Good morning all:

I just had the following components installed on my 1994 Civic EX:

Lower control arms
Ball joints
Upper control arm bushings
Tie rods
Steering rack

The above components were all purchased from a Honda dealer so they are new OEM.

The car tracked perfectly straight before the replacements, however the driver's (left) tire was wearing ever so slightly on the inside edge. This necessitated the revamping of the front-end parts. The steering rack was leaking, which made it’s replacement necessary.

These parts were all installed by a good friend of mine who works at a dealership and he is very qualified but we are both stumped. Please refrain from posts that suggest that I take it back to him demanding that he make it right, he has tried, and won't even accept any money for his time and labor until we figure this out. He is a good man.

The 4-wheel alignment readings on a state-of-the-art laser machine read perfectly following the replacement of the parts.

The quandry/question: The car under acceleration exhibits what I consider to be excessive torque steer. That may be clue number 1. I can live with that, however, under coasting conditions at highway speeds the car wants to drift left. It is not ridiculous, but, it is not correct either and I think putting new tires on the car (which is why I began this saga, to put new tires on) will scrub them prematurely. Does anyone here have experience with this sort of thing? Must the car be 'loaded', that is sitting on the ground when some of the components are finally tightened? I can't see that at the factory, but I am just thinking aloud. Are certain components likely to 'bind' slightly unless tightened in a sequence? Any solid experience out there that can help?

Thanks for reading,

Ed Fisher
Dallas, Tx

 

Since the alignment checks OK it's likely a bad tire. Temporarily swap the front tires left and right and see if that makes a difference. You can do the duct tape check on the old tires to see if new ones are going to get unevenly worn.

Many cars are designed to tend to the left slightly on a flat surface, since USA roads are typically built with a crown that leans to the right.

 

MK you are so right. I neglectected to mention that the tires were swapped side to side and the symptom did not change. I was going to try front to rear next. I understand about the road crowns, and you are right again, however this seems to be a little more excessive than that, and under acceleration it is more pronounced than I would consider normal. The duct tape test is a good suggestion and I will try that straightaway.

Thanks as always for your response and attention.

Ed

 

The tires were the problem. After four new Pirelli P4s the car tracks, rides, and handles beautifully. All previous pulling/drifting is gone. Lesson learned: Worn front-end components can make the tires wear subtly and still drive straight when hands taken off of the steering wheel. When new front-end components are installed, taking the slight slop out of the steering, the same tires will now pull the car to their previous incorrect wear pattern. By the way, the car chassis has over 300,000 miles, so I can't complain about the front-end parts being slightly worn. That is why they were replaced with OEM parts.

Thanks for the help MK