locked struts on toad

Before we left from home, i had the front end of the PC and the toad (a Honda Fit) aligned. The tires were new so they had been balanced. The driving of the motor home improved significantly (cost to align the front end of the PC was $180). The driving on the fit did not improve.

It would not stay in its lane, but drifted from left to right once you were at cruising speed. It drove me nuts. I took it back and they redid the alignment, but that did not help. In trying to problem solve this issue, one of the mechanics suggested that the struts had locked up and that was producing the erratic steering. Apparently the up and down of the front end of the fit was not natural and that caused the struts to lock up. At least that is the story i got.

I replaced the struts and the Fit drives and tows like new.

Anyone else ever run across this, or was it just BS from the tire guy. He did fix the problem and i don't think that happened  just because my wallet was less full

Greg Matthews
2010
2551S

Greg

I can confirm that a locked up strut could cause the problem you described.

I had a similar problem a few years ago.  The front shocks were adjustable and due to an error on my part I had them set at different damping rates.  Under normal driving conditions this did not cause a problem but under heavy acceleration it caused the car to swerve violently to the left.  Finally checked the shocks and found the problem. After fixing the problem the car ran true and straight again.  

Barry