Why does my si wander? - Honda Prelude Forum

92sleeper · 05-30-2002, 11:01 AM

I wrecked my 92si on the front right last fall and ever since the car wants to wander and weave on the road. It lines up fine. Is something in the suspension probably bent? What are some possible scenarios? Help please. This is driving me nuts. I am starting to hate my car......but I love it....really!

PreludeNYC · 05-30-2002, 01:23 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by 92sleeper
I wrecked my 92si on the front right last fall and ever since the car wants to wander and weave on the road. It lines up fine. Is something in the suspension probably bent? What are some possible scenarios? Help please. This is driving me nuts. I am starting to hate my car......but I love it....really!

It sounds like you bent the chasis, if so then there isn't anything you can do, its gonna as you say wander and weave.

Jose

brendon2k · 05-30-2002, 04:03 PM

Do you mean it just pulls to one side?

92sleeper · 05-31-2002, 06:59 AM

no actually sometimes to one side and sometimes to the other and sometimes not at all

pter · 05-31-2002, 08:29 AM

Have you checked your lugnuts?
Torque them down?

thatchmaster · 05-31-2002, 08:49 AM

Could be a number of things, especially since you said it's been in an accident.

First off, compare your tread depth and tyre pressure on common axles tyres (ie- front left vs front right, rear left vs rear right). Many people overlook the obvious and simple solutions in these situations.

Second, get your alignment checked. Not as much to check the camber/caster/toe, but moreso to check the secondary angles, SAI and IA (steering axis inclination, and included angle). These will be able to tell you if you have a bent chassis, or bent/worn suspension components. These secondary angles are extremely useful in these sitations.

One last thing, a friend of mine had a situation similar to this in a '00 Civic Si. His car was wandering on the highway, and he sometimes had to fight the car to keep it straight. He was also getting weird clunking noises when turning hard.

I sent him to a shop that a friend of mine (he's a long time road/autocross racer, and has worked many pit crews in all different types of racing) owns. Turns out, the Civic was giving a lot of bump steer, and the problems were traced down to the lowering of the car. It's on GC's with KYB AGX's. My friend ended up having to replace 2 wheel bearings, 2 strut mounts, and 2 CV joints (no, not CV boots, CV joints).

I don't know if you've lowered your car or not, but lowering it does mess with suspension geometry. The car was not designed for even a 1" drop. Now, don't read this as "don't lower your car", because I'm not trying to make it sound like that. I'm just saying, depending on if, and how much you have your car lowered, you will wear through suspension components faster.

Hope you can pull something out of my ramblings.

-Erik

SLICK96 · 06-01-2002, 09:00 PM

I've asked the same question on PO, a while back, and I heard that it could be that your radius rods or control arms are bent. I still need to check my radius rods.