Followup on my situation: I took it into the dealer, who looked into it for free. The technician took it for a diagnostic test drive with me as the passenger. He drove it about 45mph on a straight road and let go of the steering wheel about 2 seconds. The car stayed pretty straight, so he concluded that the car was tracking perfectly and as good as after an alignment, and that there was nothing wrong with the car. He said that freeways are crowned and a slight right drift is expected since the car is tracking the crown of the road.

What he says makes sense, but my 2001 Civic does not drift whatsoever, right nor left on the same freeways. So I have a few questions for you all:

1. Going down the freeway at 65 mph, does your Fit drift to the right after about 3-4 seconds?

2. Is it possible that the Fit drifts more because it's lighter? or maybe electric steering?

3. This still bothers me since I do mostly freeway driving. Is it possible to get an alignment that compensates slightly to the left for crowned freeways? Or maybe add 2 psi to the right side tires?

 

Many alignment shops debiberately set the toe slightly to the left so the vehicle will try to track uphill against the downward slant of the road (which is to the right downhill where the road is crowned on 2 lane roads).
That way the vehicle 'tracks' straight for a short period of time; naturally it won't forever but then that straight won't last long either. That could be your Civic.
And its possible that a rF tire is slightly more wore or less psi than the left which nothing will help except correcting the fault.


Of the hundreds of cars of mine, including several dozen Civics and a couple of Futs, none ever mistracked., that is didn't drive straight for even 50 yards without a reason to drift, like a pronounced slope ?

Have you tried driving down the 'wrong' side of the crown (safely of course) to see if the drift to the right corrects of even reverses.. If it corrects but not reversed the alignment was not quite biased enough for your crowned roads. And your idea of adding even 5 psi to the right side tire is good. And be sure the rear tire pressures are even and rear toe is OK. The rear wheel alignment is just as likely to cause drift as the front tires and many posters have complained of poor toe measurement.

Still, if 2 degrees is all the steering wheel was off, its not really noticeable. if it reverses the toe was set for flat level roads.

 

Interesting to follow this thread. I like getting 4 wheel alignments about every 15K or so because I've had tires ruined even on cars that tracked straight. Two months ago I asked the dealer to do a four wheel alignment on the Fit. The car tracked straight going in and going out, but steering wheel was a couple degrees off center. I brought the car back, they did it again, and no change. Today I had a tire shop look at the car. They said the wheels were perfectly aligned and that it was hard to get the steering wheel just right on this car. To their credit, they didn't charge me a cent for this diagnosis.

The car does track straight, but the steering wheel remains a bit off center. It's just mildly annoying, but the steering wheel used to be absolutely dead-on center. Any suggestions are welcome, including whether I should just leave this alone.

 

I would leave well enough alone. Yes, it's mildly annoying to have non-centered steering wheel, but would you rather have non-centered steering wheel that tracks straight, or centered steering wheel that drifts?

 

Is a quarter-inch off center really noticeable ? If it is it is easy to center the steering wheel when the alignment is correct. All that needs to be done is change the length of the tie rods by the same amount. If the steering wheel is rotated clockwise from centered all that needs to be done is lengthen the right and shorten the left if the FIt is front steer and the opposite if its rear steer and I've forgotten which is the Fit. Then the steering wheel will be centered at the toe settings that were correct before. I'd start with 1/2 turn of the tie rods.
Front steer means the tie rods attach to the hub ahead of te axle and rear steer means the tie rods attach to the hub behind the axle. There are chassis people that are fanatic about which is best.

 

Final followup on my freeway drifting to the right issue. The first time I took it to the dealer, the technician test drove at 45 mph and did not find any issue. But I drove it another week and was convinced something wasn't right.

So I took it in again and asked if they could test drive on the freeway at 60-65mph. A different technician did that, and was able to verify the issue this time. They found that the problem was a defective tire that was causing the pull. So they replaced the tire, and now no more drifting! All this was done under warranty (car is only 1 month old).

Conclusion is: don't buy the excuses that "it's just following the crown of the road". If you know there's something wrong, be persistent to get to the bottom of it.

 

So if the steering wheel is off there's no real way to fix it? Damn! Oh well...

I remember once watching a custom truck show where the guys made an adjustment on the steering box to turn the steering wheel until it was straight, but that was on a million year old truck steering box not a brand new honda.

 

It can be corrected, if not by a dealer then a reputable alignment shop. The steering wheel needs to be accurately centered before the alignment measures are taken. Honda Service should certainly be able to handle it.

 

Untrue. All steering systems work by two tie rods, one to each wheel, left and right. Those tie rods are adjustable for length or toe would be nightmare to adjust.
All that you have to do to 'center' the steering wheel is to adjust the tie rod lengths correctly.
Lets say you have adjusted the toe so the car runs stright but the steering wheel is slightly off center. If you adjust the tie rods by the same amount but opposite so the steering wheel will center and toe remains the same.
Lets say you have a rear steer where the tie rods attach to the hubs behind the axle. If your steering wheel is off center clockwise you need to shorten the right tie rod and lengthen the left. Start with only a single turn of each tie rod, shortening the right and lengthening the left and see how much that corrected the steering wheel. Do it again til its straight and then recheck your toe. If you run a square alignment you can use a stretch cord around all 4 wheels to check toe per old NASCAR. Shim each tire at tire centerline til the cord is stright. If you're good with math you can do the whole alignment toe. But centering the steering wheels is SOP for any alignment shop.
If your car is a front steer, meaning the tie rod attaches to the hubs in front of the axle, then reverse the shortening and lengthening sides.

 

To add to the the above - every steering system has 'play'. This is what often throws off the tech. You need to center the steering wheel by centering the free play. It takes more effort to think about it than it does to do it. Some techs are short on both ends.... look at that, and I'm usually waving their flag for them.

NASCAR drivers are quite particular in knowing where the steering wheel center is. Look close and you'll see a piece of white tape on the top of the steering wheel. At 135mph into a 16d banking turn a centered wheel mark is all you have to tiller by.

 

When done correctly there is no 'play'. Most really accurate alignments lock the wheels in place and adjust the tie rods tightly so that the only 'play' is not noticeable if the tie rods, bushings, and steering box are tight. There is no play in a proper steering rack.
Any motion of the steering wheel immediately turns the wheels. Only if the tie rods aren't 'tight' adjusted is there free play. That makes some drivers nervous because the car seems to jiggle so not everyone likes it.

And yes, NASCAR for decades, even before talledega and daytona, used tape to indicate straight ahead. I believe Leonard Woods was the originator but the my memory isn't what it used to be. Today you get an argument only on whether yellow, orange, or white tape is more visible.
And how wide the tape.
cheers.