Honda Car Forum

I have an EX manual 4-door sedan. This car appears way too twitchy to me
at highway speeds (feels too loose). I did complain enough to the dealer
to get them to do an alignment (only toe is adjustable on this
vehicle)...they said it was toed in a bit (but still within specs) and they
straightened it up. This did improve things somewhat...I can brake hard at
80mph and it doesn't squirm around any more...it brakes straight (this was
horrifying!).

Anyone with a 2003/2004 feel the steering is a bit too sensitive? My old
vehicle (junker) tended to require constant oversteering to hold a line so
maybe it's me. The odd thing is, if I take my hands off the wheel, it does
track straight.

It's real bad when it's real windy with gusts...I expect wind to affect the
car a bit, but this seems too much.

I religiously monitor tire pressure (checked once a week)...when I got the
car the tires were all 35...dropped to 32F/30R per manual and it tightened
it up a bit.

The local Acura dealer does good alignments...I'll give them a shot after
the new year I guess...

They used to have power on demand steering. It was great since it gave you
more feel for the road. Although it's in the design, I would contact
corporate just to let them know for a suggestion, they should have kept the
old power on demand system.

"Daryl Herkin" <dherkin@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:Xns944FEB309CA37dherkinhotmailcom@24.24.2.165 ...
> I have an EX manual 4-door sedan. This car appears way too twitchy to me
> at highway speeds (feels too loose). I did complain enough to the dealer
> to get them to do an alignment (only toe is adjustable on this
> vehicle)...they said it was toed in a bit (but still within specs) and
they
> straightened it up. This did improve things somewhat...I can brake hard
at
> 80mph and it doesn't squirm around any more...it brakes straight (this was
> horrifying!).
>
> Anyone with a 2003/2004 feel the steering is a bit too sensitive? My old
> vehicle (junker) tended to require constant oversteering to hold a line so
> maybe it's me. The odd thing is, if I take my hands off the wheel, it
does
> track straight.
>
> It's real bad when it's real windy with gusts...I expect wind to affect
the
> car a bit, but this seems too much.
>
> I religiously monitor tire pressure (checked once a week)...when I got the
> car the tires were all 35...dropped to 32F/30R per manual and it tightened
> it up a bit.
>
> The local Acura dealer does good alignments...I'll give them a shot after
> the new year I guess...

Daryl Herkin wrote:
> I have an EX manual 4-door sedan. This car appears way too twitchy
> to me at highway speeds (feels too loose). I did complain enough to
> the dealer to get them to do an alignment (only toe is adjustable on
> this vehicle)...they said it was toed in a bit (but still within
> specs) and they straightened it up. This did improve things
> somewhat...I can brake hard at 80mph and it doesn't squirm around any
> more...it brakes straight (this was horrifying!).
>
> Anyone with a 2003/2004 feel the steering is a bit too sensitive? My
> old vehicle (junker) tended to require constant oversteering to hold
> a line so maybe it's me. The odd thing is, if I take my hands off
> the wheel, it does track straight.

I have an 03 EX. Steering feels pretty tight/responsive and does not
require "oversteering". On the freeway at 80MPH she runs a straight line
without moving the steering wheel as long as there is no pitch in the road.

>
> It's real bad when it's real windy with gusts...I expect wind to
> affect the car a bit, but this seems too much.

Going over many bridges here in the SF bay are, I would say that recovering
from being pushed around from the wind is fairly easy. The car moves as
expected from the steering wheel movements.

>
> I religiously monitor tire pressure (checked once a week)...when I
> got the car the tires were all 35...dropped to 32F/30R per manual and
> it tightened it up a bit.
>
> The local Acura dealer does good alignments...I'll give them a shot
> after the new year I guess...

It sure sounds as if you might have another problem, though it is hard to
tell the differences just through descriptions.

> Anyone with a 2003/2004 feel the steering is a bit too sensitive? My old
> vehicle (junker) tended to require constant oversteering to hold a line so
> maybe it's me. The odd thing is, if I take my hands off the wheel, it
does
> track straight.
>

My 2003 Accord has excellent steering response. Perhaps you should test
drive another example of the vehicle to find out if something is abnormal
about yours or not.

