Car paranoia / HELP!!!
 

Okay, I'll be the first to admit that I am basically a hypochondriac when it comes to my car. But the last couple of weeks, I have felt like the handling wasn't quite what it used to be. I almost want to say it feels twitchy, but not in the sense that I feel like the back end is stepping out or anything. I guess my biggest complaint is that it doesn't feel quite as stable in a straight line at highway speeds with constant throttle, even on newly paved roads.

I have been checking my tire pressures once or twice a week in the morning before I drive the car and I have been keeping them a steady 32 psi, so we're not looking at an imbalance in the pressures.

My tire tread looks pretty decent considering that I have 8400+ miles on the car. Even if the tread were just simply low, I wouldn't think it would feel like this.

My wild a55ed guess is that maybe I have knocked my alignment out of spec. How easy is it to do that? I do drive through a lot of road construction (south east side of 270 to be exact) and that construction has really just picked up in the past month or so. I'm generally passing through that construction twice per day and the S2000 is my daily driver, so this could be a factor here.

Any thoughts before I take her in to the dealer? I'd hate to make a big deal out of it and turn out that it's all in my head or that I just need some new tires or something.

:(

Is anyone willing to check her out for me? Maybe take a quick test drive and give me an opinion? Reassure me that I'm not insane? Or that I am insane, but the car is fine??? David1, are you out there? I am staying up your way while I housesit for my sister (got your PM about seeing me on 161).

StrangeDaze, do you still feel that your S feels different than mine? I noticed just a slight drift to right, but this drift on most cars is normal. I probably should take a look at your inside edge of your tires. With 8400 miles, I should be able to notice the camber wear on each tire.

BTW, did the seats look better with the Zymol on them?

Yeah, the seats look great! Thanks again!

Since you know way more about detailing/paint care than I do, I might ask you to check out a small scratch I have discovered mostly over my gas flap door. Maybe you can give me some advice on what to try to remove it?

I think our cars felt pretty close, not counting your mods. I still feel like something is not quite perfect in the handling, like it has gone downhill slightly now that I'm starting to get some miles on it. Like I said, though, I am a known paranoid when it comes to this stuff! And after we swapped cars, I have to say I'm not really too concerned with it.

I am thinking that I might try to get the dealer to do a wheel balance/alignment whenever I get it in for the spark plug TSB (still no letter about that, but I might give the dealer a call today if I get bored this afternoon at work). I thought they mentioned when I purchased the car that Honda will warranty the alignment/wheel balance for 12 months/12,000 miles, but I bet they won't want to touch it unless they can road test it and see a need for it. And it doesn't feel bad, just "not as good as new", I guess. Heck, maybe this is just how the tires feel as they wear?

:)

Next time we meet, I will have to look closer at the tires. I also remember reading other threads where the rears were half worn and there were some handling concerns. From what I have heard from others is that the rear tires grip decreases as they wear past 50% since the compound is different. This might be what you are feeling. I did not really corner hard enough to compare ours. I can probably get the scratch out for you too.

Dave

Thanks. The scratch isn't too noticable. Just in the right light you can see it. I don't think it appears too deep, so hopefully it will come out easily enough. Do you favor any particular product? I picked up some Meguiar's ScratchX a while back, but haven't tried it yet.

Don't rub to hard. If it does not come out easily, I have a high speed buffer and we can color sand it out.

......and to think at one time Joe really cared about his car http://smiley.onegreatguy.net/happydrunks.gif

Joe, when was last time you checked your alignment?
I know this sound trivial but wacked out alignment does that to you as well.

Also, as your tires gets cold, I am assuming you are on SO2s, it lose characteristics on dry payment on warmer days and you may feel the twitchness more so now than when weather was warmer.

:iagree: I have to agree with Andy here.

Sounds like alignment in combination with the cold/less forgiving S02 tires.

sounds like this was from 2 years ago... :)
i can only imagine that he's addressed some of these issues since then :thumbup:

(at least i hope so... i've been the damn +1 on how many trips??? ) :banghead:


:LOL: