Hey Guys,
Long story short...to date, I've had three wheel alignments done on my Kizashi. The first wheel alignment I had done at my local Suzuki dealership was to correct what I felt like was a crooked steering wheel (it was sitting off to the left a little bit when driving straight). Then, I had another alignment done a few months later because it looked like the first alignment only ended up making the steering wheel sit off to the right instead. Again, done at the dealership. This is when the problem first began.
After this second alignment, the steering wheel was finally straightened out, but my steering ended up feeling "looser" than it did before. It seemed like it didn't take as much effort to turn the wheel, and the steering also seemed more sensitive to road irregularities, like going over bumps and stuff. Basically, when holding the steering wheel, you could feel the wheel loosening up and wanting to go left and right when going over bumps and potholes. So I brought the car back to the dealer to look at it again, but the mechanic told me everything was fine.
I ended up reading online that a possible culprit to how my steering felt (loose, sensitive to bumps) was setting the front wheels with some toe-out. I checked the alignment specs that the dealer gave me, and indeed they set the front wheels with toe-out.
So I ended up taking my Kizashi for a third wheel alignment to an independent shop that was recommended for doing good wheel alignments. They looked at the car and told me that the alignment settings were a bit odd...so they straightened things out and also gave me a little bit of toe-in to counteract the steering feel that I described to them.
Now the steering feels a lot better than it did after that second alignment at the dealership. But I still feel like the steering is sensitive to bumps in the road. I still feel the wheel "twitch" when going over road irregularities...and so now I'm not sure if that's normal, or if I'm just delusional at this point. I swear that it didn't feel like that prior to all of these alignments...
So my question to you guys is: how does the steering feel on your Kizashi's? I'm trying to figure out what's normal and what's not, and if there's something else wrong with the car's steering (power steering maybe?). Does your steering have the same twitchiness when going over bumps? Or does it soak them up? Is the steering heavy, or a bit loose? etc, etc. Oh, and to add...when I'm talking about the "twitch", I'm talking about when the car goes over relatively small road irregularities, not necessarily big ones.
Steering Feel? Wheel Alignment Issues?
I'm probably not the best one to answer this but you may be talking about bumpsteer which front wheel drive cars seem to be prone too.
My Kizashi suffers from it a bit but no where near as much as my 2000 model Toyota Camry. Because of my Camry I guess I'm used to it but I have found different tyres reduced bumpsteer slightly in that car.
Hopefully another Member can answer better then me as I'm no mechanic.
My Kizashi suffers from it a bit but no where near as much as my 2000 model Toyota Camry. Because of my Camry I guess I'm used to it but I have found different tyres reduced bumpsteer slightly in that car.
Hopefully another Member can answer better then me as I'm no mechanic.
Just got my wheel alignment, balance and tire rotation done today to my Kizashi Sports AWD, car have only done 7900km's.
The place that I took my car to have never seen a car so badly misaligned after doing less than 10,000km, he was quite shock especially only on a 5 months old car.
Before the wheel alignment the steering of the car definitely felt a lot stiffer and required more force to turn the wheel, after the alignment is done it feels a lot less stiffer.
Also before doing the balancing and alignment today the steering wheel will shutter quite a bit when going through small bumps and uneven roads. The shuttering pretty much disappeared after today.
Definitely happy with the work they done today.
If anyone is interested I can upload the print out showing the before and after changes provided by the garage.
The place that I took my car to have never seen a car so badly misaligned after doing less than 10,000km, he was quite shock especially only on a 5 months old car.
Before the wheel alignment the steering of the car definitely felt a lot stiffer and required more force to turn the wheel, after the alignment is done it feels a lot less stiffer.
Also before doing the balancing and alignment today the steering wheel will shutter quite a bit when going through small bumps and uneven roads. The shuttering pretty much disappeared after today.
Definitely happy with the work they done today.
If anyone is interested I can upload the print out showing the before and after changes provided by the garage.
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honsonwong
- Posts: 201
- Joined: Mon May 06, 2013 6:01 am
- Location: B.C. Canada
D3lusion, please upload the print.
I'm guessing you have got 18" wheels? A lot of those traits will become more obvious with larger diameter wheels and lower profile tyres.smsmart wrote:
Now the steering feels a lot better than it did after that second alignment at the dealership. But I still feel like the steering is sensitive to bumps in the road. I still feel the wheel "twitch" when going over road irregularities...and so now I'm not sure if that's normal, or if I'm just delusional at this point. I swear that it didn't feel like that prior to all of these alignments...
So my question to you guys is: how does the steering feel on your Kizashi's?
Do you have the current alignment specs also- it would be worthwhile comparing them to what other people have their vehicles set to. There is also a post on here with a Suzuki USA TSB that gives updated alignment specs. I'll try and find it....
David