Approximately 1 month ago I purchased a 2005 Mazda RX8 Shinka Edition. Upon the test drive and after I took ownership of the vehicle I noticed a few things:

1- The car would pull slightly to the right and from time to time it would pull severely to the right. I would have to forcefully grip the steering wheel in order to prevent the car from veering off course.

2- With the steering wheel in a fully locked position and at low speeds (1-3kph) the steering wheel would not return to the center position on its own. This would happen turning either to the left or right.

3- When reversing with the steering wheel in a fully locked position the car would make a noticeable clunking sound. This would also happen turning to the left or the right.

The behavior my RX8 was exhibiting was attributed to the car being out of alignment. An appoinment was scheduled for the following week but after the alignment the problem was still present. It was brought back to verify the alignment once again but the probelm still persisted.

This is when it began to start stressing me out as after 6 different trips to the shop/dealer and over two thousand dollars worth of repairs were done the problem still remained. Supposedly both the steering rack and power steering pump had been replaced and all other mechanical and electrical components were subjected to verification.

After all this and my dealer actually told me that the symptoms my car was exhibiting were normal for an RX8 and nothing was wrong with my car. This explantion sounded absolutely ludicrous to me as I had driven two RX8's in the past and none of which behaved in a similar manner.

- Now, what I'm asking from the RX8 community is to confirm whether or not the symptoms my car is exhibiting are actually normal behaviour or possibly due to a fault in the steering system. I believe I already know the answer to my question but I'd just like to hear some feedback from other RX8 owners.

- Secondly, does anyone have any ideas as to what could be the cause of my problems? I've done quite a bit of searching for power steering, steering rack, connector, harness related threads but perhaps there is something I've overlooked.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Thanks.

 

Probably not the answer you're looking for, but yes, my 8 has been pulling very slightly to the right since I've had it. It's probably less than what you're experiencing. I too thought it was an alignment problem so I took it in, alignment was done, problem persisted.

They told me it may be the casters that were off by a small amount, and that there is no adjustment to be done. Either live with it or do some serious modifications with a torch. But again, I think my pull is less severe than yours. Most of the time I can't notice it, and when I do it's very slight. Annoying, but bearable.

 

if you have stock tires (whether that matters or not, i don't know), i've read that because they are low profile, they will pull slightly to the right... Don't know if this helps, but I guess others are also experiencing it also

 

Look up tramlining

 

G'day from Australia,
Had a similar proboblem with a different car a while ago, another place you may need to have a look at is your brakes, sometimes there may be issues with them touching the rotors or anything like that - driving along at low speeds, say under 20mile - brake suddenly and see if there is a lurch to one side or the other. If this is happening, you may need to check your brakes...

Every car's allignment is not 'straight' as it will wear the tires out, but it shouldnt be noticable and suddenly lurch to the side, I think you need another Rx driver to drive your car to confirm, but I honestly think the guy is talking just to get you out of his office.

Good luck with it all - hope you get some respite from it all soon.

 

Hehe...and?

 

You know that the 8's power steering is electric and there is no "pump" right? I hope they didn't charge your for one.

Is it a constant pull?
Does it pull more when braking?

Check your brakes all around. Make sure you're pads are worn evenly and that you caliper slides easily on the slide pins. A hanging caliper can cause a pull in one direction or the other, and is more pronounced if it is in the front. If your pull gets worse when stopping, it's most likely a front caliper.

York: I think you mean "Caster" not casters, and yes it's adjustable during an alignment.

 

hmm... I've driven many different cars (owned s13, s14, r32 skyline, wrx sti) with wide wheel / low profile set ups and I'm familiar with how it feels.

If if is tramlining wouldn't the car react differently on different roads? there is always a constant pull to the right no matter the road condition or what side the crown of the road is on.

I actually asked them to switch the front and left tires and supposedly it was done. I have not taken a look at the caliper yet though. I'll let you know how that turns out.

I'm aware of the 8 having electric power steering but didnt know there wasn't an actual pump or motor. I'll have to check with the dealer and see their records to see exactly what was done. Oh... but all repairs have been covered by the dealer thus far.

Thanks for the help guys

 

oh, and could some oh you chime in on whether or not your steering wheel returns to center from full lock at low speeds? (1-2kph)

and what about this clunk i'm experiencing when reversing in full lock?

 

oh thank you for correcting me on that extra S. Totally my mistake. I'm no alignment expert, I took it somewhere to have it done and that's what they told me.

They printed out a paper with before/after alignment numbers which I took to Mazda and they confirmed that there was no adjustment. It was about a year ago now and again, I'm no expert, but I think it was the caster he told me could be the problem. I could be wrong.

They did check the brakes and such as well, as I told them I didn't know what the cause of the pull was, just that I wanted them to check it out. They put 3 miles on the odo "checking it". Never been back there since.