Any front engine nose-heavy vehicle in standard trim that wanders has aproblem with alignment, wheels, tires, or loose supension parts unless the road is very uneven and rutted with valleys wandering back and forth, usually on heavy truck traveled roads. The wider the tire tread the more likely to follow valleys in the road. There's no defense for that..

The Fit will wander if you overload the back-end, making it tail-heavy.

 

I have an 09 sport that is lowered on sportlines. It never wandered when I ran the stock tires and it doesn't wander now that I have 205/40/17 tires.

 

I have a 2010 fit sport that doesnot wander or pull, drives great. I have another 2010 fit sport that wanders and pulls left when deaccelerating and right when accelerating. The local honda dealer has been unable to fix it. the only thing they did was increase the toein some and said that was all they could do. I am about to make a formal complaint to all who will listen. Anybody know who/what or how I should proceed? The car is dangerious and a REEAL SAFETY HAZARD. I know I should contact Honda America and NHTSA. Anybody had any real success otherwise, like bigger tires has been suggested? Is there a service buletin concerning this?
Any help/suggestions appreciated.
Raylon

 

If you feel that it is unsafe then get it towed to a good alignment shop and get it fixed. If they are able to fix it then I'd contact American Honda and try to get them to reimburse you.

Sometimes dealers are just obstinate.

Cheers.

 

I had an incredibly "exciting" experience of being blown into another lane while on the interstate; however this was on a bridge while driving into a storm front with unusually high winds.

Under more typical conditions, I do find the that fit wanders and is twitchy. And yes, I'm the 'fat dumb american' that is used to larger cars with comfort being maxed and I agree that the longer I have had the car, the more I am getting used to it. However, that doesn't mean that Honda shouldn't address the issue that apparently many of us notice.

 

The new Insight has this exact trait, and that car is lower with slightly better Cd, though with narrow tires.

 

My Wife's Forester is much worse to drive when it is windy than the Fit is... I had a hard time keeping my car going in a straight line when I first got it but that was due to spending over ten years driving slower steering and handling rear wheel drive cars.... It took me awhile to begin to feel confident but I did finally got it down...

 

Rear wheel toe-in and camber...makes a big difference! Set it to 0.0 - 0.1 degrees toe-in and set the camber to 0.5 - 0.6 degrees. This is much tighter than OEM spec, but will make a big diference in stability/handling for you.

 

I was going to say, alignment has a lot to do with the severity of this trait on the Fit. When I had my alignment done, this trait got much worse. I had to take it somewhere else where they put an aggressive toe in and that made it back to normal.

 

Sbailey Honda of OKC says rear toe and camber and of course there isnt any castor, isnt adjustable. Are they all wet?
Raylon

 

No...you have to go use aftermarket parts...
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I don't have any problems... It requires smaller corrections than a larger car due to the quick steering and short wheelbase, but it feel pretty stable to me.

I just looked it up... both my Civic and Accord had P185/70R14 sized tires.

Neither of them felt inclined to wander. If you're overinflating your tires, you'd have a smaller contact patch, and less absorbtion of irregularities in the road; I've heard of a few folks doing that to improve mileage (I tried it in my CR-V, which had a recommended tire pressure of 26 PS, and it got noticably more fidgety)

Could that, mixed with the wheelbase/steering ratio, be part of it?

 

Jodele - do you have a GD or a GE? I believe there is NO rear toe/camber adjustment options for the GE, but there IS on the GD.

If you have a GE and adjusted the rear alignment, please explain and give part numbers! =)

 

All that wander are not lost.

Actually I find The Fit to be pretty stable and track well for it's size and suspension. No white knuckles on the freeway.

It is what it is though....you can't be a sub-compact without some sacrifice.

 

I def feel the Fit as "squirrly" at speed. In my case, the dealer did an alignment and said the rear toe was a little out of spec...but there is no adjustment. Looks like i need a better alignment shop and some more positive caster....=/

My 1988 civic wagovan doesn't wander like the Fit does....similar wheelbase and weight. Thoughts?

 

I've got an '07 Sport with both the stock 15" wheels with Nokian Hakkapeliitta Rsi snow tires on them and the 16" Accessory wheels with Michelin Pilot Exalto PE2 in 205/50ZR16 (this is the GE size on my GD) size. I have also used the recomended 205/45ZR16 tired with none of the wandering described here...so it is not a tire/wheel issue!

 

Another question, so we're all clear.

What is highway speed?

I rarely run more than 65-70. 101 is signposted between 60-65, and I prefer to stay within the 5-mph unwritten grace-zone, and not see just how much my Mil ID can get me out of. (So far, both unintentional: 35 in a school zone (25), 62 in a 45mph construction zone)

 

Agreed.

From what I can gather from driving my (stock) '10 Sport for a short time is that I need to be keenly aware of almost everything going on around me including the condition of the road, my speed, wind, etc....not to mention how the car naturally wears in and handles from day-to-day (which is a given if you've ever driven high mileage vehicles). In other words, the Fit it isn't designed to break any American speed limit or even traverse a less than perfect road surface...with the advantage being that you are actually more properly attuned to and take seriously the responsibility of driving perhaps more than you ever had before in larger vehicles.

It's just plain more 'work' to drive these sized cars at this price range and along with that comes a lowered expectation to begin with.

 

I'm usually doing 80-mph...oh, and by the way, the speed cut off in the '07 Sport Fit ECU is 120-mph...that is what my GPS had on it when it scared the shit out of me. It cuts out with a bang! I have never had this car on a track either.

This car of mine is so stable and tracks so very well that it is a joy to drive long distances. This is one of the funnest cars I've ever owned...and I've owned over 30. One of the best handling too...this car out handles my Datsun 260Z. I doesn't out accelerate it though.

 

Mine is fine on calm days and decent highway. Rough stretches of highway where the car is narrow enough to either have to be in one rut or the other.. can be bad.

I drive the Columbia River Gorge all the time... talk about wind. The car tracks just fine but you can sure feel it. A good gust will move you a bit if you're not paying attention.