Steering wheel off center

[JLannoo]

My steering wheel is a touch off center to the left on my EP. Now its a small amount. The tech said about 1/8 of an inch,I think its a little more. The car does drive straight as an arrow. It just annoys me. I took it in once before and said tech talked me out of having it fixed.

He said it was a crude adjustment and he didnt know if he could make it any better though he would try if I wanted. He also said it might end up worse...is that the truth?

So anyways,its annoyed me to the point that I have another appointment at a different dealer (its closer) tommorrow. Is this something I should have them fix,or am I being too pickey.

The main reason I think it bothers me is because its off to the left. Since we drive on the right side of the road. Often times at least around here. You have to hold the wheel a little to the left on certain roads due to the angle so water can drain etc.
Now since the wheel is already a little to the left. Often times I'm drivin with the wheel cocked quite bit. Ok so I do sound stupid...but it bothers me! :)

Any opinions? and yes I know I ramble. LOL :D

[dw735]

as long as the car goes straight and the wheel is off a little bit, dont worry too much. but if it bothers you that it is off center, have the tech straighten the wheel. i remember posting a reply on some other thread about this, i think. yeah, ask the tech dude to straighten it. some guys are better than others. when i had my other honda, some lame guy said it was straight as possible, but for some reason, it was always straight when i did it in my hometown. but i kept that to myself, it was a crappy honda anyways. but let me say this, the tech who did my alignment after i got camber and springs, he did it perfectly straight. im cool with him and i asked him to, and being nice and all, he kept going to my steering wheel to make sure that it was straight. dang i think im ramblin. laters

[ep pilot]

I had the same problem when my car was brand new, I think it was because the salesmen thought it was mini-ute and tried to park the Ep's have cocked up on the curb of the showroom patio next to the Pilot and the CR-V's, mine was one of the ones parked up on the patio, and cried when I watchted a salesman try and park another Ep back up on the curb, grinding and riding the clutch, the front wheels took a huge slam to the curb.

I busted my 18"s on a storm drain a few weeks ago and when I had it aligned the shop said the toe was off bad from the factory, I recalled my steering wheel being off as well, now it is perfectly straight.

-Ryan

[BlasTech]

Originally posted by JLannoo
My steering wheel is a touch off center to the left on my EP.

Me too! its just like one degree left, but on a sloped road it has to be held at like 4 degrees...

It doesnt bother me too much but I'll check the Helms when I'm sober and see how to adjust it.

:D

[BlasTech]

OK I looked it up and here's the deal:

Its an ungodly complicated process, and I would not recommend trying it.

[JLannoo]

Originally posted by BlasTech
OK I looked it up and here's the deal:

Its an ungodly complicated process, and I would not recommend trying it.

LOL :)

you dont think I should try it? or you dont think I should have the dealer try it?

[atl-si]

Get it fix! I had an alignment done when I put on my Sprint springs. The shop guys didn't do it right :mad: and it was off by just a little. It pissed the hell out of me so I took it back and watch them do it right. :D Things like this usually drives me insane!

[BlasTech]

Well, its not too hard to get the horn/airbag assymbly off, but under there is a coil that you have to center, and its a kind-of fragile thing to get straight, and then put the wheel back on over it all. I'd recommend having it fixed the next time you are in for maint. at the dealer. Fortunately, it wont hurt anything being the way it is.

[BlasTech]

Well, its not too hard to get the horn/airbag assymbly off, but under there is a coil that you have to center, and its a kind-of fragile thing to get straight, and then put the wheel back on over it all. I'd recommend having it fixed the next time you are in for maint. at the dealer.

[JLannoo]

Well I took it in. We went out for a test drive and found a flat road. The tech centered the wheel and we of course cruised off to the right. So he says thats a problem and we go back. after an hour of waiting. We go back out on another test drive, Now seeing as he saw the problem the first time I'm thinking well I can trust him. He says it drives correct and the problem was fixed...ok.

Well as I drive home I notice its exactly the same..if not worse....what a headache. So I called them and I'm bringing it back in about a half an hour but I doubt they will fix it today. They said the toe in or something was a little out of spec so they fixed that...but I specifically asked them to straighten the wheel. :(

[sonic imperial]

I guess I got kinda lucky because my steering wheel is ok. I didn't have to get it aligned or anything. Honda can fix it.

[JLannoo]

ok after much hassle I believe they fixed it :D

When I brought it back the guy I delt with earlier took a hard line stance on the issue. Telling me all I could do was call Honda. Then his Boss made someone else go on another test drive and he verified the problem was still there.

Then they did something to fix it. Its pretty damn straight now. He said they adjusted the steering 1/16th of an inch some where. He was sort of pointing to the passenger side front. He said they used to adjust it the way BlasTech mentioned above but they stopped when airbags started being used.

Who knows if I was being lied to. I just hope they fixed it the proper way.

[glizard]

you were probably best leaving it alone.i'm not sure what adjustments they could have made except possibly a little toe adjustment.i had the same concern from an owner of an rsx/same car steering wise basically/the wheel was cocked slightly left and the aligment was dead on.drove straight,no pulling,well as little pulling as you can get on jersey roads.
the honda acceptable specification is 10% +or-
when you make a steering adjustment that close to dead center the gear ratio is at the point were the littlest turn makes a larger adjustment than if it were further away in the steering travel/for example as you turn the wheel left the further in the travel you go the less the wheels turn.for this it is almost impossible to get a true from the factory alignment reading once it has been adjusted.rule of thumb don't adjust the original alignment unless you hit something or it is pulling/wearing tires uneven.

[JLannoo]

Ok, I'm not sure I understood that. Honda did say the toe something was out of spec when they first aligned it. What they did the second time to actually straighten the wheel I have no clue. I do know that it doesnt seem to pull and now the wheel is straight. :)