2017 Honda Civic. Just had a flat at the driver side rear tire and it was unable to be patched. While I was replacing the tire I also opted for new rear brakes and rotors (rotors were warped). The car is at 57k miles and needed this maintenance. Ever since the day of the repair, driving the vehicle just seems a bit “off” with the most specific symptom I can point too being that the steering wheel seems a bit more hard to maneuver or is just a bit stiff.
I find this a bit strange as this is a front wheel drive vehicle and it had no work done to the front, but instead the rear. I wonder, what might be going on? It should be noted that the passenger side rear tire is in good shape and it doesn’t appear that there is some sort of imbalance going on back there, though even if there were it still wouldn’t make sense given that, again, the car is FWD. Any advice is much appreciated. TIA
Did you hit a pot hole or something that damaged the tire?? why was it not repairable??
I would take a guess and say the vehicle was racked and up in the air since they replaced the rear brakes, I would hope that the shop (I know I would have) looked at your front brakes as well and when they looked at them they may have turned the front wheels lock to lock with the engine off…
With that being said there is a slim possibility this could have happened…
Honda “American Honda Motor Co.” is recalling certain 2017-2018 Honda Civic and CR-V vehicles. The magnet that controls the torque sensor output signal for the electronic power steering system may not be properly secured, allowing the magnet to become dislodged. During a full lock turn, the dislodged magnet may cause steering assist to be applied in the opposite direction.
Normally I would say you might have air in the PS system but yours is electric so that is out…
Other than that, possible the strut mounts are going bad and shifted some making it harder to turn, or some other suspension part…
But there is not much that they could have done to have caused the issue if there was not an issue already there in some form…
The tire was flat when I went out one morning. They told me it had a broken belt inside of it and I needed a new tire. The tire had been making a funny noise for a few weeks beforehand if I’m being honest.
You don’t think this has anything to do with the fact that I have one new and one old tire on in the back? (Even though the “old tire” is only about one year old and in great shape)
OK, didn’t know if you hit a pothole and blew it out or what… lol
Well it is better to replace tires in pairs or sets for best and equal traction, braking, steering response and not having a tire pull, but I don’t think that is your issue at all…
And the other tire only being a year old has nothing to do with it’s condition except for age, you might drive 10 miles a week or 800 miles a week, plus it could be a 40K mileage tire or a 80K mileage tire…
If you just wanted a piece of mind, you could always have the shop check the suspension and steering for loose or worn parts…
I doubt the rear tires -their merits, demerits, etc — are related with the steering problem. the only possible link I can think of, the car was put on a lift to repair the rear tires, and something associated with that process has adversely affected the steering linkage. Seems pretty unlikely. Steering problem timing is probably just a coincidence. Ask your shop to investigate the steering symptom.