kinakoes2

Often in the course of figuring out why my car doesn't seem to get around with as much accuracy as I expect from a Civic (even an 11MY-old one)... I try to start with the basic reasons why handling starts to deteriorate, from the easiest to correct on up, until we get into the expensive reasons:


-- tires underinflated/overinflated/worn/different (crappier) tire manufacturer/lahdi-dahdi-ev'rybody

-- weight from cargo or passengers in rear seat changing steering/suspension geometry

-- alignment going off from an insult (event/impact), or it finally deteriorated enough for you to notice

-- engine oil getting dirty and worn enough to sap power available to power steering system, increasing effort

-- worn drive/steering components causing increased friction/play


These are all fine diagnoses, but I'd like to add one more that made total sense, only when I finally figured it out...

Last week I was following a car through a yellow light, when their conscience overrode their clock cycles at the last nanosecond... and dynamited the brakes full ****-up, as we were going 45 mph. I luckily had enough gap in order to avoid disaster... but the dude in the clapped-out Dodge minivan behind me didn't... got a good firm tap, enough to nearly make me lose consciousness for a second... got the car to the curb, just in time to watch the minivan haul ***** through the red to avoid the inevitable. As I was still trying to make both eyeballs aim forward, he got away without my seeing his license plate correctly. I got a C1 vertebrae displacement and a 'sorry not sorry' note from the newbie LEO (just grad academy, great) who finally got to me about 20 mins after the tap and 911 call. Luckily... there was zero damage but a little scuff the size of a dime dead center of the bumper cap -- no damage whatsoever elsewhere I could find -- no cracks in the underbody coating from unibody flex, no distortion of the cap alignment, no change in rear suspension feel, whew...

Anyhow... when I got going again (don't worry, I got my own neck back in -- I'm an anatomical bodyworker by trade now ), immediately noticed the amount of play in the steering had greatly increased, esp when at speed. Of course after an insult like that, the worst case scenarios began to swirl in my head -- blown struts, bent suspension, bent subframe or unibody, etc. But both from a desire for due diligence, and ruling out fears vs. reality, I decided to inspect all the things that didn't require money.

The first thing, was torque of the lug nuts. Possibly, due to full compression of the struts, then the impact of a minivan's 3500 lbs momentarily, have loosened the nuts to the point of being felt in the steering. Made sense that it was more pronounced at speed, as the feeling of not enough toe-in was definitely more obvious at 55 than at 35. May as well, and lug nut wrench was ten seconds away...

Well... I'll be damned. LF wheel had two nuts that were loose enough for me with my arms (no body weight) to apply enough torque to tighten them. Got my torque wrench and fixed. RF wheel, also had definite looseness but slightly less. Back wheels, not surprisngly, were perfect torque. Last time I'd checked them was a few months back... but my drives always have some midcorner, square-edged, or sleeping policeman bumps in it... so it was probably already needing more torque, just the accident made it worse.

I'd forgotten how good this car handles, at all speeds, with proper torque on esp its front lug nuts. If you drive anywhere there are potholes/pothole "repairs", tree root heaves, or steel-plate-covered road repairs on your commute... I'd highly behoove you to check your lug nut torque a few times a season. Car drove straighter than an arrow after correction... and compliance over bumps was like the car was 50K newer. I never had to really do this much prior to not riding anymore, as wheel fasteners are normally a single nut.

Best to do this if your commute is in a place that freezes, as torque will loosen as temps go down. I tend to overtighten 5 lb/ft to give a slight amount more margin, without no drawbacks whatsoever (looked for the dreaded brake pulse, none this ex-moto racer could feel ), but OEM torque is recommended and endorsed.

lowlife9

i periodically check my lugs because i once under torqued and almost lost a wheel.

ezone

Nobody can afford to call in all the cars we've had wheels off of at the shop.
I have to get it right the first time.

sdaidoji

iTrader: (1)

wow...

never had that happen, i mean, loosing as time passes.

sorry to hear about your endeavor and the a$$ that ran away. (consider getting a dashcam (the ones around 100 bucks at amazon are quite decent and last longer than the ones below 100 - just don't forget it will record your assness as well ))

kinakoes2

Agree, nope... not that I was saying that's necessary, but all torque will eventually loosen over time with load, thermal expansion, etc. This is why any automotive service maintenance schedule includes fastener retorque periodically.

I did the same 5 lb/ft-over torque correction when swapping my tires months ago... it's just that I never correlated the slowly-diminishing feel in the steering, to the lug nut torque specifically... until I checked them. And no regrets whatsoever -- it's like another car.

Today, still feels super good... and this with bottled-water/canned-good/dried-good mule duty today, in prep for the two hurricanes (eh, they'll be TSes by the time they actually make landfall, as usual).

Ha! I'm talking about Hurricanes on a Honda forum!

ezone

Dual dashcams! Hell, get a bunch pointing all 4 directions!

I'm kinda wanting to get a rear facing cam for my car.
I also want some for the bike and the truck LOL.

I could see the bike cam being used as evidence against me though.

kinakoes2

Yeah... in yep, 20/20 hindsight I shoulda used that $60 I used a week ago on study material, on a good entry-level dash cam (even still have it in my Save For Later queue on Amazon)... you can effing bet* it's on the front burner now, though.

I think if you can afford it, using two good dashcams front and rear, is a great bulletproofing if it ever goes to court... I'm sure if you showed footage to the LEO on scene, it'll even keep it from going that far.


Yeah gotta be careful when you're one-track... in AZ(?), CA and NY IIRC, they can confiscate recording devices on sight if you're pulled over speeding, and can use whatever's on them against you in court. AZ is notorious for targeting motorcyclists preferentially anyway, so it's doubly dangerous to ride past a DPS LEO with a camera on your bike, speeding or not.

I think CA is trying to modify the law due to ACLU pressure but as it's written in those places... if you're a lawbreaker and ride a motorcycle with something that can playback your lawbreaking, don't be surprised if they pat you on the back before saying a word -- your money (or freedom) and definitely your insurance discount is going bye-bye.

kinakoes2

I'd check and see anyway -- after all, I'm pretty good at this feel stuff, and didn't connect the lug nut and feel deterioation for months. Betcha yours have loosened a touch.

Yep -- I have a feeling mine was mostly due to 1) roads around here being broken, potholed, root-heaved, torn up by County we'll-do-work-when-there's-funding-oh-crap-we-have-to-do-it-again-sorry roadworks... and 2) me and my bombing around when there's an empty road and no cars around.

Combine those two with gas-saving 35-psi tire pressures... and there's no doubt some torque will go off... unlike axle nuts on motorcycles, there's no cotter pin to prevent torque backing off. The number of square-edged bumps on my drives is insane... no wonder the best-selling vehicle here is the Toyota Tacoma.

Yeah, was looking on AMZ for a dashcam in about that price range... doesn't have to be fancy but I do need an integral monitor, USB power with a lithium battery, full HD recording at 30 fps or faster with sound plus good night imaging, motion-detection/ignition toggle controls for recording start, not-frustrating mounts, and up to 256GB micro-SDXC media (plus, on-demand recording on/off to minimize the latter situation ). Should be easy to check off that list at the $100 price point, and it'd be worth it even $50 over that.

sdaidoji

iTrader: (1)

yeah, tried a few on the lower range, one on the mid-range.

the one lasting longer is the one i got for the 100 range, so i would recommend that route.

the model is not available anymore, though...

there's always lots of them though on offer

ezone

The Russian dash-cam video to end all Russian dash-cam videos

lowlife9

that wasn't set up at all.