crxaddikt

my car is a 1990 honda crx si, with 244,000 miles, i installed KYB GR-2 shocks and H&R sofsport springs (.75" drop) in 2003, and they have worked really well and i've had no problems with them.

recently i have noticed that when parked on a level surface, that the tire-to-fender gap on the front left wheel is smaller than the tire-to-fender gaps on the other 3 wheels of the car?, the gap on the front left one is pretty small, just a little more than the width of my thumb, but the gap on the other 3 wheels of the car are more like 2 thumb widths ?

i also notice that if the car is off and parked, it makes a squeaky sound while i turn the steering wheel left to right ? also, it makes a squeaky sound when pushing up and down on the front left corner fender?, and occassionally it makes squeaky sounds if hitting bumpy parts of a bad road. but the shocks & springs perform the same and still rides fine.

i jacked car up with front left wheel off and inspected around that area, and i did'nt see any leaks around the shock or damage, i tried spraying silicone lubricant around bushings and parts of the shock & spring, but it did'nt help, cause i still heard squeak noises.

i wanted to get opinions on what could cause this ?

Kozy.

Had your rear LCAs off recently?

egsleepercivic

seems to be normal, I noticed the same thing when I had a civic coupe with Neuspeed softsports and gr2s. I don't think it has anything to do with the brand of the parts, I just don't think it is as noticeable with the 4x4 gap that you get with the factory springs and shocks

1988integra

Well if by left side you mean passengers side, a lil less height is good. my teg has all 4 corners independently adjustable and the drivers side of my car is about a half inch higher than the passengers. Then when I sit in it. Voila it's level. Most people drive with no passengers when they race around. If you race around with passengers I hope you provide helmets to protect them from the roll cage. Most likely one of the perches is out of whack. Idk your car, but on mine when installing suspension, and after jacking the car up, you have to watch the bottom rubber under the spring, and the top as well.

GagnarTheUnruly

iTrader: (3)

I think it's pretty normal. Some combination of springs settling and bushings compressing. Probably mostly in the bushings.

redlinetuning

Check your trailing arm bushings. I had a similar issue. The passenger side rear tire would rub. I checked everything, except the trailing arm bushings. Low and behold, the trailing arm bushing was torn, causing the arm to buckle even in the lightest of turns and bumps.

*** edit.. sorry, I misread, thinking it was the rear. The front... check your upper control arms, lower control arms, the strut fork. You're probably just over-looking something simple. You might want to measure the springs without any preload to see if the springs are still the same length.

crxaddikt

yeah, when it was in the suspension / frame shop, they did say i needed new rear trailing arm bushings for sure, and were torn up, cause they said they could move the rear wheels all around when it was jacked up, but i can't afford them yet, but heard they make ton of difference, they said would be $120 to install them, plus the cost of the bushings,

and again, my upper control arms have never been replaced, the guy at the shop looked over the whole car, and gave me a list of everything that was needed, and inspected everything to tell me what was bad or good etc..., such as shocks or springs and everything, and he said i needed a passenger front LCA, passenger knuckle (it was bent from hitting curb), passenger upper balljoint, both front cv axles, front lower crossmember (was bent), drivers lower balljoint, steering rack bushing and rear trailing arm bushings.

i had all of it done except rear trailing arm bushings, and i brought him the knuckle and front crossmember i got at junkyard but good condition off a civic.

that was 2 years ago about, and he did'nt say my shocks or springs were bad or anything and he would of saw if there was anything funny.

after all of that, he said to get a set of 4 matching new tires and take it to him so he can get it aligned, but he still could'nt do the alignment cause he said i needed new rear wheel bearings, so i replaced them and took it back but still said could'nt do the alignment properly until i get those rear trailing arm bushings done cause theres too much play in the rear wheels, so they never did alignment, but it drives straight enough, cause i can let the wheel go while going 60 and it still goes straight without drifting left or right.

but yeah, it does'nt matter even if i got all those things replaced, cause those are just suspension components which attach to the bottom of the car, but if the car was in a wreck and the frame was tweaked where its not level across, then that means the suspension parts that are attached to it might be not level either, and not be even from the left or right sides and stuff, and since the wreck i had in 2001 was hit on the drivers front corner, that might be why only that corner has the short gap from tire to fender ? along with the weight of the driver wearing on that side over time?

but should probably be ok, but the squeaking is annoying and just looks real low on that wheel, more like it has a 2" drop or something instead of the small .75" drop i have

i think i'll just go by the shop i had that work done at, and have him look at it and explain it, and get his opinion, cause they are'nt that busy and hes cool and is the type of person who will put it up on lift and look at it and give his opinion free of charge, and i'm sure he can tell me, cause i know i can't expect to get answers on forums just from posting a few pictures, cause people have to look in person to really tell.

redlinetuning

No. the weight of the driver wouldn't affect it that much unless you're absolutely excessively obese. Sounds like you have more issues to address. And of course, no one (legit) will do your rear alignment if your rear trailing arm bushings are shot. It would be waste of time.

Fix the issues, period. Then worry about the drop height differences afterwards.

slowcivic2k

You have a difference in ride height on one wheel, and only one wheel?

I hate to say this, but are all the tires/rims the same size? Seen it too many times.

You may have a spring that has collapsed, broken or not. Check the lower bushing for the strut. Excessive wear on that bushing will change ride height.

What was the last major thing you remember before really noticing the difference?

