Ok guys,

Well after deciding to keep my car and not trade for a TL-S i decided to try and FIX all the little issues i have had with it. One of which, being the most annoying, is that i have had 5 alignments in the last 4 months and it still fades to the right. I just got the 5th alignment saturday at 11am and when i left, the car was driving great, straight, no tire noise, straight wheel, and smooth just like it ALWAYS is when i leave the alignment shop. However, this time, after about an hr of driving errands around town, i noticed that it started to fade to the right more than just due to the crown of the road AGAIN! This has happened after every alignment but it usually takes like a week or so until i notice the difference again. I know that if we were to throw it back up on the aligment machine, even after just having it done saturday, it would be all out of wack again. The front toe is what is always out REALLY bad. This time it was -.15^ LT and -.14^ RT. He set it back to 0.00 for both sides just like i always request and same thing with the rear, which wasn't off by that much.

I have Ron Jon Servo's and Falken Ziex 512 tires that have the steel reinforcement stripe in them along with the 06 aspec suspension. I know that these tires due to the steel make the ride much stiffer than normal, especially after going for a ride in Jeff's car with aspec, Servo's, and DIFF tires. So i am wondering what the heck would cause it. Here is what i got so far...

a) The overall stiffness from the aspec and steel 225/40 tires just jar it loose
b) The alignment guy is not tightening everything down enough
c) There is something wrong with my toe adjustments in the front that i need to see the dealer for


That is about all i have so far and am really looking for some suggestions because i don't know what to do and it really gets annoying to constantly have to fight the car going to the right.

Help is appreciated

No prob with my front tires. But ill be going in for my 4th rear wheel alignment soon

a) Very, very doubtful, IMO.

b) My personal choice as to why this is happening. What I'd do is go in for a 6th alignment (I assume you have lifetime alignments from a specific shop, correct?). Bring in a copy of the Helm's manual page(s) that have the torque specs for all of the adjustment bolts. Then have them use a true torque wrench and not an impact gun, to set the torques correctly. They should have a torque wrench at the shop, and if they don't, bring it to another shop because that one is crap.

c) This shouldn't be the issue because they supposedly keep zeroing the toe and it creeps its way back to being way off, which unless the adjustment bolts are slipping for some reason (see b)), isn't a design issue and isn't something that should ever really happen. Especially a fairly isolated case like you have.

Another option, related to b), is to get a 6th alignment and then immediately get home and torque the bolts yourself if you have a torque wrench. Have you explained to the alignment shop and specifically, the guy doing the alignments, the problems you've been having? They SHOULD be receptive to your comments and your offer of a Helm's manual scan for the torque specs. Again, if not, go see another shop.

Good luck Jordan!

Eric,

This shop primarily specializes in just tires and recently has added alignments to their line of work. The kid at first didn't even know how ot adjust the rear until i showed him what to tighten however, the guy at the shop knows what he is doing. I need to talk to him about what happened on saturday since he wasn't there but i think he may have some suggestions. I doubt they have an impact wrench though, they might but i doubt it. I don't have a lifetime thing with them either but i think i am going to go to NTB and get there unlimited alignment for 3 years for $140. I have a feeling that he isn't tightening them down enough but i will have to go back to them again anyway and can talk to him them.

im having the same problem with my car just took it to the dealership to fix hope it gets good......

Jordan, how's the wear on your tires? Rotate them frequently?

I just got them in March i think. They haven't even hit 5k miles yet. And the driver side front was the one that i needed to get replaced due to hitting a nasty pothole. I thought that may have caused it the pulling too but the guy said that shouldn't do that because the other tires only have 3500 miles when that happened. Tire wear looks fine so far, maybe a TINY bit of wear on the inner edge but i thinks its fine! I am due for a rotation soon so that might help but i doubt it. I might have to do what offset did and take it to the dealer but then i have to pay them to do the first alignment.....

I agree with curls, you can't be toeing out, its practically impossible (the only toe out can come from wearing bushing/tie rod ends etc, but this is fixed with an alignment)

Another thing that can make you go to the left or the right is the camber... is your camber at 0 degrees plus or minus .5? If the different between the two is more than .5 apart, you will notice a slight drift....

