Self-healing alignment- Am I crazy?

Antonio DiMarco · Mar 17, 2006

If a car goes out of alignment it will stay out of alignment. Right?

Well it maybe my imagination but both my 3 and my 5 seem to "correct" alignment issues in the days following the incident. I know it sounds crazy but I am REALLY sensitive to alignment problems. If the steering is the least bit off-center or feels "vague" it drives me crazy. And the tight handling characteristics of Mazdas make slight alignment issues even more pronounced.

For some reason though the problem goes away. I know that tires can wear, but I'm guessing that tire wear that could compensate for alignment issues happens over weeks not days. Plus, while I can see tire wear correcting "directional" alignment, I can't see it correcting vagueness in steering response. I also get my car serviced religiously and have never had a tire wear problem.

Any ideas? (except mind alering drugs)

Wytchdctr · Mar 18, 2006

are you sure its not the crown of the road or wind causing the perceived alignment problem?

BlkZoomZoom · Mar 18, 2006

The 3 and 5 have electro-hydraulic steering that takes inputs from everything. On a Vw (which has the same basic system now) it will compensate for wind or uneven weight distributions. For example if you are driving on a straight road and the wind is blowing on your rightside so you have to constantly put pressure on the steering wheel to go straight. It will take over and make the correction for you so you no longer have to keep the constant pressure to go straight. I am not 100% that the Mazda system is exactly the same but I can look into it.

Antonio DiMarco · Mar 18, 2006

Wytchdctr said:
are you sure its not the crown of the road or wind causing the perceived alignment problem?

Yeah, I'm sure about the crown. I learned about this many years ago when I was a tike

The alignment guys always ask me that question as well.

I travel the same road everyday, so I'm pretty familiar with the road surface.

I'm crazy I know (boom07)

Antonio DiMarco · Mar 18, 2006

BlkZoomZoom said:
The 3 and 5 have electro-hydraulic steering that takes inputs from everything. On a Vw (which has the same basic system now) it will compensate for wind or uneven weight distributions. For example if you are driving on a straight road and the wind is blowing on your rightside so you have to constantly put pressure on the steering wheel to go straight. It will take over and make the correction for you so you no longer have to keep the constant pressure to go straight. I am not 100% that the Mazda system is exactly the same but I can look into it.

Hmm, that's interesting. It would be great to know if the Hydro_electric system did compensate.

The gentleman who handles my service tells me that he believes Mazda builds some of the most durable suspensions around. He used to work for Subaru and said that while you may think that Subrau's suspensions are durable, they go out of alignment all the time.

Don't know how true this is.

7red7 · Apr 17, 2006

Antonio DiMarco said:
I travel the same road everyday, so I'm pretty familiar with the road surface.

I'm crazy I know (boom07)

I don't think you're crazy at all...In fact, I'm having the same situation happening to me almost everyday...I've had my Mazda 5 for three weeks now, and I began noticing that on certain roads the allignment seems off and my steering wheel is a couple degrees to the left (but the car drives as smooth as ever without any pulling)...Then out of nowhere I'll drive down a different street or get on the freeway, and the steering wheel is straight again...

It's definitely not cresting in the roads because with cresting you usually get a directional pull whichever way the car is angled on the street...With the exception of the torque steer on takeoff and when accelerating hard at higher speeds, my car doesn't pull and there is no tire wear visible at all...

I was unaware that our cars were equipped with steering units that helped to correct allignment until reading this thread...I'll take that as a reason for this happening and try to stop worrying for now

DAN

X10James · Apr 17, 2006

my steering wheel is a couple degrees to the left

Mine is always like that, to go straight you have to turn it to about 11:00. I was going to ask the dealer about it when I go in for my first oil change in another 700 miles, but I wasn't terribly worried. Just feels wrong to have such a nice looking new car but have the wheel out of true.

7red7 · Apr 17, 2006

X10James said:
Just feels wrong to have such a nice looking new car but have the wheel out of true.

Oh I agree!!! My wife is always scolding me because I'm constantly looking at the steering wheel to see if its straight or not *LOL* At this point I'm just going to try to ignore it, and enjoy my new car...With my luck, I'll take it into the dealership to have them check the allignment, they'll make an adjustment and the car will never drive the same again...It's happened to three of my cars in the past, and I'm not ready to go through repeated allignment visits again...

canadianexpress · Apr 18, 2006

7red7 said:
Oh I agree!!! My wife is always scolding me because I'm constantly looking at the steering wheel to see if its straight or not *LOL* At this point I'm just going to try to ignore it, and enjoy my new car...With my luck, I'll take it into the dealership to have them check the allignment, they'll make an adjustment and the car will never drive the same again...It's happened to three of my cars in the past, and I'm not ready to go through repeated allignment visits again...

When I picked up my red Mazda5, it had 13km and was pulling to the right. I did had to get my allignment done, and no problem since.

WidgenEds Dad · Oct 15, 2006

My 05 Mazda Sport had to have 4 new tyres due to a problem with the wheel algnment. Mazda UK forked out for the tyres, which suggests that they are aware of a problem.
3000 miles later I have had the alignement settings checked at an independent garage, and find that the alignment is 2.5mm out at the front and the rear thrust is 2mm out.

jandree22 · Jun 2, 2007

I just noticed today that the car seems to be pulling to the right, but perhaps it's just the road crown? Unfortunately, I noticed it on every single road I was on (mostly 50-65mph highways). The steering wheel is also SLIGHTLY off true, but I'm talking like "11:58" position. Both are very subtle, so I'm curious to see if this will remedy itself over the next week.

I feel like an ass... I'm as anal about perfect alignment as some of you guys, and I don't want my Mazda dealer thinking I'm nit-picking or difficult. Plus alignment ain't that cheap for such a petty issue.

jandree22 · Jun 14, 2007

^^^ Update

Okay, this is wierd. The 5 was slightly pulling to the RIGHT and my steering wheel was a bit off center to the LEFT. If tire pressure was to blame, the car should pull towards the low PSI side and steering should compensate towards the high PSI side, no?

Well, checked the PSI's and the Right was 34 and the left was 32, opposite than expected! Inflated both back up to 36 and the tracking/steering seems back to normal. I can't understand it, but if anyone has an explanation I'm open to it.

Now I only need to schedule an Oil Change/Tire Rotation instead of a 4 wheel alignment too

I'd do both of these myself if I had car stands... oh well.

Self-healing alignment- Am I crazy?

Antonio DiMarco

Member

Wytchdctr

Member

BlkZoomZoom

Member

Antonio DiMarco

Member

Antonio DiMarco

Member

7red7

Member

X10James

Member

7red7

Member

canadianexpress

Member

WidgenEds Dad

Member

jandree22

Member

jandree22

Member

Similar threads

Latest posts