2003 Honda Accord pulling to the right

My V6 EXL has had 5 alignments and 9 balances and it still pulls
right.

 

Switch the front tires side to side, and see if it pulls left. bob

 

The problem is, I think, that Hondas are rather difficult to align.
The good part is, once aligned they tend to stay aligned. Special
knowledge and equipment is required and not every shop (not even every
Honda dealer) has the quipment needed.

Ask your shop if they aligned the REAR wheels. If they act like you
don't know what you are talking about or say that the rear wheels
don't need aligning, take the car elsewhere. My WAG would be that you
have a rear wheel alignment problem.



Elliot Richmond
Freelance Science Writer and Editor

 

You must live in a Republican state. Blame it on Bush. ;-)

 

Back a year or year and a half ago, there were a number of posts in here
about 2003 Hondas pulling right. I know my EX V6 always did and still
does even after a dealership 4 wheel alignment and tire rotations.

 

i don't believe you. either you're a troll or you're amazingly easily
fobbed off by incompetents. 5 alignments and they can't get it right?
no way. and balance does not affect alignment.

 

I had a similar problem with a non-Honda which the dealer never was able
to fix. Finally I fixed it myself when I found that one of the right
front brake pads was binding slightly in the caliper and putting just a
little extra drag on that wheel. Never once had the dealer check for
binding brakes.

No idea if that is your problem or not, but it is worth checking for
binding on all four wheels.

John

 

Heed what Bob posted. There is such a thing as "radial pull". It has to do
with the way in which radial tires are constructed. Switch the front tires
side to side and see if the pull goes away or changes to the left. If the
latter (that is pull moves to the left) move one front to the rear but not
both. If the pull goes away, the problem is solved.

Dave D

 

My '04 Accord EXL has been aligned twice, tires rotated three times , still
pulles slightly to right. More noticable at high speed. Has 20,000 miles
and tires are wearing perfectly. Alignments were done at two different
shops. One Honda and one independent. Both shops showed me the the
alignment specs and what the car is set at. They were dead on. Both shops
agree the car still pulls slightly , but have no explanation.
Scott

 

FWIW, I understand alignment is pre-tweaked (caster?) to compensate for an
"average" sort of crown on the road. Higher road crowns certainly cause any
car to pull to the edge of the road while lesser crowns will cause them to
pull to the far side of the road. Maybe the Accord is more sensitive or has
more pre-tweak?

Mike

 

Hi, Mike
You got the part about the crown in the road, but not entirely.
When test driving a car for alignment and/or radial pull problems (near
non- existent nowadays) the best road to test them on is a two lane crowned
highway access road or a rural one lane road (same road construction) that
is long, level and straight. If the car pulls left on the left side, right
on the right side and pull is even and not excessive (worn front end parts)
it is ok. Road crown varies from road to road reflecting builder skill and
local requirements for drainage, when I worked for Firestone in the 1980's
I had a stretch of I-10 access road I always used for consistency. When
alignment is correct and tires are ok and road is flat (hard to find ) some
cars will stay in one lane for almost a mile. Usually this only works on
rack and pinion cars because the slight drag from rack preload will keep
the steering wheel from moving better than other designs such as
recirculating ball style steering boxes on the older cars.

 

You're a complete idiot , if you don't think balance affects alignment , try
removing the wheel weights from one of your front rims and take a ride
around the block

 

The effect of imbalance is different from that of alignment. Imbalance makes
the wheel shake because it doesn't want to use the axle as its center any
more, while alignment affects the direction the wheel wants to roll and how
much it wants to go that way. The two are separate and don't interact, but
both have to be right. As long as the front end isn't worn, balance won't
affect pull or wander and alignment won't affect shaking.

Mike