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If you stock wheel is fine, then the issue is not your wheel alignment, but your new steering wheel. I think it makes no sense to mess with the completely perfect wheel alignment for the sake of putting on the bad steering wheel.
His new steering wheel isn't necessarily "bad" it's just not the one equipped with his car and aligned with it. The tolerances of these spline features aren't easy to get perfect and you can now see the difference between part A and B. As you can see his new wheel is beautiful, he just needs to adjust it so it's perfect.
The reason I think you shouldn't realign is because it's expensive for what you're going to get out of it. You won't be able to notice if it's perfect until you drive around a bit and the alignment shop won't be able to put that much attention into it. Doing the tie rod adjust at home is really easy. You don't even have to take the wheels off. If you have ramps, it's even easier. All you need is a 14mm and 19mm wrench and something to mark your starting position.
This. Its only the toe you need to set. If you take off from one side exactly what you put on to the other, alignment stays as it was.
A lot of places that do alignments will sell you a lifetime alignment. Usually its like 2x cost of a normal alignment. You can go back for a new alignment whenever you want. A bargain if its a shop you trust.
i usually by a 3 year alignment plan cost me 150 buxs but i go back every so often before track days to add more camber and maybe dial in some toe and then when im not going to be hitting the track for a few months i have them adjust it all back so usually works out to 2 or 3 alignments a year! Worth it for me
i usually by a 3 year alignment plan cost me 150 buxs but i go back every so often before track days to add more camber and maybe dial in some toe and then when im not going to be hitting the track for a few months i have them adjust it all back so usually works out to 2 or 3 alignments a year! Worth it for me
Yeah Trust me I have looked into those a few times. But the shop I go to is a specialist shop (RRT in Sterling VA). There is a mechanic there, Artin. used to be on the forums. He does a fantastic job (as you can see from my original alignment). It is worth the extra money to get it done right. Of course in this kind of situation it is a bit expensive. I wouldn't hesitate but I just had one done in late Jan.
Most of these Life time shops, don't even know that the caster on the S2000 is adjustable (Even the Honda dealer gave me lip about that). On top of that, they focus on just getting everything green.
His new steering wheel isn't necessarily "bad" it's just not the one equipped with his car and aligned with it. The tolerances of these spline features aren't easy to get perfect and you can now see the difference between part A and B. As you can see his new wheel is beautiful, he just needs to adjust it so it's perfect.
The reason I think you shouldn't realign is because it's expensive for what you're going to get out of it. You won't be able to notice if it's perfect until you drive around a bit and the alignment shop won't be able to put that much attention into it. Doing the tie rod adjust at home is really easy. You don't even have to take the wheels off. If you have ramps, it's even easier. All you need is a 14mm and 19mm wrench and something to mark your starting position.
I am going to try your way myself first. The worst I can do is to mess up the alignment. I won't be worse off then If I just took it to the alignment shop. Might even learn a thing or two being under there. Up untill now I thought the airbag would kill me if I touched it. That way at-least the shop has to work for their money!
BTW I trust my shop to do good job. I understand why they might not wanna mess with just the toe without doing a full alignment.
I am going to try your way myself first. The worst I can do is to mess up the alignment. I won't be worse off then If I just took it to the alignment shop. Might even learn a thing or two being under there. Up untill now I thought the airbag would kill me if I touched it. That way at-least the shop has to work for their money!
BTW I trust my shop to do good job. I understand why they might not wanna mess with just the toe without doing a full alignment.
Just to close out the thread for anyone searching this one in the future. My issue is solved.
Special Thanks to "roel03" help and useful tips. I was able to resolve my issue by doing a "simple" tie rod adjustment. I had to move it 1/4 turn in the opposite direction on each end and I was perfect. I don't think the car's alignment was impacted but will check to be sure (free at Honda Dealer).
NOTE: It took me 5 test drives to figure out which way I supposed to be turning which rod and getting the measurement right but having marked my baseline was a life saver.
Dude I’m having the same issue. Euroboutique steering wheel (oem wheel that’s been rewrapped) lines up differently than my original oem stock one. Just went for a drive, swapped them part way through, and kept driving, and they’re different. I think I can even see how the splines are aligned a bit differently between the two.
02-27-2018, 06:30 PM
