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Car Swerves Right Under "Spirirted" Acceleration?
Posted: August 9th, 2007, 12:03 am
by *Y*
Dear Mx-3 Gods,
I think the title sums it up pretty well. Basically under somewhat of a heavy acceleration the car has a tendency to swerve right. I recently had my alignment done so that rules out that possibility. Any clue what it might be?
Posted: August 9th, 2007, 1:13 am
by ScooterBovine
I think that is a "feature"... As in, the wheel with the most traction gets the most power. I think that is how most cars are designed, anyways. If you want that to change, you need to get a limited slip differential or something along those lines to change the behavior of your car when accelerating or cornering.
Posted: August 9th, 2007, 4:40 am
by Dali
it could be torque steer, not very likley since the k8 doesnt make much power (unless you have a klze). other than that if the car was lowered, poor axel, wheel bearing, bad ball joint etc could cause this as well.
Posted: August 9th, 2007, 8:45 am
by ho bag
The GS has a half shaft do i doubt its torque steer, But it is possible i guess.
My neon had unequal length half shafts and it was horrible for doing this.
Posted: August 9th, 2007, 9:57 am
by Mooneggs
Dali wrote:it could be torque steer, not very likley since the k8 doesnt make much power (unless you have a klze). other than that if the car was lowered, poor axel, wheel bearing, bad ball joint etc could cause this as well.
On my klze, torque steer is an issue. Keep in mind on your k8 that the right front wheel puts all the power to the ground.
are you sure that the alignment was done properly - did they give you a printout of the specs? if you are driving normally and you let go of the wheel does it drive straight - please don't have a wreck trying this

Posted: August 9th, 2007, 2:04 pm
by *Y*
Yeah a few things I forgot to mention. First of I do have a klze installed with new axles from Auto Zone. Second I believe the alignment was done correctly because they gave me the handout and everything
Posted: August 9th, 2007, 2:38 pm
by ho bag
*Y* wrote:Yeah a few things I forgot to mention. First of I do have a klze installed with new axles from Auto Zone. Second I believe the alignment was done correctly because they gave me the handout and everything
LOL ok forget everything we have said
That my friend is what you call power! LSD FTW!
Posted: August 11th, 2007, 5:00 pm
by Yoda
ho bag wrote:*Y* wrote:Yeah a few things I forgot to mention. First of I do have a klze installed with new axles from Auto Zone. Second I believe the alignment was done correctly because they gave me the handout and everything
LOL ok forget everything we have said
That my friend is what you call power! LSD FTW!
Depend on how bad it is it could also be something as small as a worn rubber bushings in the front A arm, or a Strut or strut mount going to crap. After replacing all the front bushing to Urethane and installing all new struts, springs and mounts the torque steer was no worse with the KL-ZE as I was getting with the 8V 1.6 SOHC in my other car.
Or it can be as bad as the car was in a accident and the left and right sides are not aligned to each other. I knew one guy had a MX-3 where the right side of the car was 18mm push back from the left even though the wheel alignment machine said the wheels were aligned because wheel aligned ment machine don't usually compare the left side to the right. Knew another guy with a cracked frame on the left side under the motor mount everytime he would accellerate the left side would get head of the right forcing the car to turn
Posted: August 11th, 2007, 5:00 pm
by Yoda
ho bag wrote:*Y* wrote:Yeah a few things I forgot to mention. First of I do have a klze installed with new axles from Auto Zone. Second I believe the alignment was done correctly because they gave me the handout and everything
LOL ok forget everything we have said
That my friend is what you call power! LSD FTW!
Depend on how bad it is it could also be something as small as a worn rubber bushings in the front A arm, or a Strut or strut mount going to crap. After replacing all the front bushing to Urethane and installing all new struts, springs and mounts the torque steer was no worse with the KL-ZE as I was getting with the 8V 1.6 SOHC in my other car.
Or it can be as bad as the car was in a accident and the left and right sides are not aligned to each other. I knew one guy had a MX-3 where the right side of the car was 18mm push back from the left even though the wheel alignment machine said the wheels were aligned because wheel aligned ment machine don't usually compare the left side to the right. Knew another guy with a cracked frame on the left side under the motor mount everytime he would accellerate the left side would get head of the right forcing the car to turn
Posted: August 13th, 2007, 2:04 am
by PATDIESEL
If the frame is bent you are probably wearing out tires very unevenly too. One side being off from the other makes one of the wheels work much harder- like dragging the other around all the time. Check the tread depth of both sides- inside, middle and outside edges. Report back if you think it might be the frame.