- #333 of 345
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Re: Handling in Snow [summer24]
by pelegrin
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Jan 03, 2009 (12:33 pm)
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Replying to: summer24 (Dec 28, 2008 12:06 pm)
I have had the same problem with my 2007 Honda Civic. I have gone round and round with the dealers in the area and the Honda consumer hotline. They refuse to believe there is a problem with the car. When it snows the snow accumulates in the wheel well and causes extreme vibration and handling problems simular to how a flat tire would cause the car to act. It is very dangerous to drive and I know it is a design flaw. I have owned several cars in my life and have always lived in snow country and I have never come across a car that handles like this thing in the winter. I will never buy a Honda again. I suggest Toyota, Ford, or VW. My Audi handles the winter weather great but it is exspensive to work on. What we need is a class action lawsuit to get Honda to take care of this problem. In the mean time I truly believe there will be several major accidents because of this problem. Drive safe and leave your honda at home in he snow or heavy rain!!
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- #334 of 345
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Re: Handling in Snow [summer24]
by kevin07
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Jan 06, 2009 (3:58 pm)
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Replying to: summer24 (Dec 28, 2008 12:06 pm)
I have owned a 2006 Civic LX and now have a 2008 Civic SI. I had the problem with my 2006 and found the vehicle to be dangerous on Icy roads. I took it back to the dealership and they checked the rear allignment which was out my 2.5 mil. This fixed the problem. The 2008 models were to have been fixed but I had the same problem with poor handling. I took it back and they realligned the rear wheels and the car handles perfect now. I live in Edmonton where we have extreme winter conditions with temperatures hitting minus 37 f. Tell your dealership to check the rear camber and allign the wheels. The problem is only noted on snow and Icy roads but this will even cause poor handling on dry conditions. Rear tires will wear faster. A fellow worker just had the same problem I had and had it fixed yesterday. He had the 08 EXL Civic and hated the car because of the poor handling on Icy roads. Honda will fix the problem. You just may have to educate the service rep.
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- #335 of 345
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DO SIDE WINDOW DEFLECTORS REDUCE WIND NOISE?
by zoozeek
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Jan 07, 2009 (8:59 am)
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DO SIDE WINDOW DEFLECTORS REDUCE WIND NOISE?
My 2008 Civic LX four-door has much too much wind (and/or road) noise with the front windows rolled down (and I enjoy driving with the windows down quite a bit, here in San Diego). Has anyone had experience with side window deflectors? If yes:
1. Do they reduce wind noise? Significantly?
2. Do they also reduce wind noise when the window is closed (rolled up)?
3. Do they have any drawbacks? (Do they come off? Do they inhibit the view?...)
4. What brand(s) are best?
Thanks greatly for your advice.
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- #336 of 345
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Re: DO SIDE WINDOW DEFLECTORS REDUCE WIND NOISE? [zoozeek]
by mikefm58
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Jan 07, 2009 (9:49 am)
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Replying to: zoozeek (Jan 07, 2009 8:59 am)
I have them on my Toyota truck, so the issues should be the same.
1. No, not at all, in fact I'd say they increase wind noise.
2. Noisier with the window down slightly.
3. Mine have come off in one of those automatic car washes and I had to reinstall them. They have not inhibited the view at all.
4. Not sure what brands are best as I bought them on ebay.
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- #337 of 345
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Re: Handling in Snow [summer24]
by nsteevo
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Jan 16, 2009 (3:09 am)
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Replying to: summer24 (Dec 28, 2008 12:06 pm)
The service bulletin number for the alignment problem is 08-011.
I went to the dealer as a result of a discussion in another blog about handling problems on slippery pavement. Mine was so bad I had started looking at buying a new//different car.
The dealer will replace the rear upper control arms which (originally) were designed to "tilt" the wheels allowing for better handling. Only problem with this great idea is that it causes uneven tire wear (a prerequisite to having the dealer replace the parts and to do an alignment on Honda) and lack of control on slippery pavement.
