If I could, i'd return my 2008 ridgeline

[cjr2]

That's crazy, my '07 drives like a sports car, very sure footed on the road. I have 24 K on it and love the Ridge...I had a lot more problems with my '04 150 than I've had with this car(absolutely no problems, never been back to the dealer for any reason).

[ChrisM]

Sometimes this "leading tire" thing can be cured by going out and scuffing the tires. How do you do this? Go out into an empty parking lot and drive the truck in tight circles 20 times in the opposing direction at a fairly good clip. You should turn the wheel in the opposing direction that the that the vehicle is pulling.

I won't assure you that this will fix your problem but it might. How did I discover this fix? I used to buy a lot of used tires when I was of a lesser age and in a lower income bracket. When I was younger I was very hard on tires so lets say I went thru them a little faster than the average Joe.

I ususally had to drive a set of tires for about 50 or so miles before I could cure the tires of the previous owners bad alignment problems. This method has worked for me about 90% of the time. I hope this helps.

[djeaux]

Just chiming in with another observation. I had terrible balance & pulling issues with two sets of OEM replacement tires on my last GMC. Those were Goodyears, but I think the moral applies to Michelin as well. It seems that when WalMart & other mass outlets began selling tires, the big name manufacturers just stepped back on their QA at the factory. It is easier to reduce costs that way & just replace the ones that are defective.

The factory compensates with wheel weights to bring the near-defect tires into spec.

Look at the balance weights on your wheels. If you have more than about one one-inch weight on any corner, you need to have the dealership check them individually without weights to see if they meet specs.

[ToyTruck]

Cross rotate your tires!! I had the same problem with pulling to the right. Most pronounced with 2 aboard and on crowned roads. Alignment didn't help. Front right to rear left, front left to rear right--trust me, it will fix the problem, which is with the Michelins, not your Honda. Mine now tracks like a BMW.

[Dominator]

Follow up, the wife didn't want to wait until May. I couldn't take time off so she took it in.
She is told that the guy that does the alignments was off for the last 3 weeks and they had
an aprentice working on the car the first time, (great, music to my ears, an aprentice) she
asks about cross rotating but is told its not needed. They finish the alignment and steering
wheel straightening. She's taken for a test drive with the new mechanic (referred to as one of
their top mechanics) and everything seems to be fine on the roads they drove on according to
the wife. She comes home and I take it around the block (as I didn't have much time) and it
seems a lot better but I'll have to take it for a longer drive to know, atleast the steering
wheel seemed aligned.

Unfortunately, as I drove the truck during the week, I notice that its still pulling to the
right and worse, I notice the steering wheel seems to be going off centre again or maybe it
wasn't straightened completely and it was just so much better than before that I thought the
steering wheel was alighned. I ask a friend with a pickup to try it and he says its definately
pulling but can't say definately that its not because of the roads and maybe the ridgeline is
just more sensitive to the road imperfections than other vehicles. I again call up the sales
manager, again tells me to bring it in. I can hear what I think is some exasperation in his
voice, but hey, its a brand new truck. I didn't buy used and I didn't buy a cheaper pickup
because I wanted as close to perfection as I could get, including in the famed honda customer
service department.

So the wife, who's work hours are a lot more flexible, takes it in again. She again asks for
for cross rotation but is talked out of it, again. She also mentions at the counter when she
brought it in that I noticed it seems a lot worse when I make a right turn and drive down a
street and when I make a left turn to drive down the same street its not as bad. She's told
by a different mechanic that he's the regular alignment guy and that he's been off for the
last 2 weeks. She confronts him with the fact that she was told the same thing last week and
he says "I don't know, I'm the regular alignment guy." (misunderstanding? its possible, maybe
last weeks mechanic wasn't the regular alignment guy and wasn't an apprentice either and was
just an experienced mechanic, but not the alignment guy that was still off). The wife leaves
it alone anyway, misunderstanding or not, as she just wants to get out of there. She goes for
a test drive and again it seems fine to her. That night I take it for a quick drive and the

steering wheel seems fine again but it seemed fine the last time she brought it home also,
however its still pulling to the right. Now I have to be clear about something, 1)its not
pulling so much that I would call it unsafe. I do expect it to steer as good/straight or
better than my 2005 caravan though. It doesn't. 2)If I had gotten the truck like it is now
in the first place, with steering wheel straight, if I'm being honest, I may not have even
complained, I don't know. Now I've become so accutely sensitive to the steering that I'm not
enjoying my ride. Every drive is becoming a test drive. Which is their fault IMO, as the car
a)shouldn't have been given to me with the "steering wheel" at the very least like that and
b)should have been fixed the first time I brought it in, apprentice or not.

