Hi everyone. I have a MY07, and had a steering question. First off, the car drives straight if my hands are off the wheel, no pulling at all. The steering wheel is a bit off center when the wheels are perfectly straight, but I not sure if that's related.

My issue is that if I'm turning, the car will not straighten itself out if I let go of the wheel. Basically, if I turn the steering wheel for a turn, the car will continue turning and the steering wheel will stay at that angle even if I let go of the steering wheel. I thought it might be due to the EPS, but I wanted to make sure there was nothing wrong with the car. I figured I'd get an alignment and see if that helps?

Thanks,
Ken

 

Check your tie rods. One might be broken. An eps issue wouldn't manifest itself like this. And if your rack and pinion had a problem you would hear some noise or not even be able to turn at all

 

It sounds like it's just a simple alignment issue with way too little caster (shoot for 6-8* of caster). The steering wheel being off center is almost certainly an alignment issue as well with the tie rod being too far out on one side.

-Matt M.

 

All true. The S2000 also does naturally have less "self-center" (especially in stock alignment) than some other cars I've driven, especially front-wheel drive, front-heavy cars.

I have also recently seen a worn set of tires do some funky stuff to the steering wheel being off center when going straight. If the alignment is perfect and you still have the issue, tires are the next thing to consider swapping out as an experiment.

 

I had this same problem, two bolts on the steering rack were loose. Put a socket on them and see if they move.

 

Awssome, thanks for the help everybody! Fortunately I live about 20min away from Science of Speed, so I'll have them do an alignment for me. The tires are brand new, so I don't think it's due to them.

 

Did you have to lift the car up to tighten them?

 

Not really, unbolting the rack is done from the top. I would not suggest going over 7 degrees of caster. Excessive caster causes wheel shimmy, and puts unnecessary load on the lower ball joints.

 

In case anyone was curious, ended up being waayyyyy out of factory alignment. The alignment guy at the Honda dealership (who apparently has four S2000s) said it was like someone had tried to give it a track setup and went way overboard.

 

Can someone explain me what wheels Shimmy is?

I think I have 7 or 8 deg.

I have -1,5 caster ans 0 toe.

Wheels doesnt center all the way either. Feels numb.