John

"Sandlot" <sandlot@yahoo.com> wrote in
news:bAGCb.70870$nb5.9692@newssvr25.news.prodigy.c om:

> They used to have power on demand steering. It was great since it gave
> you more feel for the road. Although it's in the design, I would
> contact corporate just to let them know for a suggestion, they should
> have kept the old power on demand system.
>

One way I characterize this issue is that it appears that power steering is
on all the time...from what you say...it is...is that true?

Daryl Herkin <dherkin@hotmail.com> wrote in
news:Xns944FEB309CA37dherkinhotmailcom@24.24.2.165 :

> I have an EX manual 4-door sedan. This car appears way too twitchy to
> me at highway speeds (feels too loose). I did complain enough to the
> dealer to get them to do an alignment (only toe is adjustable on this
> vehicle)...they said it was toed in a bit (but still within specs) and
> they straightened it up. This did improve things somewhat...I can
> brake hard at 80mph and it doesn't squirm around any more...it brakes
> straight (this was horrifying!).
>
> Anyone with a 2003/2004 feel the steering is a bit too sensitive? My
> old vehicle (junker) tended to require constant oversteering to hold a
> line so maybe it's me. The odd thing is, if I take my hands off the
> wheel, it does track straight.
>
> It's real bad when it's real windy with gusts...I expect wind to
> affect the car a bit, but this seems too much.
>
> I religiously monitor tire pressure (checked once a week)...when I got
> the car the tires were all 35...dropped to 32F/30R per manual and it
> tightened it up a bit.
>
> The local Acura dealer does good alignments...I'll give them a shot
> after the new year I guess...
>

www.vtec.net Accord forum actually has quite a few posts about this exact
issue. I'm still going to get another alignment, but this may be "normal".

In article <Xns944FEB309CA37dherkinhotmailcom@24.24.2.165>, Daryl Herkin
<dherkin@hotmail.com> wrote:

> I have an EX manual 4-door sedan. This car appears way too twitchy to me
> at highway speeds (feels too loose). I did complain enough to the dealer
> to get them to do an alignment (only toe is adjustable on this
> vehicle)...they said it was toed in a bit (but still within specs) and they
> straightened it up. This did improve things somewhat...I can brake hard at
> 80mph and it doesn't squirm around any more...it brakes straight (this was
> horrifying!).

Had a similar problem with 98 Accord. A tire rotation (done early) seemed
to have most effect. Alignment helped too. But new tires (not OEM) did
the most. Dealer and Honda just looked at me like I was crazy. I was not
a happy camper. But then I was comparing to my 87, which has speed
sensitive steering. Still seems to lack road feel, seems twitchy.

I think I had a bad tire. Slipping belt? Maybe 2.

Try a rotation.

hern@wcnet.org (Thomas Hern) wrote in
news:hern-1412032248310001@dial-bu-184-069.wcnet.org:

> In article <Xns944FEB309CA37dherkinhotmailcom@24.24.2.165>, Daryl
> Herkin <dherkin@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>> I have an EX manual 4-door sedan. This car appears way too twitchy
>> to me at highway speeds (feels too loose). I did complain enough to
>> the dealer to get them to do an alignment (only toe is adjustable on
>> this vehicle)...they said it was toed in a bit (but still within
>> specs) and they straightened it up. This did improve things
>> somewhat...I can brake hard at 80mph and it doesn't squirm around any
>> more...it brakes straight (this was horrifying!).
>
> Had a similar problem with 98 Accord. A tire rotation (done early)
> seemed to have most effect. Alignment helped too. But new tires (not
> OEM) did the most. Dealer and Honda just looked at me like I was
> crazy. I was not a happy camper. But then I was comparing to my 87,
> which has speed sensitive steering. Still seems to lack road feel,
> seems twitchy.
>
> I think I had a bad tire. Slipping belt? Maybe 2.
>
> Try a rotation.

It's 20 degrees here

I'll try a rotation when it warms up a bit!