If you had the vehicle aligned correctly after lowering it, verifying the alignment will help you determine the source of the decreased ride height (namely, the spring itself).

crxaddikt

all the tires/rims are the same size, they are just the stock 90 si teardrop 14" wheels and i have a set of 4 fairly new good condition Falken Ziex tires 185/60R14

i was meaning to look to see if that spring has been damaged or not better, and i can't remember anything happening recently, but remember once hitting the curb of the end of a median as i was turning left on a intersection, cause it was dark and could'nt see good, but did'nt hit too hard, or im sure if it did i would of noticed wheel shake while driving, and it drives fine.

another thing is i live near downtown dallas, around older neighborhoods that have really crappy torn up roads, and lot of potholes, so i'm sure banging all over those driving all the time does'nt help any, and probably ruining my suspension stuff.

i'll check the things you said to check though to make sure, thanks pointing them out

mike_1212

your left front gap is less than your other three? and you have a squeaking from it?

sounds like a bad strut or pillow block bushings. is the squeaking happening when you turn or when you hit bumps or potholes?

slowcivic2k

Struts do not control ride height in a static environment (IE standing still). Anything that the coil spring is mounted to, (IE upper mount and lower control arm bushing) can produce a variation in ride height.

crxaddikt

what are "pillow block bushings" ?, is that some type of shock mount bushing ?

manuals always say to test if a shock/strut is bad, push and bounce the car on that corner, and if it comes back up tight and just once then its fine, but that if it bounces a few times or is all loose, then its bad, and also says to look around them for leaks and stuff, so mine seem fine and normal, cause doing that test, they just bounce once and are firm.

if i have the car parked and its off, and i turn the steering wheel left and right, back and forth, i hear it squeaking then, but also it squeaks if i push up and down on the drivers front left corner too ?, as well as sometimes when driving through dips and stuff. i don't even know if the squeaking sound has anything to do with the smaller gap on that side?, i just assumed it was since its on the same wheel, anyway i'm sure none of this is anything serious, but i just wanted to find more out about it, cause you never know what it means.

actually, i just realised that it could possibly just be that the fender on that wheel well is bent slightly weird, where the curved lip of the fender is down lower, making it appear like the wheel is closer, when could just be the metal of the fender pressed downward, cause they are aftermarket non-honda parts, plus i've messed with them a bit, bending parts of them to line up to the hood or whatever, so you never know ?

mike_1212

Op, post some pics of that corner of your car. inside the wheel well as well as the top of the strut tower. and lower control arm.

crxaddikt

ok, i'll try to do that, also, just to mention, i installed the shocks and springs myself in 2003, which was my first time doing a shock/spring install, but i was real carefull and made sure i did everything right, but you know, i'm not a professional at it, so theres a chance i could of done something wrong.

sucks cause my good jack is in my friends trunk, left from when i went to help him with a flat tire on side of the road, my spare tire, lug wrench and bag of tools are in there too, so in order to take pics of around wheel well i will have to use the oem jack since thats the only i have, which is all rusty and really hard to turn, i cleaned it good and sprayed with silicone spray lube and made slightly better.

mike_1212

2003? Probably totally worn out.... 11 years of potholes, replace them. probably a good idea to change your lca bushings too.

$MIKE$

iTrader: (13)

Make sure you tourqe everything down with full weight on the parts.

inda ceja

Front squeaking, replace upper and lower ball joints.
In wet weather they squeak more, right ?

reflexion

It's pretty common for older cars, ESP the crx, to sit unevenly. It could be the bushings, or something bent, but even it perfectly fine suspensions I've seen them sit unevenly. If it bother you that much then get adjustable coilovers. Sounds like you're shocks are probably worn out anyways, they don't last forever you know

slowcivic2k

Shocks do not control ride height in a static environment, I should not have to restate this. Read the whole thread to help this guy out. The coil spring and its attachments to the chassis are the ONLY devices that hold the car up standing still.

You have a coil spring problem, or a bushing or mount that is either damaged or not correct.

reflexion

My suggestion to replace the shocks was due to their age. I never said it would change the height. I said it could be something bent or bad bushings, or a combination. It's not uncommon to see a crx sitting unlevel at one corner, especially the front drivers side
Why am I repeating my self??

crxaddikt

i was reading around the internet to see what the average lifespan of shocks or springs were ? or how long they last on average, and i saw a lot of sites saying most shocks are good for around 50,000 miles, and says springs should last the life of the car and should'nt need to be replaced, unless they got damaged.

i thought back to when i put my shocks and springs on, and i estimated i have put around 70,000 miles on them so far, and a lot were on crappy downtown roads with potholes and stuff, probably making them even worse.

during that time i've done some things that would make them worse, such as hitting a curb hard at an angle bending the lower control arm back, popping right over a median when crossing a street cause it was dark and did'tn see the median, driving on a service road in a construction area which did'nt have good signs and diverted me in wrong direction and drove over a little drop-off in the road, hitting hard as i landed, and some other things, so some of those things plus 70,000 miles should tell me its a good time to replace my shocks. and i'll check over the springs condition to make sure, and if seems good i'll use same springs with the new shocks.

also, i noticed that i had the upper balljoint on the front passenger side replaced, as well as the lower ones and control arms, but i never got the upper balljoint on the drivers side replaced, so i probably need to get that done, cause i think that is whats squeaking.

rex pwr

Check the control arm bushings and the ball joints.

slowcivic2k

You go to recommend something that is totally unrelated to the problem of a sagging suspension. I don't care how common or uncommon it is, or isn't. I am here to diagnose the problem, not shell out everything that should of been replaced or wasn't. Take that however you wish. There is a diagnostic process to solving these types of problems without replacing the whole car.

Springs have to fight gravity forever while on the car, and as such they have a limited life span, depending on the weight of the car (or how much you overload it), and how you drive it. No spring will last forever. And based on my experience, most small cars will require coil springs because of ride-height issues after 10+ years of typical driving.

PatrickGSR94

iTrader: (1)

Koni Sport shocks, 230,000 miles on mine and they're still going strong. Yes you read that right, 12 years later. Best purchase I ever made for my car.