Now, the TSX doesn't have adjustable front camber from the factory, but that doens't mean it didn't get knocked out of alignment if a curb was hit or the car was in an accident.

I would ask for a print out of the alignment sheet (with all the measurements, including camber and Caster just to be safe) and take it to another shop for another opinion.

I got the print out and at the last alignment the camber was -.2^ LT and -.3^ right and this time is was -.4^ LT and -.1^ RT. So maybe something did happen that knocked it out because why else would it be different? It still is only .3^ off though so i don't know if that would be the reason.

Yea, sometimes not all alignment shops machines are calibrated correctly, I had that happen to be before, on my caster changed a lot.

Well, at this point, you can just take it another alignment shop and talk to them and hopefully figure out what is going on.

My TSX was wrecked before I bought it (and it was never reported to carfax) and my camber was way off, its still off, but not enough to bother me (after i installed a camber kit).

Anyway, let us know how it goes.

Many have experienced the same problem even when the car was new. The logical approach is to set the alignment to factory spec (0 toes) but it still doesn't solve the problem. So if it doesn't work, why keep on doing it? Next time try setting the front and rear toes slightly positive and if see that solve your problem.

Btw, don't be afraid to try something other than factory specifications. We have been doing it in many areas such as oil, filters, intake, swaybar, header, ECU reflash, tires, brakes. etc. Did you like the results? Why not this? Set it so the car performs best, not how it came from the factory.

Not an impact wrench... a torque wrench!

I think you should talk w/ the manager (again?) and mention this is the 5th time you've gone back, or however many times, and try to recoup some of the money you've paid them, as this isn't a normal occurrance for any alignment shop in this short of a timeframe I don't think!

lol, yea that is what i meant. As for the money, i have only paid full $74 for two of the alignments. The other ones were free and then they charged me half price for one of them. So i haven't lost THAT much money yet but i do need to talk to him about it......

If it doesn't work out, i will be going to NTB and have them look at it!



JTso- That is a good idea i suppose although i would have no idea where to start to try and tweak it. Will positive toe wear down the tires a little faster or just negative toe? I would think either or will but i just want to make sure i'm thinking about it correctly. Plus, i'm loosing my mind at work today, too much going on.....lol.

Well, they will both wear pretty much equally, but they WILL wear. Anything other than 0 toe will wear tires, it might be slow, but it will happen.

But, Toe In is more stable than Toe out... (you don't have a center feel to your steering wheel with toe out) so go that route, if you do tweak it.

Ok, so i went back finally this past weekend and the guys said, lets just rotate your tires and see if we can find out if its a radial pull (not exactly sure what that is but i'm guessing it has to do with tire compound, material, and the manner in which it was made). So we do and i take it for a test drive and it actually seemed to go straight for the most part other than the normal pull due to the crowned road. I thank them, they don't charge me, and i go home. NOW, as of monday, it started pulling back to the right again?!?!?! Could a radial pull still affect me even from the rear, or do i need another alignment due account for the new tires up front? My guess would be no, but i am out of ideas and its really frustrating......

Any help is appreciated!

.....

?

yea, i don't know which is why i didn't respond.....i think he didn't know what to say in which, you just don't reply with anything. Oh well, maybe some one else will supply more imput.

I am tempted to throw my stock wheels back on and see if that changes anything.....i have 2.5 more monts until i put them back on but i can push it up and see if it goes away i guess.

he's post whoring

Anyway, if you have your stock set, it wouldn't hurt to put them on temporarily and see if it fixes the problem.

Maybe you can talk to your dealer and get an idea from them on what the problem might be? They ought to know more about the intricate details of your car

Does the steering wheel vibrate at high speeds? Maybe an axle problem from the pot hole. Or maybe the alignment bolt stripped and it keeps slipping of alignment. A new car like that shouldn't be so troublesome. Go in for an alignment again at Acura. After the nth time maybe Acura can determine your vehicle to be a lemon.

I actually thought about that because when i go above 78 MPH, the steering wheel shakes like crazy....i never thought about something like til you mentioned it.

