drewce

Whatsup hondatech


Car is a Civic Ek

So awhile back i went to get an alignment done when i first bought the car after putting coils on it. The right front caster was out of wack negative. ( just outside of the green on the alighnment Screen/sheet) I never thought anything of it because the car still drove straight. So recently i did a K swap with EG/DC Subframe and lower control arms with new bushings. I got an alighnment again and same results the r/f is still showing excessive negative caster. Now my question is since its not the lower control arm and subframe what are the chances its the spindle and UCA? i mean would the UCA be bent and not the lower control arm or spindle?

Btw i bought the car completely stock from an older person with 58000kms(36000 miles) And everything seems to be straight and body panels were never touched.


Any help would be appreciated cars in storage right now but just trying to figure this out for the spring. Thanks happy new yeaR!!

grumblemarc

iTrader: (4)

Post up the alignment specs.

drewce

I wish i had one. Everything else was fine on the alignment Besides camber as i don't have have camber adjustment. the Lf caster was good.


Btw Coils are also different

So things switched out when the swap was done

LCA
Subframe
Coils

JDMH22HATCH

iTrader: (6)

Try putting the front of the car on jack stands and loosen the subframe bolts and shift the passenger side forward. How bad was the caster split from right to left? Does the car pull? Caster is a steering angle and won't cause tire wear unless its pretty excessive. Realign the car after you shift the subframe because toe angles will change.

drewce

When i originally got the car i put coils on it and got it aligned even though the caster was off i didn't pay attention to it. and now since i put a k in it i changed to a dc subframe and lower controls arms yet to find out its still off by the same amount so the problem wasn't the subframe or lower control arms. Car never pulled b4 with the ek subframe or now wit hthe e.g. one. i am aware that it doesn't cause tire wear but tarts not my worry. Bad caster usually causes the car to be more unstable at higher speeds and since i spent good amount of money on this swap i want to get that problem sorted out

JDMH22HATCH

iTrader: (6)

I understand, but what were the caster readings at? How bad was the split? Honda's aren't necessarily built for high speed stability and run low caster compared to mercedes, audi, etc. If its barely out then don't worry, but if you do want to attempt shifting the cradle you can pull some caster out of it

drewce

Cant give you the exact reading as i don't remember. i don't expect the car to have better higher speed stability i just want at least the OEM speed stability specs. Not sure if your familiar with alighnment monitors but the reading was outside the green in the red. left side is fine so something has to be wrong on the right side I'm just trying to figure out what

Tyler Dirden

iTrader: (3)

After changing every bushing and all control arms on my EG, I had a castor issue with my RF just barely being out. The guy was like, no adjustments are available to make so live with it. I was like, please get me a 17mm ratchet and a pry bar.
I loosened the rear three bolts attaching the lower control arm bushing and pried the control arm over and re tightened them. What do you know, pulled it one degree back into the green. All was well.
A traction bar can be adjusted to push the lower ball joint back too. A little pre load is needed for traction control anyway.

drewce

.1 degree or 1 degree? so it was already in the green area? or were you trying to get that 1 degree to get it to dead centre? i can see that working if being off .1/.2 degrees but not the amount I'm off by. also i do have traction bars and i was thinking do that putting tension to even it out but it would need to be adjusted quite a bit and that would mean one side has more tension than the other so i don't want that either.

sxysweed

If caster is off a significant amount, the car will pull. If it doesn't pull, don't worry about it.

Alignment machines aren't the super accurate super computers people think they are.

Tyler Dirden

iTrader: (3)

A 1/4" of lower ball joint movement is a lot of change. If you are out mare than 2-3 degrees, you have a bent lower control arm, no accident or not in it's history. All things being what have been made known, the car body has never been hit; means it must be a control arm problem.
The upper arm is not adjustable and attached to the body. A 1/4" of movement should fix a 3 degree out issue.
PS. mine was JUST in the red, right at the line where it goes green. My adjustment brought it into the green with the bolts loosened alone.

JDMH22HATCH

iTrader: (6)

Take off the traction bar before you shift anything. Or you can loosen the subframe and use the traction bar to pull the passenger side forward then tighten the bolts

Tyler Dirden

iTrader: (3)

The traction bar is not used that way. I believe He needs to move the lower ball joint back to create a correct caster setting, not forward. Also, there is an infinitesimal amount of slop in a link system like these and pulling them creates the largest slop factor. Many, many,many people misunderstand the traction bar system and employ it wrong. The traction bar will attempt to Pre-Load the lower control arm and prevent movement that will CONTROL the suspension geometry when heavily loaded. A loose traction bar in tension and not compression; will have a lessened effect on the launch. Though, this will usually be better than no traction device limiting the forward movement of the control arm.

JDMH22HATCH

iTrader: (6)

I understand what you're saying, but thats not what I meant. I might have worded myself wrong. And the lower balljoint needs to move FORWARD to create more positive caster, not back. A simple subframe shift is what I am stating to do. If he doesn't have a big prybar or pivoting bar, then I was saying to loosen the subframe, and use the adjustment on the traction bar to pull the subframe forward, then retighten the subframe bolts. Afterwards he would have to readjust the traction bar.