Help me make my car go straight.

[alfa147x]

I started noticing my 2007 Honda Civic Coupe pulling right a lot and so I took it to a garage to have them align it. Charged me $53 to do all 4 wheels but on my road trip today I noticed that it was still pulling to the right.

Now what? Could it be something else?


Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lao32P-tJ0Y&feature=player_detailpage#t=14s
(Sorry for the music. I was going to edit some frank sinatra mixed with lady gaga in before uploading)


Thanks,
Alfa

 

[punjabiplaya]

take it back to them and tell them it's still pulling. Tire pressures equal? Tire wear equal (get a tire rotation)

 

[alfa147x]

take it back to them and tell them it's still pulling. Tire pressures equal? Tire wear equal (get a tire rotation)

Oh I rotated them a couple days before getting my wheels aligned

 

[vshah]

check tire wear, check tire pressure, even in the back. I was going to say road crown, but that looks like a small enough road that there wouldn't be much/any.

I've always had slight issues with my civic's alignment. The rear camber is fixed, and isn't adjustable stock. A known issue is that the right rear camber is usually out of whack. (lead to moderate cupping on my right rear tire, albeit after 35k miles)

During your rotation, did you by any change move the right rear to the right front? How many miles are on the tires?
Definitely check for cupping on your right front tire. When I got my old tires rotated last, they moved right rear -> right front, and my car pulled to the right like crazy.

edit: it does seem like the road is turning left ever so slightly. that may be causing the issue to seem worse than it really is. I'd find a parking garage or something and try it out there to be certain.

 

[T2urtle]

you paid for the car to go straight. It didn't happen so either get a refund, have it do it again or give you a reason as to why/what part is causing this.

cant watch the video at the time but thats what i would go with. What does the alignment print out say... It could be your tires but let them determine that for FREE.

 

[alfa147x]

Thanks guys

check tire wear, check tire pressure, even in the back. I was going to say road crown, but that looks like a small enough road that there wouldn't be much/any.

I've always had slight issues with my civic's alignment. The rear camber is fixed, and isn't adjustable stock. A known issue is that the right rear camber is usually out of whack. (lead to moderate cupping on my right rear tire, albeit after 35k miles)

During your rotation, did you by any change move the right rear to the right front? How many miles are on the tires?
Definitely check for cupping on your right front tire. When I got my old tires rotated last, they moved right rear -> right front, and my car pulled to the right like crazy.

edit: it does seem like the road is turning left ever so slightly. that may be causing the issue to seem worse than it really is. I'd find a parking garage or something and try it out there to be certain.

Tire wear and pressure are all equal around. I did front right to rear left. I'll check tire wear and for cupping in a bit. This was an issue before the rotation as well.

Millage on the car is about 60,000 miles. In the video I'm going around 80 mph.

you paid for the car to go straight. It didn't happen so either get a refund, have it do it again or give you a reason as to why/what part is causing this.

cant watch the video at the time but thats what i would go with. What does the alignment print out say... It could be your tires but let them determine that for FREE.

Good point. I'll see what they say tomorrow or monday.

 

[satyajitmenon]

Pfft. That's a factory fitted option that makes you move to the right lane when not overtaking.

Noob.

 

[summit]

alignment seems kind of cheap did you go to a reputable place?

 

[Bartman39]

Is it me or is he approaching a slight left turn in the road...? Uh car goes straight while road veers left so car appears to go right...?

 

[DivideBYZero]

My god, what phone is that? I need to know because its video mode is terrible and I need to avoid buying one.

 

[alfa147x]

Pfft. That's a factory fitted option that makes you move to the right lane when not overtaking.

Noob.

lol

alignment seems kind of cheap did you go to a reputable place?

I haven't heard anything bad about them. Pretty well known place here.

Is it me or is he approaching a slight left turn in the road...? Uh car goes straight while road veers left so car appears to to right...?

I'll record another video tonight.

My god, what phone is that? I need to know because its video mode is terrible and I need to avoid buying one.

I miss my iPhone. It's a shitty Dell Streak.

 

[brblx]

did you tell the shop 'it pulls' or 'i want an alignment'?

if the latter, your fault. if the former, theirs.

toe is the only factory adjustable alignment angle on the front of your car. pulling is caused by uneven caster or camber (among other things). if they said they could fix a pull by aligning it, they're retarded. you probably either have a bent part or a bad tire.

did they give you a printout?

your video is somewhat worthless because i can't see the steering wheel. incorrect toe can cause the wheel to be crooked, but won't make it 'pull.' there is a difference between 'my car doesn't go straight when the wheel is straight' and 'my car pulls'. what happens when you take your hands of the wheel? pulls right still?

