Honda Car Forum

my recently obtained 99 civic rides looser than my 92 civic (the 92 steers
and rides tight for bone stock 4-dr eco-car!) mainly noticeable on the
highway and s-curves. i get pushed around by the wind pretty bad, and when i
turn through a long curve or s-curve i feel the car pull to the oposite side
from where im turning once the body wieght transfers over. i dont get the
typical lowrider hop hitting bumps and (although the civic is probably half
the weight of an 60-80's gm car) and i don't really notice any extreme
nose-diving. are there any other symptoms i can look for? or am i completely
in the wrong direction? any help would be greatly appreciated

Jeff wrote:
> my recently obtained 99 civic rides looser than my 92 civic (the 92 steers
> and rides tight for bone stock 4-dr eco-car!) mainly noticeable on the
> highway and s-curves. i get pushed around by the wind pretty bad, and when i
> turn through a long curve or s-curve i feel the car pull to the oposite side
> from where im turning once the body wieght transfers over. i dont get the
> typical lowrider hop hitting bumps and (although the civic is probably half
> the weight of an 60-80's gm car) and i don't really notice any extreme
> nose-diving. are there any other symptoms i can look for? or am i completely
> in the wrong direction? any help would be greatly appreciated
>
>
maybe, but not necessarily. unfortunately, the 96-00's are crap like
this. i don't know what honda did, but my 2000 was junk from day 1,
terrible in cross winds and sloppy as heck. after spending a small
fortune on the full oem si sway bar kit, it tightened up a lot, but was
still not as good as my 89. i took the kit off again before i sold that
car and still have it. you live in norcal? if so, you can buy it if
you want it...

Tires can make a huge difference in handling - check the pressure first
- I keep mine at the max as printed on the door plate.

On 10/25/05 9:13 AM, in article
1130249625.039761.85210@g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.c om, "butch burton"
<spacetrax@wi.rr.com> wrote:

> Tires can make a huge difference in handling - check the pressure first
> - I keep mine at the max as printed on the door plate.
>

Uh ... The number on the door plate is a MIN, not a MAX. Max is printed on
the tire sidewalls.

E Meyer wrote:

> Uh ... The number on the door plate is a MIN, not a MAX. Max is printed on
> the tire sidewalls.

Wrong. The number on the door jamb is the pressure as recommended by the
car manufacturer. The number on the tire is the maximum pressure specified
by the tire manufacturer. Common practice is to follow the car
manufacturer's recommendation.

E Meyer wrote:
> On 10/25/05 9:13 AM, in article
> 1130249625.039761.85210@g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.c om, "butch burton"
> <spacetrax@wi.rr.com> wrote:
>
>
>>Tires can make a huge difference in handling - check the pressure first
>>- I keep mine at the max as printed on the door plate.
>>
>
>
> Uh ... The number on the door plate is a MIN, not a MAX. Max is printed on
> the tire sidewalls.
>
uh, the door plate is the MAX range for that car - with two values for
differing speed ranges. the tire has max for the tire and has /nothing/
to do with the characteristics necessary for the correct handling of the
car.

butch burton wrote:
> Tires can make a huge difference in handling - check the pressure first
> - I keep mine at the max as printed on the door plate.
>
i did. like i said, the car handled like crap from day one. 3 sets of
tires and 6 alignments and it still handled like crap. the sway bars
and a set of mugen honda hard bushings helped a lot, but then the ride
was too harsh for my taste. i've had 4 88-91's, and the contrast is
huge. /those/ things are comfy, handle like they're on rails, and are
impervious to side winds.

On 10/25/05 9:12 PM, in article yLednXQ6Ov9jeMPeRVn-vQ@speakeasy.net, "jim
beam" <nospam@example.net> wrote:

> E Meyer wrote:
>> On 10/25/05 9:13 AM, in article
>> 1130249625.039761.85210@g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.c om, "butch burton"
>> <spacetrax@wi.rr.com> wrote:
>>
>>
>>> Tires can make a huge difference in handling - check the pressure first
>>> - I keep mine at the max as printed on the door plate.
>>>
>>
>>
>> Uh ... The number on the door plate is a MIN, not a MAX. Max is printed on
>> the tire sidewalls.
>>
> uh, the door plate is the MAX range for that car - with two values for
> differing speed ranges. the tire has max for the tire and has /nothing/
> to do with the characteristics necessary for the correct handling of the
> car.
>

What? Where are you getting this stuff? The number on the door plate is
the pressure recommended by the manufacturer (of the car) to provide a
comfortable ride. while it will provide adequate handling characteristics
with the OEM tires, it absolutely does not provide optimal handling
characteristics (unless you have a Ford Explorer or a BMW). My experience
with the number on the door plate is that if you keep your tires that low,
they wear out faster than you can buy the replacements, and always with
under-inflation symptoms (outside edges gone, middle tread still in place).

I have never seen a car with two numbers for the same tire on the door
plate. They do sometimes have different numbers for the front vs. rear, but
that is not a range. On what specific car have you seen this?

The number on the tire is the maximum cold inflation pressure that the tire
is designed to support. I agree it does not specifically relate to handling
of the car (unless you exceed it and they pop).

i check the pressure regularly, especially before long trips. is there any
symptoms i can look for as to why this car teeter totters side to side? is
this typical of this year era? surely not it feels borderline of unsafe!!
"butch burton" <spacetrax@wi.rr.com> wrote in message
news:1130249625.039761.85210@g49g2000cwa.googlegro ups.com...
Tires can make a huge difference in handling - check the pressure first
- I keep mine at the max as printed on the door plate.

Could be an alignment problem. Best to have it checked out. Where I
live, the state safety inspection is very thorough, and a pretty cheap
way to go for any non-alignment problems.