Mine was fixed yesterday. My fingers and toes are crossed cause I love this little car and want to keep it.
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- #338 of 345
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OUTRAGEOUS! WORN-OUT BRAKE PADS @ 12K MILES?!?
by zoozeek
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Jan 27, 2009 (10:48 am)
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I can't believe it: I just took my 2008 Civic with 12,000 miles on the odo to the dealership for vibration in the steering wheel at highway speeds and they found that my front brake pads are down to 20%!!! After 12,000 miles!!! I've never replaced brake pads before 40,000+ miles on any other car I've owned. So, my questions:
1. Has anyone had such excessive brake pad wear in a Civic? At what mileage do front brake pads usually need to be replaced in the new Civics?
2. I'd like to upgrade: What brake pads do you recommend? What rotors?
Thanks greatly for the advice.
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- #339 of 345
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Re: Handling in Snow [summer24]
by ken2116
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Mar 19, 2009 (9:49 pm)
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Replying to: summer24 (Dec 28, 2008 12:06 pm)
We have a 2006 LX (same car) that was helpless in the slightest snow, absolutely no traction when cornering or accelerating. None. In our case the problem was solved by replacing the tires with Michelin Pilot Exalto AS (chosen after reviewing Consumers Reports tire test results) made a great improvement in both snow/ice on our last trip to the Sierra. Good snow tires should be even better, but there's lots of variation between brands and models. The Pilot Exaltos also are good in rain - on roads with a small amount of standing water the car stops almost as fast as on dry pavement, much better than the OEM Bridgestones.
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- #340 of 345
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Re: OUTRAGEOUS! WORN-OUT BRAKE PADS @ 12K MILES?!? [zoozeek]
by ken2116
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Mar 19, 2009 (10:00 pm)
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Replying to: zoozeek (Jan 27, 2009 10:48 am)
As a point of reference, I just checked my 2006 Civic LX pads at 31,000mi and they have about 1/3inch of lining remaining and almost no wear on the discs. I do drive very smoothly and mostly on level roads and have a manual transmission, so the brakes lead an easy life. Sometimes a cylinder problem will cause brakes to drag and wear pads, but with this one would expect wear to be different at each wheel.
The high carbon content OEM pads on our 1994 Volvo wear out in ~ 10,000 mi - we've replaced them with Raybestos pads and do much better.
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- #341 of 345
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Re: Handling in Snow [kevin07]
by nsteevo
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Mar 21, 2009 (10:37 am)
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Replying to: kevin07 (Jan 06, 2009 3:58 pm)
Just a quick follow up to having the dealer replace the upper handling bars on the rear tires to slolve the handling problem on slippery pavement...............PROBLEM SOLVED !!!
I had the parts replaced about 2 months ago and we've had lots of snow since then and the car handles perfectly every time now. (same tires, they did an all wheel alignment but the alignment wasn't far off at all either).
I highly recommend the procedure and Honda pays for it if the service department determines excessive tire wear due to the original parts that were tilting the wheels inard.
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- #342 of 345
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Re: Handling in Snow [ken2116]
by bearcrkrd
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Apr 10, 2009 (5:47 pm)
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Replying to: ken2116 (Mar 19, 2009 9:49 pm)
We had a lot of snow for this neck of the woods (Seattle) this winter. I had a build up in the wheel wells and the car vibrated really bad. After the build up cleared, I noticed a slight vibration. Also didn't like the handling in wet grooves at hiway speeds, so at 24,000 miles bought new tires. Expensive tires, Goodyear Eagle ResponsEdge. For handling, and hoped to get a little less road noise. Probably a lot more tire than the car will ever need, but what the heck. Helped, but still felt a vibration. Finally today went back and got the tires re-balanced. Helped some, but no miracle fix. Went to the delaer where I bought it and got a 4 wheel alignment. It was out. Funny thing is the Right Rear was the one out-of-spec. The others were just tweaked to a finer adjustment when finished. Feels better.
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