Alignment question. Is this close enough?

[Chris B.]

I just bought a new 2011 Honda CRV and I'm really enjoying it! I noticed after a day of driving it the steering wheel was not centered and the car pulled to the left if I held the wheel centered. I called the dealer and told them the car was pulling left pretty hard. The did an alignment and is now much better but not perfect. The 1st picture is how it was when I bought it and where I had to hold the wheel to go straight. The 2nd picture is after the alignment. They told me it is in spec and about as good as it gets.
You can see it is still a tiny bit off center but pretty close to being on. If I try to hold it perfectly centered it still drifts left. The wife thinks it is good enough and if we had them redo it it would probably be a tiny bit off again. Is this normal and acceptable? What do you guys think? Thanks!

 

[Dakota1820]

It would drive me crazy. Mine was the other way about the same amount when i had it done on my Saturn. I finally just turned the tierod on driver side about a 1/4 turn and its perfect. On yours id imagine your passenger frt is in to far. Turn the tierod out 1/4 turn and it'll probably be spot on. Its the easiest thong to do i went to 3 places and back to each place several times wanting it straight and finally gave up took me 5 mins to adjust and have been happy ever since. Remember roads slope a little to allow drainage. So if when you drive down a two lane road if it slowly drifts to the right or in order to go straight. You have to turn a very small amount left that would be normal. Since the road is crowned.

 

[bdcardinal]

That would drive the ever living poo out of me. Get it fixed, its a brand new car, anything but perfection is unacceptable.

 

[MNgopher]

On a band new car, anything less than perfect is unacceptable.

 

[kr_bitog]

From my point of view, that is not straight enough. However, with that much off-center position at the beginning, this may not be caused by alignment, but probably the steering wheel itself is not mounted correctly. But with airbag on there, better be careful to do it if possible or else need to buy another airbag.

 

[Dakota1820]

It would drive me crazy. Mine was the other way about the same amount when i had it done on my Saturn. I finally just turned the tierod on driver side about a 1/4 turn and its perfect. On yours id imagine your passenger frt is in to far. Turn the tierod out 1/4 turn and it'll probably be spot on. Its the easiest thong to do i went to 3 places and back to each place several times wanting it straight and finally gave up took me 5 mins to adjust and have been happy ever since. Remember roads slope a little to allow drainage. So if when you drive down a two lane road if it slowly drifts to the right or in order to go straight. You have to turn a very small amount left that would be normal. Since the road is crowned.

 

[The Critic]

Yeah, that can be better. They might need to try a level, and to actually start the car to center the steering wheel (takes the slack out) before making the toe adjustments.

 

[NHGUY]

Just goes to show,even the mighty top two Japanese brands can screw up just as bad as the lowly Americans.Lately Toyota and Honda have fell on their swords pretty badly.

 

[hypervish]

Originally Posted By: NHGUY
Just goes to show,even the mighty top two Japanese brands can screw up just as bad as the lowly Americans.Lately Toyota and Honda have fell on their swords pretty badly.


Or, some idiot on the port accidentally hit a curb and knocked off the alignment. LOL But, either way that's unacceptable. I'd take it back, and make sure they do the job right.

 

[229]

Ask them to lock the steering wheel level before adjusting the toe-in.

 

[LoneRanger]

They're more concerned with getting the service bay freed up for the next car to roll in. "Wham bam, here you're done we take the money and run..." Unfortunately it seems fairly typical anymore.

 

[eljefino]

If it's pulling, it's probably more than just toe.

If you let go of the wheel and it goes straight on a level road, but your wheel is just off, then they can take toe out of one side and put it in another.

Sometimes cars are held down with chains over their lower control arms during shipping, and if jostled, can knock a brand new car out of alignment.

You may get a survey from Honda USA about your recent service experience. With that potential in mind, call your service manager up and demand better. (Then get us the before and after printouts.)

 

[eagle23]

Don't just turn one tie-rod. That will likely make the toe settings out of whack, and gas mileage will suffer. It's amazing what a seeming tiny amount of toe error can do to mileage. Most toe settings are in mm or 1/16's of an inch.

It's a new car and should not pull. Make the dealer print out the alignment results for you, before and after. It could be the suspension is out of alignment, or it could be a tire problem. Rotating the tires can quickly tell you if that's the issue. While a new car shouldn't have tire build problems, they do occur.

I don't know how much adjustment there is in camber or caster in that car. For some Hondas there is an aftermarket cam that can be installed to give better range of adjustability.

Keep us posted.

 

[Chris B.]

They showed me the alignment print out and stated all was in spec. That is why I'm wondering if the wheel turned slightly to right is considered acceptable....maybe it's with in Honda's specs???

 

[ARCOgraphite]

My new 12 Fit sport handles funny and has a slight pull to the left over the crown. My steering wheel is about 10 degrees to the right when driving straight on a level road in center of the road straddling the crown and centerline. The car handles like it has excessive toe IN (slow initial turn-in, then darting) so I was going to adjust the passenger side to about a 1/16 turn toe-OUT to correct this. Its most important that the car handles well and is not darty or wonky off center. I could tolerate the steering wheel being off a tad if the car handeled OK but not with the combination of the alignment and wheel position being incorrect. OP: Can you upload the alignment results,
especially front camber (+/-)for each wheel and total toe(+/-)? maybe you could just type in this info?

 

[bigmike]

Originally Posted By: Chris B.
They showed me the alignment print out and stated all was in spec. That is why I'm wondering if the wheel turned slightly to right is considered acceptable....maybe it's with in Honda's specs???


It probably IS in spec, but they aligned it with the wheel not centered and leveled. Ask them to redo it with the steering wheel in the correct (center) position.

This happens all the time when they are lazy and don't bother to get inside the vehicle to center the wheel. They try to do it from the ground while your car in the the lift.

 

[JHZR2]

No way, that is horrible. For a new car, Id be upset. Thing is, it is easy for them to blame you, and you dont have any recourse. They may start throwing parts at it if you make too big of a stink.

MBs use a spreader bar to properly simulate loaded, on-road conditions to prevent this. BMW requires specific weights in the car when doing the alignment.

Lots of people poo-poo that kind of specificity, but it helps prevent this kind of thing...

 

[thr_wedge]

My grand cherokee looks somewhere between the 1st and 2nd pics. I aligned it with a tape measure in my driveway. I would expect a dealer with an alignment machine to do better (perfect).

 

[ARCOgraphite]

Chris:
Got any B4 and Actual data?

 

[Chris B.]

The dealer had a problem with their printer so they told me they would mail me the print out. I have not got it yet. I'm going to bring it back and state it is better but still not centered properly causing it to drift to the left.
Should I mention anything to them that might help them get it right this time?