 

[thescreensavers]

Post the alignment sheet!

 

[alfa147x]

did you tell the shop 'it pulls' or 'i want an alignment'?

if the latter, your fault. if the former, theirs.

toe is the only factory adjustable alignment angle on the front of your car. pulling is caused by uneven caster or camber (among other things). if they said they could fix a pull by aligning it, they're retarded. you probably either have a bent part or a bad tire.

did they give you a printout?

your video is somewhat worthless because i can't see the steering wheel. incorrect toe can cause the wheel to be crooked, but won't make it 'pull.' there is a difference between 'my car doesn't go straight when the wheel is straight' and 'my car pulls'. what happens when you take your hands of the wheel? pulls right still?

No print out. Didn't know I needed one. I told the lady the car pulls right and she said it should be fixed by an alignment.

When I take my hand off of the wheel the car heads to the right.

 

[Zap]

My Mazdaspeed 6 does this. Did it since new, and has gotten worse. Alignment didn't fix it so I'll have to get them to look at it again. It has had this problem on three sets of tires, each mounted on its own set of wheels.

My dad's F150 had this problem once and they said it was a bad tire. We shrugged it off, and then while I was driving (few weeks later?) a huge slab came off one of the tires and started slapping the inside of the wheel well. Put the spare on, and voila it didn't pull to the side anymore!

 

[brblx]

No print out. Didn't know I needed one. I told the lady the car pulls right and she said it should be fixed by an alignment.

as stated, she doesn't know what she's talking about. most latemodel cars lack any front adjustment other than toe. camber can often be adjusted at the strut, but honda don't typically use a standard macpherson strut setup- i'm not familiar with their newer cars, though. even if it did have some wiggle room there, the typical tire jockey isn't going to bother adjusting it (and the alignment machine will still tell him it's not adjustable).

yeah, you should've gotten a printout from the alignment machine that shows before, after, and spec. then it would be easy to tell you if there was still a problem due to alignment. camber pulls toward the most positive side and caster pulls to the least positive side. if these numbers are fairly even, it's likely a tire problem.

 

[alfa147x]

Any way to adjust the camber myself?

 

[vshah]

Any way to adjust the camber myself?

no, you'll need to buy
front:
http://www.procivic.com/pages-product_car_part_info/category-69_83/product-799/index.html

and back:
http://www.procivic.com/pages-product_car_part_info/category-69_83/product-673/index.html

to make it adjustable. even then, getting it right is very difficult to do without an alignment rig. some people can use lines of string etc....i have never had such skill.

see if firestones in your area have the lifetime alignment deal. my friend got it for under a hundred bucks.

 

[thescreensavers]

when you go to complain and get re-alighment make sure to get the print out!

If they say some crap about the printer being out of ink its bs lol.

 

[randay]

did it go straight right after they did the work? how long has it been. you should have gotten an alignment sheet. the fact that you didnt is highly suspicious.

 

[alfa147x]

Thanks everyone for the help

no, you'll need to buy
front:
http://www.procivic.com/pages-product_car_part_info/category-69_83/product-799/index.html

and back:
http://www.procivic.com/pages-product_car_part_info/category-69_83/product-673/index.html

to make it adjustable. even then, getting it right is very difficult to do without an alignment rig. some people can use lines of string etc....i have never had such skill.

see if firestones in your area have the lifetime alignment deal. my friend got it for under a hundred bucks.

Wow that's expensive. No firestones here

when you go to complain and get re-alighment make sure to get the print out!

If they say some crap about the printer being out of ink its bs lol.

Will do

did it go straight right after they did the work? how long has it been. you should have gotten an alignment sheet. the fact that you didnt is highly suspicious.

I picked the car up at 5 and drove it 2 miles home then the next morning left to drive up to Atlanta

 

[thescreensavers]

^ if you are at stock height no reason you need caber kits.

 

[vshah]

^ if you are at stock height no reason you need caber kits.

rear camber on this gen civic has been known to be out of whack from the factory. some people live with it (as I have so far), but it does cause uneven wear for those it affects. my right rear is at something like -1.6, left rear is -.5

 

[T2urtle]

when you go to complain and get re-alighment make sure to get the print out!

If they say some crap about the printer being out of ink its bs lol.

printer issues do happen. Both times on my alignment but they showed me on the machine itself so i rolled with that. This was mainly because i asked for it, "i'm not paying unless i get a print out of before and after"

having a print out of specs when the car rolled off to compare it to when they roll it on next time will be another clue if something is loose/worn/broken as it will be off when it comes back.

A car can still pull even if everything is in the green ( on the sheet) because they didn't setup the car right or ones on the high side of spec and the other is in low side.

I just saw your video and it doesn't help me at all.