Weird steering issue? (1 Viewer)

[turbo8]

I would lift the front off the ground and check for play in all bushings and joints. Especially lower control arm bushings.

If nothing is found in the front, check the rear end for worn bushings.

 

[TeCKis300]

Bone stock across the board. High speed handling is great, no issues. Only thing noticeable is at lower speeds and seems to mostly be triggered when the road isn’t smooth. Symptoms are all in normal height mode.

Are those specs you posted for the LX?

Thanks!

Yup, for LX. What year is yours?

I would do another alignment and get a printout.

 

[dstewart3ss]

Yup, for LX. What year is yours?

I would do another alignment and get a printout.

2010

 

[yOHda]

How old are your tires. I would check inside and out. Run my hands down the sidewall to see if tire feels wavy. Look across the tread for any separation, especially in the middle. Even the smallest of cracks.

 

[TeCKis300]

2010

The numbers posted earlier should be the right ones.

If I had to guess, I suspect your current alignment may possibly have too much positive camber, too little caster, or both. Would be good to eliminate those possibilities before chasing other mechanical issues.

From my experience, this wouldn't likely be a zero point cal issue, as it wouldn't change steering feel other than premature traction control kicking in. Still would be good to do, and it usually a requisite step of alignment if going by the service manual. Few if any dealers take the time to do this step however.

 

[linuxgod]

Happening only at low speeds does point to a VGSR issue as that adjusts the ratio at lower speeds. I can’t recall the switchover point and I don’t have the FSM handy but something like 25 mph rings a bell

 

[dstewart3ss]

Got two quick videos today in action. I would say the steering wheel/truck movement by itself in these two is relatively minor compared to other times where it’s even more noticeable. But these should give somewhat of a sense of what I’m experiencing.

In this first one there isn’t a ton of steering wheel movement but you can see it pull me halfway into the right lane when going very slow.



In this second one you can see the wheel make movements to the left by itself before I grab it and recorrect. Again, at other times the movements are even more abrupt.

 

[dstewart3ss]

How old are your tires. I would check inside and out. Run my hands down the sidewall to see if tire feels wavy. Look across the tread for any separation, especially in the middle. Even the smallest of cracks.

I just bought this LX a few weeks ago so IDK how old they are. There’s plenty of tread left and the guy who did my alignment (who sells tires) said they’ve got a lot of life left and look good. I checked them and don’t notice any cracking or wavy spots.

They’re Pirelli Scorpion Verde All Season Plus 285/50 R20

 

[bloc]

Got two quick videos today in action. I would say the steering wheel/truck movement by itself in these two is relatively minor compared to other times where it’s even more noticeable. But these should give somewhat of a sense of what I’m experiencing.

In this first one there isn’t a ton of steering wheel movement but you can see it pull me halfway into the right lane when going very slow.



In this second one you can see the wheel make movements to the left by itself before I grab it and recorrect. Again, at other times the movements are even more abrupt.

Same video posted twice, FYI

 

[dstewart3ss]

Same video posted twice, FYI

Oops. Should be fixed now

 

[lx200inAR]

I just bought this LX a few weeks ago so IDK how old they are. There’s plenty of tread left and the guy who did my alignment (who sells tires) said they’ve got a lot of life left and look good. I checked them and don’t notice any cracking or wavy spots.

They’re Pirelli Scorpion Verde All Season Plus 285/50 R20

View attachment 3067081

Use this link to determine age of tires.

 

[montegofd3s]

Looks like she is following some wear in the road, but I would think that could be corrected with a little extra caster. See if you can get that alignment printout and post it for us.

 

[dstewart3ss]

Looks like she is following some wear in the road, but I would think that could be corrected with a little extra caster. See if you can get that alignment printout and post it for us.

Still trying - my guy was too busy yesterday to look it up in his system. Will get it early this week and post it up.

Thanks for all the help!

 

[dstewart3ss]

Looks like she is following some wear in the road, but I would think that could be corrected with a little extra caster. See if you can get that alignment printout and post it for us.

Alright I got the alignment printout….see below. Thoughts?

 

[bloc]

Maybe I'm getting old but I can't read the corrected caster numbers.

 

[dstewart3ss]

Maybe I'm getting old but I can't read the corrected caster numbers.

Old caster left : 3.1*
New caster left: 3.4*

Old caster right: 2.8*
New caster right: 3.4*

 

[TeCKis300]

Glad you were able to pull some objective numbers. Biggest question is, how does she drive? Does it feel any better?

Looking at the numbers you were indeed on the low end of caster, but exascerbated by being on the high end of positive camber.

Caster is the geometry that produces the force for wheel directional centering. Much like the caster on a shopping cart, the front wheel will point in the direction you push because of caster. With too little, there will be relatively less centering action.

Camber is the vertical tilt of the wheel. Problem with too much positive camber (bottom of tire tilted inward of the car, bowl legged), is that it changes the perceived scrub radius. AKA the center of weight on the tire relative to the kingpin steering angle. This has the same effect of bad offsets where the tire will tend to pull on the steering against irregularities in the road. The LX with relatively wider wheels, combined with lower profile tires,, can make it more sensitive to camber.

 

[bloc]

Old caster left : 3.1*
New caster left: 3.4*

Old caster right: 2.8*
New caster right: 3.4*

Too little caster isn't the issue then.

If it still doesn't feel right, your next step should be getting techstream up and running so you can diagnose things further, including VGRS. There is a VGRS light on the dash so if it were a significant issue I'd assume the vehicle would let you know, but perhaps a reset is in order.

Note that some of the really cheap cables/setups don't work well for the full suite of software. They will do basic code resets but often won't do TPMS programming or display live data, which is important for real diagnostics. Many of us have had good luck with the VXDiag VCX Nano interface.

 

[dstewart3ss]

So prior to the alignment, the truck drove straight but the steering wheel was off center to the right a bit. When I turned the steering wheel dead straight, the truck would veer left. Post-alignment when the steering wheel is dead straight, the truck drives dead straight. The ONLY thing I am experiencing that is “abnormal” is what I attempted to capture in the videos above: at low speeds (typically when coasting to a stop) something seems to throw off the alignment as the truck will abruptly pull one direction or the other along with the steering wheel abruptly turning that direction by itself without me touching…it seems that this is most often triggered when I hit a bump or uneven spot in the road. NOTE: I also experienced this “phenomenon” prior to the alignment.

If there aren’t any alignment specs I should try adjusting, it’s sounding like my next areas of exploration are Techstream for VGRS, zero point calibration, and lifting the front end to check all physical components look satisfactory (I’ll probably leave this to a local mechanic unless I have some better guidance as to what I’m looking at)…..still somewhat of a noob here.