lucnex

iTrader: (3)

I just noticed this a few days ago, but when I am braking heavily (almost engaging ABS) I notice my car tends to "drift" from side to side almost like its about to fishtail....

last week I had the car lowered on TEIN SS and just had the local Honda dealer install my Ingalls camber kit in the rear....all of a sudden I notice this.

Also, I noticed a drift the other day when I took a curve to the right pretty fast, yet I cannot replicate the same thing when taking a fast turn to the left...I just had my front right wheel replaced from Michelin for warranty issues, but my tread in the rear is still 8/32.

Any reason for this? The car seems very unstable now for some reason, even though before it seemed much better handling even though my alignment was way off...the Honda dealer tried to install those damn little screws on my rotors too, but realize they would not fit since they were aftermarket...could they be the reason for this?

It is weird that once my camber kit is installed this is happening....i feel like something must have gotten screwed up during the install, but I checked everything and it look alright from under the car....I do not have a jack so it really is hard to tell...

Any reasoning for this Acurazine?!??!?!

JETSPD1477

you drastically changed the characteristics of your suspension. a lower stiffer ride doesn't mean its going to handle better. on the other hand you can just be driving too fast.

andURpoint

Just how fast are you driving? if its drifting and fishtailin on you when your only going 35....ya might have a issue. But if your taking a sharp curve at 80, well fish tailin and drifting is to be expected.

lucnex

iTrader: (3)

braking in a straight line with heavy pedal pressure from 40mph - 10mph

AMUA6

iTrader: (7)

Does it almost seem as if one caliper is pressing the rotor harder than the other?

scturborr

I would take the car to a good alignment shop. I would suspect the rear alignment is off. Firestone screwed up the rear alignment (toe in/out adjustment only) on my mom's 2nd gen TL and it did the same thing. Not sure if its the same cause but it could be.

killersrt

My rear toe was off on my car, and it was so unstable on the interstate, it was almost unsafe. The car would sway side to side. The slightest mistake on alignments can make a drastic change on the street.

lucnex

iTrader: (3)

As a matter of fact it does, which is why I was wondering since they took off my caliper....what would be the cause of this


Also, they did an alignment at the dealership, they used a hunter, which usually gives a pretty good rating.....they did have to take my bumper off to get it on the lift thingy....

I hate cars

Alignment for sure.

On the other hand, don't always assume lower equals better handling. I don't know how much you lowered it but you're taking a car that already sits fairly close to the bumpstops and putting it even closer. Once one end of the car hit the stops which will likely be the rear, the roll stiffness goes infinate and it will oversteer like crazy until it unloads. I'm sure this is not the case under braking but it's something to think about. The rear is supposed to toe in, I believe, under braking. It may not be doing this as much since you lowered it or if the alignment is off.

lucnex

iTrader: (3)

So what are the specs that I need for a proper alignment?

TRIOD3SIGNS

IHC your knowledge excites me... BWAHAHAHAHA

and yes... I too had the same issue, your toe seems to be off from the description you gave. I felt the same when I lowered my car before an alignement. Its possible they might have miscalculated the rear alignment.

If you don't get it fixed... be prepared to wear out your tires extra fast!

I hate cars

Definately possible they screwed up. I've had the correct factory numbers on the receipt in hand and as soon as I drove the car I knew it was incorrect. So far I'm 4-1 in bad alignments vs good ones, all had numbers within factory tolerances but somehow they were incorrect. Wait another 1,000 miles and the tires will start getting very noisy.

I hate cars

AMUA6

iTrader: (7)

+1

I have yet to get an alignment after being lowered on Tein Stechs for about 1k miles .. My rear shocks are out so I'm waiting on the sp3's to arrive, before an alignment. And man, everytime I hit a bump in the road.. talk about fishtailing, jesus lol

lucnex

iTrader: (3)

so what are the "ideal" settings for camber caster and toe? I already know my camber is off in the front, but according to me readout only .2%, not enough to justify buying a front camber kit.

I hate cars

Stock settings are the best. It's probably not your camber. It's probably the toe. It may say it's ok and I don't know if it's the techs purposely messing with the numbers or if it's set up wrong. I've run into this way too many times. The printout you get shows everything is ok but it's not. Take it to another shop and I'll guarantee they find something off. I take mine to a racing shop that specialized in road race cars. It's the only place that does a proper alignment around here including the dealer.

lucnex

iTrader: (3)

Are there any other possibilities for this happening? How would I know if say, my brakes were messed up or something of that nature?

01tl4tl

dragging brake will rip the wheel from your hand
and looking at the rotor you will see blue heat damage to it

what are the numbers from the printout they gave you on alignment?

Camber neg 1 degree is good for racer types- otherwise you bought kits to return it to stock specs, right?
0 camber

alignment after lowering is a must- the toe goes out ...the car tries to split itself in half going down the road--not great~

lucnex

iTrader: (3)

I got it aligned at the dealer but do not have the specs with me since I am at work.I am bringing it to a performance alignment place tomorrow so we will see what they say.

at this point I think it has to be the alignment, though the shop refuses to believe me. I explained the situation to them and they said "bet 50 bucks its your brakes but you can bring it in anyway" I am hoping I can give them a nice big "f@#k off" if the toe is out...

I hate cars

This is just an opinion but I think your best bet is going to be to take it to another shop, pay for it out of pocket, and when the printout shows it was screwed up from the previous alignment, get them to reimburse you.

01tl4tl

agree--and find an alignment shop with the rack set into the floor
Call around
That way lowered cars drive right on - not remove the front bumper to get it up the steep incline old style setups

lucnex

iTrader: (3)

So I finally had time to bring my car in this morning to get checked up for alignment....after they told me it was my brakes causing the issue they finally put it on the lift to take a look underneath.....

turns out the fucking honda dealer never torqued the bolts for my camber kit when they installed it. In fact, two of the bolts were missing nuts on the other side....basically any large bump andboth my control arms could have fallen off. Since my suspension was essentially not correctly bolted together, no wonder why I was having the issue in the first place. I gave the service manager a nice phone call right away telling him it was a load of shit what they did and I refused to pay for it....

currently, my car is back at the honda dealer where they r going to double check my control arms and re-do my alignment. The work I had done before I brought it over there (I had them tighten up the bolts so my camber kit wouldnt fall from my car) is being paid for by the Honda dealership. They gave me a rental car as well while they finished everything up...I am still waiting for them to call me once its done.

Hopefully this will fix everything....I am still debating on calling the manager of the service department or Honda corporate because of how much BS all this is....my car could have gotten seriously f-ed up had those arms fallen off while I was driving.....

I hate cars

Glad you got to the bottom of it. The car is the least of your problems, it could've killed you or someone else. I've had my front suspension come apart twice on me after the bodyshop got done and I'm currently in a lawsuit with them.

lucnex

iTrader: (3)

On your TL? I feel like I should call the service manager and get some sort of refund, considering this is incredibly inconvenient for me...plus the service advisor blew me off twice when i left 2 voicemails for him....thoughts?

01tl4tl

they are fixing it correctly now and covering all your expenses.. right?

Im sure the service manager is in the loop on this one and a few people got reamed.,or dismissed with cause
How the installer and alignment guy missed something important like tighten the bolts!!!!
hell has been raised internally

You can tell the SM how the writer blew you off,, and could have resulted in death and major lawsuit
So what will make you happy? an apology from who? or is it whom?

Corp is for when you cannot resolve it with the manager at dealer