I have noticed it before, but now more so since I got it tuned and I am in it a little more,,,,,,,ok a lot more. Upon heavy acceleration from a dead stop I noticed the steering gets a little squirrely and seems to pull to one side momentarily and then track straight. Is this natural with the electronic assist steering? Would front and or rear antisway bars help reduce or eliminate this? thanks in advance for any constructive comments or suggestions

 

Torque Steer is very common on front drive cars especially if there is large tq numbers.

 

do the 2.4's from 2007 have limited slip?

 

No, no limited slips on those HHR's. In any event, a limited slip will not help torque steer. It is built into the front suspension geometry on a front-driver. Things like equal length half-shafts help. You are not going to engineer it out of your HHR unless you are a GM drivetrain engineer. God Bless, Marc

 

Thanks a lot for your input,,,,much appreciated

 

Its actually a lot better on the HHR than on other high powered front drive vehicles like the PT or Caliber turbos. I think the electric power steering was programmed to help reduce it. Not sure if its possible for tuners to adjust the steering, probably need more details of the system than is obtainable outside GM.

 

It's caled "torque steer"...pretty much a given with a front drive car.

It's worse if you happen to turn while accelerating hard. Torque steer is caused by a multitude of powertrain and suspension issues.

Actually, considering the horsepower, HHRs are not too bad on torque steer...part of that is years of suspension, steering and powertrain development.

I remember the ancient Beretta GTZ of 1989. It had a DOHC 2.4L of 180-hp and had torque steer up the...well, you know.

 

Another notable "torque steerer" was the old 1.8 litre turbo J-cars of the late 1980s.You'd nail the gas and you'd never know which direction the front end would head-left,right or straight-and it was never the same direction twice in a row!

 

that was my next question,,,,it changes sides

 

I've noticed it too, on hard acceleration.
It was kind of "surprising" the first several times when I wasn't expecting it, especially with the manual trans - only one hand on the wheel and it jerks.