Good morning everyone I have a 2013 Honda Civic Coupe 4 Cylinder 1.8L Base Model car which is now about to hit 230,000 miles. I have never had any major issues over the 8 years I have owned the vehicle but it has been doing something very dangerous lately to the point my wife refuses to ride in the vehicle anymore:
6 months ago I had a local tire shop look into why the ride was bad in the vehicle at higher speeds on the interstate as well as a wobbling sound when making turns at slow speeds. It was diagnosed Front Struts, Lever Control Arms, and Sway Bars. These were all changed, still had this issue. When diagnosed by a different mechanic he explained to us the Nuts on the Lever Control Arms were no longer tight so they re-tightened the nuts and discovered the rear drum brakes were full of crud and needed replaced. This silenced the noise but the unstable ride remained.
Cut to current times 2 of the tires have gone of the vehicle so it has two new tires (in the rear) and the two original tires (in the front) all 4 with good tread and not appearing unevenly worn. What the car does however is when driving on the interstate at high speeds it will shake left to right. This can't be rough road as multiple roads it has done this on. It honestly feels like the car is going to shake itself apart. Another thing I've noticed (not sure if this is related) but the Steering Wheel seems to have more play in it than usual. It takes a full rotation to make a left or right 90 degree turn and two almost 3 rotations to do a u-turn. I don't remember it needing turned this much to turn previously and how unstable the car feels at high speeds on the interstand has us feeling the car is going to come apart.
I had a tire specialist visually check the shocks in the back for leaks and I have also taken the tires off to see if I saw grease anywhere like CV Joints but I didn't see any leaks nor did the specialist with the shocks. It does not make a clunking noise when turning but it feels like it will shake apart on the road cane someone please help I feel no one can accurately find the root of this problem and the car will just break apart on the road.
Thank you and have a Blessed Day,
Joseph A. Greenfeder
A competent alignment shop should be able to help you
And here's the worst thing about the whole situation, in my opinion.
The shops that you went to still have the nerve to make you pay for parts you may not have needed, { since they didn't fix the problem}
In September 2019 the Car was involved in a Rear End Collision.
The unibody structure could have been twisted out of alignment. Take it to a good chassis specialist.
Watching one of Scotty's video's made me re-evaluate something that may be a factor or may not in this. In September 2019 the Car was involved in a Rear End Collision. Car hit me at a red light (wasn't paying attention) did 3,000 in damages. Primarily rear bumper being replaced and the braces behind it. The cops when called would not come out as both vehicles were legally drivable and no suspicion of intoxication (the person admitted they weren't paying attention, their ins. paid for the repairs + 6K). It was repaired at a Certified Body Shop (same one the town's police cars were serviced at) and since the rear end collision has had a full 4 wheel alignment twice (once after they fixed it) and again last year when changing these suspension parts mentioned above. So I'm not sure if this could be lingering something from the accident, now almost 3 years ago, or if this is a part somewhere in the steering system, or suspension system causing all of this violent side to side shaking when going over 40 mph (tested over lunch seems to shake over 40) it even shakes just sitting idle. Again the 2013 Honda Civic was bought brand new at the time is at just under 230,000 miles now with no major repairs (other than the fender bender) ever needed so far, just routine maintenance only.