I'm not sure if its just my mind trying to convince myself but I'm starting to lean towards
the "ridgeline is sensitive to road imperfections" theory and its not really out of alignment
as it does drive straight at times, but I would think alignments should be able to adjust this
also, no? I should also mention that it handles great with 2 hands on the wheel, What I mean
is, taking a bank (not a on/off ramp) on the highway at about 120k is no problem, as good as
my old vette anyway. Frankly, it accelerates better than the 1980 vette also. So, my options
as I see them, I either have to go to another dealership which I'm sure will accomplish nothing
or take it to "real" alignment experts and have it inspected and try and get honda to pay for
the inspection and then tell them, this is what's wrong, fix it. OR, let it go, as I'm sure
most people do and most dealerships count on, and start enjoying my truck before this ruins
my summer.

On the first visit the receipt didn't say so but the guy at the desk said they did a minor
toe adjustment. On the Second visit the receipt said they adjusted the steering wheel and
did an alignment and on the third visit it said they adjusted the steering wheel and did a
toe adjustment.

Oh, and for what its worth, the front right has about 4-5 inches of weights, the rear right
about 3-4 and the left front and back about 1-2 inches each, I didn't measure. I only mention
this as someone suggested this might be contributing. Does all that weight on the right side
make a diff? I wouldn't imagine so but what do I know. The mechanic didn't think so.

I'm going to be hooking up with a friend soon who did some kind of "release" for the ridgeline
and drove the hell out of one way back when, even tryed to flip it if I recall, and couldn't do
it (on a track). He can test it out also. If recall correctly, he was one of the guys demonstrating
the ridgeline to dealerships when it was first released. He also said that the only truck that
came close to touching the ridgeline at the time was the tacoma, and referred to the sportrac as
scary to drive on windy days for him, Anyway, we'll see if I'm overreacting according to him.

One thing I take full blame for, not test driving the thing first when I went to the dealership
and just giving it a visual once over, I don't think I'm alone in making this mistake though.
Although, who could imagine you can have a alignment problem from honda, from the factory, on a
"top" pickup. Not me anyway. I only ever test drove one in 2006 and didn't recall any alignment
issue with that one.

One other thing, not sure if it means anything, but took it to a car wash for the first time,
and when I pull up and put in nutral when told by the voice I notice that my steering wheel
is centred to 10 oclock as I'm being pulled along. Not sure if that is significant or not.

Sorry to be so long winded but I think someone might appreciate the detail in this post in the
future if someone actually goes through something similar. I know for me the best posts I've
found here have the most detail and pictures. Anyway, I've tryed to be honest and fair.

As far as cross rotating, the tires don't come off the rim right, you simply move the whole tire with rim right?

[BruceRTL]

Dang, what a saga Dominator! Good luck finding a solution. I haven't noticed my RL pulling but after reading your post I'm going to check it out. It will be interesting to hear what you friend has to say when he drives your truck.

[ToyTruck]

As far as cross rotating, the tires don't come off the rim right, you simply move the whole tire with rim right?

That is correct. Swap the right front to the left rear, LF to RR. Save yourself a ton of grief messing with another bogus alignment. Don't understand why the service department is fighting you on this (and all the apprentice talk too). I would have gone somewhere else. By the way, my steering wheel was off too and now it is perfect and my RTS tracks straight and true.

[wrenrj1]

Originally Posted by 25 Year Honda Owner

I don't agree with that statement. After 13 Hondas the '08 Accord is the only one ever with an alignment problem. That is not counting the 1982 Accord after I ran over a crosstie!!

Respectfully, my point was that off the line en mass alignments are not as exacting due to mass production. I have heard (famous last words...) that alignments off the line are within a range and not as exact as an alignment on an individual rack.

I've had good luck with one exception as well (89 VW Golf purchased new), but it does happen. The Dealer should be able to remedy an alignment problem pretty easily.

[mugen1]

I don't understand why they wouldn't cross rotate the tires, just to prove they're right or wrong. I mean if it has solved the problem for others, it's worth a try. It's so easy to do for them, too.

[djeaux]

If they have the weights you describe on the tires, you need to go to the dealership with the tire warranty on hand, explain that the OEM tires are Honda's problem (and not Michelin's) & demand that the entire set be taken off the truck & tested against specs. My bet is that at least one of the tires is very close to being "condemnable" under warranty. (This does not mean the tire is unsafe but that it is not round & is probably not quite balance-able...)