My TSX is brand new and has already been to shop because it was out of alignment, it is back but I feel the steering is weird when I'm on the highway..my steering wheel and car go back and forth from one side of the lane to the other..if I'm not careful I will end up in someone else's lane....I feel that is impossible to keep the car straight and not from veering side to side. I have noticed this since the very first day I owned the car but thought it may be due to the alignment..that is sort of fixed..still feel slight pull to the left. Is the steering issue normal? I'm not very pleased with it..any info would help. The dealer stated they did not notice any thing wrong with the steering also the same people that said my car wasn't out of alignment which it was.

 

If its not always pulling the same way, it could be the angle of the road, or maybe even tramlining

 

Okay, this could be the car -- or it could be the driver.

1) What do you mean by "brand new". How many miles on your tires and brakes?

2) What did you drive previously? What was the tire size on your previous vehicle?

3) What type of pavement were you on?

If you are not accustomed to low-profile tires on a sports tuned suspension, you will get a lot more wobble than you have experienced previously. Low tire pressure, higher profiles, tow-in, and soft suspensions will mask the ruts, groves, slopes, and other flaws in the roads. The TSX puts you in touch with the road. It can be disconcerting at first. When my wife asked me how did the TSX drive, my response was "A lot like a go-cart."

1) Check the air pressure on all tires -- 32 in front, 30 in rear when the tires are not
warm.

2) Swap the left and right front tires and see if there is any difference.

3) Drive you car on different surfaces and compare. If it always pulls to one direction, then it is out of alignment. If it corners better in one direction than the other on level surfaces, then it is out of alignment. If it pulls differently under power as when coasting, then it is probably out of alignment.

4) Ask the shop to check for any free-play in the wheels (a loose wheel bearing can be a source of wobble).

5) Have the shop check toe-in. Ask about setting each wheel to 1/16 inch toe-in to improve tracking. This will usually help tracking while increasing tire wear slightly.

6) Ensure that the front brakes are not dragging.

7) Unmount, remount, and rebalance the front tires.

8) Try different tires, with a different tread design.

9) Let us know what you find.

 

It could be the fact that Maryland and especially Baltimore have some of the worst roads in the country. But it sounds like an alignment issue otherwise.

 

Good lord... Just take it to the dealer, and tell them it feels like it's out of alignment, instead of running through your own 50 point checklist... If it's not fixed, then find Jim_Holloman, and make him fix your car... "A lot like a go-kart"??? You seriously need to try something other than the local 5hp go-karting tracks in the area, cuz my TSX sure doesn't handle like a go-kart.

 

mine pulls to the left, had it for 2 weeks. wondering the same

 

Go find a flat open parking lot and drive straight, up to 25-30mph and THEN take your hands off the wheel and see if the car pulls severly (I suggest doing this at night). If it does, it could be an alignment or brake issue. Get both checked. Often times misaligned brake calipers can cause a car to pull to a side (one wheel slower than the other).

The TSX has very responsive steering, so if your steering wheel is not straight the car will not be going straight. You can't wiggle the steering wheel like in a SUV without the car changing direction. This is even more evident at highway speeds, minute changes make the car change lanes immediately. This accurate steering also makes it hard to keep the car straight if the road is heavily grooved, but you will feel the road trying to turn the steering wheel for you.

 

Dude, if you came from a fat tire cushy ride like my Jeep Grand Cherokee said then yes, the TSX handles like a go kart. If your previous ride was a WRX, then no...the TSX would be more like a riding lawn mower.

 

The car should pull slightly to the right for safety reasons.

 

No way. It should track straight and true.

 

Quick, responsive, steering. A solid connection with the road. Minimum body lean in curves. No tail wagging. Seventeen inch, low-profile tires. A "go where you point it" attitude. Yes, more like a go-cart than anything else that my wife has ever driven. Perhaps that is one of the reasons why the car consistently rates high in the "fun-to-drive" category. Apparently, go-carts are fun to drive since people will pay money to drive them. Search the acura-tsx forums (these forums) for keywords "go-cart" and "go-kart." You will find more than a couple of references.

AndreaBCFD has already posted three times about her alignment problem. And, she has already taken it to the dealer at least once -- and they apparently failed to correct the problem to her satisfaction. Of what value would it be for me to tell her to "take it to the dealer." She already knows that! I at least gave her some things she can suggest the dealer try -- or else have an independent shop do for her. Furthermore, the information was intended for the general audience and not just AndreaBCFD. On rare occasions, simply swapping the two front tires can correct a persistent tracking problem that will not show up on alignment equipment; even at the dealer. New tires will sometimes have this abnormality and it usually disappears after several thousand miles are on the tires.

 

Is this a manufacturing variance? Do you know what it is specifically? Just curious.

 

If a car has a very slight pull to the right, I will live with it. If a car has a very slight pull to the left, it goes back to the shop immediately. I hate to admit it, but I will sometimes take my hands off the steering wheel for two or three seconds to do something that requires both hands. In such a case, I do not feel at all safe in a car that drifts to the left. So, if the results of an alignment job is a tendency to drift very slowly to the right, I will tell the shop that the alignment is fine. I admit that this is a "personal" thing and others will have different opinions.

As you probably know, the factory specs allow for some variance in alignment. For example, I believe it is plus or minus 1/16 inch for toe. Therefore, a car can have a slight tendency to drift in one direction, or the other, and still be within factory specs.

 

If I ever fall asleep or die at the wheel I'd rather (and I'm sure everyone else on the road would rather) my car goes into the ditch than oncoming traffic!

 

It should go straight but if I had to pick one or the other I would pick right.

 

Hi SacQuacker, I don't know what causes it. But, since it usually disappears after some wear, I tend to think that it is related to a slight, and certainly unintended, repeating pattern on the surface of the treads; perhaps a pattern that actually exists in the molds. Truing machines have all but disappeared (extremely hard to find these days), so I have not had an opportunity to shave a little off of any new tires that had this abnormality to test my thoughts.

I don't know how tire molds are made, but I am quite sure that they are not machined -- so some significant variations can be expected. I have been told that a fair number of new molds are rejected because they do not meet specs.

Personally, I wish truing machines were still common. If they were, I would have all my tires trued after about 1,000 miles. Having tires that are very round can make for a smoother ride; especially on very smooth payment. But, tires these days are very close to being round.

 

When I asked the shop guy at my dealer about the car pulling in one direction when driving on a straight, flat surface, he said that it should only go straight for a few seconds and then start to drift for safety reasons. I'm pretty sure this has been mentioned in previous posts regarding this issue, but never knew if it was confirmed. Was the guy telling the truth or just BS'ing?

 

It cant be alignment, because he said he moves "side to side". He's probably driving on some real crappy ass roads and its tramlining (see my link above).

 

That's . There's absolutely no reason that a car has to veer off to one side or another for safety. It's next to impossible to have a 100% straight tracking car so he's just trying to cover his ass.