slightly to right side for rain drain. Probably this also affects the pulling to right side.
 
#4 ·
could really be anything strut tops can rattle on some cars and of coarse if there worn then the strut will move a fraction and possibly affect the steering
ball joints can cause wondering but i would have thought more of a knock than jingle
diff can cause all sorts of different sanarios but id say its more unlikely to be diff than likely
as you say the camber of the road could be a issue
is it pulling under power and free wheeling ?
front wheel drive cars can tend to pull to one side or the other under hard accelaration known as torque steer
 
#5 ·
Actually it pulls under acceleration and also while cruising. When cruising at low speed and under normal acceleration it is sometimes more prounced I can see the steering wheel rotating on its own around 10 degrees from center.

I tried as you suggested lifting the car and rotating wheels and I didnt feel any difference on left compared to right side. Do you think failing antiroll bars could cause this kind of steering issue?
 
#7 ·
When you've been for a little drive, including a fair bit of cruising and braking, have you checked the wheels - does one appear substantially hotter than the other.

Simple things first, just thinking of binding brakes.
A thought.

I read all of the electronic options, and I have no input on them.

Al.
 
#8 ·
Thanks for the input guys. I have done that already but I couldnt feel considerable difference in temperatures on the wheels. But I have to check this again to be sure once the weather gets a bit warmer.

Today I found some empty parking lot which was inclined to left side. I tried driving there back and forth and it seems that car pulls towards to the inclination side. You can see the steering wheel rotates slowly from center. But now the question is, is this normal that car behaves like this? Anyone experienced such thing? This makes driving quite tiring since I have to correct, fight the steering wheel all the time.

At dealer diagnostics mechanics checked the car including a long test drive a week ago and according to them the car is completely normal since some cars are designed to give more road feedback! This sounds to me a bit weird. Any opinions about this?
 
#10 ·
Find a civic 1.8 for sale and arrange a test drive. If the car steers differently/normally compared to yours you'll at least know your car does have an issue with it.

After all the effort and money you've put into it and the 'professionals' checks, if the car is as above, might be time to consider whether for you there's any future with the car.
 
#12 ·
I rotated the tires several times still the same issue.

Also I have 2 sets of tires (summer and winter) and I have the same problem with both. The summer tires are contisport-contact 3 and you can feel the pulling more with them. This also makes me think it could be tire issue. Maybe both sets I have doesnt suit somehow and they cause this tramlining issue. Any recommendation for tires by the way?
 
#13 ·
I have a similar issue, I have a thread about it.
The problem is with the axles, they are not parallel. This means that one side of the car is shorter than the other, and you get a pull to the side. For me, the car pulls to the left and the steering wheel follows, but if you straighten the wheel it actually pulls to the right, even though the alignment is fine.
The way to fix it is with the tyres. Add as much camber as you reasonably can and this should plant the car and counter the forces from the misaligned axles.
The factory fix was to fit the tyres so that the conicity of both tyres opposed the direction of the pull from the axles. Changing the tyres then alters this. I had new front tyres fitted when I bought the car and it pulls, whereas it didn't on the test drive.
 
#14 ·
if 1 side is shorter than the other you need something lined up
either rear is out of line or something on the front
steering problems dont have to be on the front
it sounds daft but your car actually steers from the back
yes its the front wheels that turn to create steering but its something to do with the rear that turns
it was explained to me years ago by a engineer but couldnt even start to explain it now after all thease years
 
#15 ·
Surge, I checked your thread. It is quite interesting indeed. I wonder if this design flow is usual for 8th gen Civics. If so shouldnt there have been a recall for possible fix?

My case is a little bit different i think. In my case 4 wheel allignment was possible and when I hold the steering wheel straight car follows a straight line. However, it tries to turn slightly to right usually (could be because of the road cambers here). I have to constantly correct it. But as you mentioned my problem also could be a tire issue. What tires fixed your issue? Maybe I can try to get similar to those.

An update: Someone told me it could be a bent frame and for me to measure the distance from front wheel base to rear. There is around 3/8 inch difference if I measured correctly. I am not sure though could this be the reason for such a pull.

I am thinking to take the car to other mechanic other than Honda dealer in order to check once again all the bushes. Should do some research who could be good at such stuff around here.
 
#16 ·
It was a problem out of the factory - I think it was to do with the welding tolerances.
I currently haven't changed the tires yet, my next step was to put maximum camber on and see how that goes, but I haven't been able to get it up on a ramp yet. That was what the guy suggested who told me about the problem (he was a chassis engineer at Honda and designed a lot of the 8g Civic).
There are two fixes really - adjust the rear axle with a shim or something similar or stick a combination of tires/camber on. He did also recommend some tires - Michelin something or other (guessing they were the factory fitted tires).
 
#19 ·
That is TERRIBLE I reckon.
I used to have huge wear on the fronts - never more than 9k miles, but since they were realigned, first with TDI, now, after some extra work, with Grinspeed, the wear appears to have decreased quite a lot.

I've a DERV - heavy front - on 18", thus high performance rubber, not expected to have huge longevity, but better than 9k surely.

Last set was closer to 13-15 k - miles better - literally!
Al.
 
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