Finally had a 4 wheel alignment done, and the #'s as from Honda were WAY off. Nothing even close to factory spec. So now everything is dialed in except for the wheel being off center a couple millimeters. Not horrible, but definitely off a bit.

They showed me the #'s on the printout and that the car had the wheel dead on centered for the measurements. Is this fixable, or should I be happy that the alignment is otherwise great? The car goes straight, good turn in either direction, etc.

The back of their card says "customer satisfaction guaranteed". I know the machine says it's perfect, but it's not. How hard to push.

Thanks all,


Mark

 

Are you saying that the actual alignment of your car is fine...as in it goes straight, but in order to go straight, your steering wheel isn't straght? as in the bottom spoke doesnt point straight down?

If thats the case then, I have the same problem... And honestly it REALLY pisses me off when I think about it, but when I'm driving (or was driving) I completely forgot about it.

However, I will end up getting an alignment on the steering to make it straight. So basically what I'm saying is I don't htink you're too picky cuz I will do the same thing. It's little things like that that piss me off, and I need them to be working fine...

 

Can I ask what they set your specs to?

 

[QUOTE=BNavZ,Apr 29 2005, 10:30 AM]Are you saying that the actual alignment of your car is fine...as in it goes straight, but in order to go straight, your steering wheel isn't straght? as in the bottom spoke doesnt point straight down?

If thats the case then, I have the same problem... And honestly it REALLY pisses me off when I think about it, but when I'm driving (or was driving) I completely forgot about it.

However, I will end up getting an alignment on the steering to make it straight.

 

shouldn't getting an alignment done straighten out the center position of the steering wheel? it does whenever i get one.

 

It does when you have a good tech who cares about his work do the alignment. My tech had me drive the car around the block to check the steering wheel centering. He was willing to tweak it when I came back, but he got it right the first time.

 

[QUOTE=Mark16q,Apr 29 2005, 11:36 AM] That's exactly it. The alignment of the car feels dead on. But going straight down the freeway, if I hold the wheel perfectly centered, I'm changing lanes. But of course, the machine says it perfect

 

I have a few sections of freeway that slope from the right down to the left and it's the same. When getting off the freeway to the right, with the wheel dead on centered, I'm exiting.

Here are two shots of the #'s they got. One from last week, and the front end only from yesterday. Anything severely amiss??





Mark

 

I have this same problem. It's off by just a teeny tiny bit and I can't seem to get it centered just right. I've learned to just let it go, and next time I get an alignment I will really push it.

 

You can have your steering wheel centered or adjusted anyway you like without effecting the alignment or steering. One really has nothing to do with the other. You can have it upside down and still turn the wheel the same amount in either direction from center.

I once took a really sharp turn at high speed and hit a hard bump at the same time, my alignment, tracking and steering was still perfect except I eventually noticed a day later that my steering wheel was now at 11:00 instead of 12:00. The steering connection basically slipped because the wheels went one way and my steering wheel wanted to stay the direction I had it turned.

I brought it to the dealer and had them recenter the wheel. It took about 5 minutes. When they do an alignment, a mechanic should always check to make sure the steering wheel is still centered and if they forget, they should fix it.