Why else would my wheel shake that bag above 78 MPH?!?

If it shakes above a certain speed its almost always a balance issue. Not only balanced tires/wheels, but balanced (or unbalanced!) axles, or anything that rotates with the wheel. I had a huge PITA problem with a bad reman axle on my Integra at one point. I had the wheels balanced 3 times and roadforce balanced twice... all to no avail. I swapped the axle out with one from a friends' Teg and everything was great again. So I brought the defective axle back and got a new one free under warranty, problem solved.

Ah man, i really hope that i didn't damage an axle, i guess i will add this to my list to have them look at when i take it in. I just need to go over there and talk to a service guy to actually point out some of these things cause there are a lot of them. It drives fine under normal conditions and normal highway speeds, but i don't usually drive normal speeds I don't go over 85 MPH though but i like to cruise right around 80 or so when i need to and that is right when it starts to shake like crazy.

any update on this problem. I just recently lowered my car but running stock sized wheels and tires and i had an alignment the day i lowered it. I was messing with the car yesterday and noticed that my rf tire, on the inside, was chopped up to sh*t. Well, it's not a shock issue since they are new so it has to be alignment. Sure enough, .19 degrees out of spec. WTF? rears were perfect and camber is the exact same as it was before. LF was a tiny bit out but nothing big. Any fix to this problem? anything to look for?

Well that is the thing, you need to wait for the springs to settle in before going to get an alignment. I put my aspec suspension on and waited about 1-1.5 weeks before going and getting an alignment. Give a few days and then go back for another alignment and hopefully they will do it for free since its out so bad now! Most places will do that.


As for my issue, i have not had any solution as of yet. It still pulls slightly to the right but has gotten better and i do not want to pay for another alignment yet so i'm leaving it alone. I check the tire wear often to make sure things are totally screwed up. i will be putting my stock wheels and tires back on for the winter in about a month and plan on getting an alignment done at that time and hopefully it will be a different story.

I also have a bad shake in the wheel when getting over speeds of like 78 MPH so i hope that goes away as well, but we'll see what happens. I'll be sure to update!

true, but the springs were used. he struts were new but i doubt that would change it that much

I think your RF driveshaft is bent. Each time you go on the machine, the angle of the wheel would be different depending on the position of the driveshaft when the car is stopped.

hmm, but i have no vibrations. Well, the tire vibrates but if i rotate it to the back the vibration changes to the seat and the wheel is butter smooth. I actually have another appointment on wednesday to have the alignment double checked. Guess i'll find out then

hmm, but i have no vibrations. Well, the tire vibrates but if i rotate it to the back the vibration changes to the seat and the wheel is butter smooth. I actually have another appointment on wednesday to have the alignment double checked. Guess i'll find out then.
Now also, the car was just barely out of spec after I lowered it. If it was a driveshaft, why would this not have shown up on the 1st alignment i had done?
Not going against you or anything but this could be a costly problem if it's not something simple.

You go over a pothole AFTER your first alignment?

No. No pot holes. Ever since I bent a rim on my prelude back in the day, i avoid those things like the plague. Only thing is that i live on a dirt road but i was up and down that road a couple months before i lowered the car and it was barely out of spec when i got it aligned. possibility though but that would be a massive hit to knock it out that much wouldn't it? I feel that something that hard i'd remember.

My steering wheel shakes like crazy at certain RPM's and i thought it was my tires so i rotated them, but it didn't help. As per this thread i got a lot of alignments and it i let it go this time. I think that the treads on the tires just wore differently and its causing some uneven movement, yours could be the same issue. I will putting my stocks on soon and getting an alignment and i hope that it solves my problem but, i have thought about the axle damage from that bad pothole i hit a few months back and i REALLY hope that isn't it. Try taking it to the dealership to have them look at it!

FYI... it's fairly easy to measure axle runout (bent-ness) using a fairly cheap deflection measuring tool. I have seen similar items to this one for $30 or less. Also, most shops should have them and with it can tell you if the axle(s) are warped. http://www.etoolcart.com/index.asp?P...OD&ProdID=5243