I took my R to get an alignment yesterday. During the Thanksgiving Day police chase, the thief scraped up both driver's side wheels pretty bad, bending one of them, so he must have hit a curb or 2. Anway, I can't figure out why my camber #'s (both before and after) are so off. I have mugen lowdowns and rear 26mm bar, no other suspension mod's. Any ideas?


Left Front
...............Before.......Actual
camber.....-.7deg....... -.7
toe..........-.07deg......-.05


Right Front
...............Before........ Actual
camber....-2.1deg.......-2.1
toe..........-.14deg....... -.05


Left Rear
...............Before.........Actual
camber....-.6deg.......... -.5
toe..........-.08deg........ -.04


Right Rear
...............Before.........Actual
camber..... -1.1deg......-1.1
toe........... -.04deg...... -.04

 

1.4 degree difference in camber is quite a lot... Have you tried getting the readout with you're sitting in the car? It would help gain little more camber on the left side.

 

Likely bent LCA in front and bent trailing arm in rear...from hitting curbs.

another possibility (non-exclusive) = shifted subframe in front

how did the caster look?

 

I have to get my caR on a rack ASAP. I'm just scared of what it'll show

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by opie &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I have to get my caR on a rack ASAP. I'm just scared of what it'll show </TD></TR></TABLE>

maybe thats why your Azenis only last 8000 miles

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by El Pollo Diablo &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

how did the caster look?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Was gonna ask this as well....

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Batoutahell &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">the thief scraped up both driver's side wheels pretty bad, bending one of them, so he must have hit a curb or 2. Anway, I can't figure out why my camber #'s (both before and after) are so off. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Sounds like you answered your question

 

Caster is:

Left Front
Before.......Actual
-.3deg......-.3


Right Front
Before.......Actual
-.25deg.....-.2


I'm also starting to think something's bent. I've done many alignments on my R in the past and never run into a problem like this.

 

For one, since the vehicle is in unknown condition as to what is possibly bent, replacing parts would be trial and error. If you get a really meticulous and keen front end guy he would be able to tell you with his naked eye. I know my guy would.

He would measure check points, angles, positions, locations, etc.

Again, its hard to tell you whats wrong but my first attempt would be the upper control arm.

After that, I would replace the lower control arm. These are all guesses so dont take my word for it.

Shifting your subframe is not the answer to your problem. Something is obviously bent. Shifting subframe only helps when you want 0.1-0.2 at most degree change in caster or camber.

Swing down to NTB in Lewisville and Ill find out what exactly needs to be replaced for no charge.
Caster is fine.

Your toe seems a hair off unless you specified that range.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by migs &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Your toe seems a hair off unless you specified that range.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yeah, that's way off, you want it closer to -0.25 in front.

-Chris, having a different take on Toe today

 

The range for toe on a ITR/GSR/LS is -.04 to +.04

.25-/+ is way off still according to factory specification but who knows, he may want it like to handle differently?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by migs &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">.25-/+ is way off still according to factory specification but who knows, he may want it like to handle differently? </TD></TR></TABLE>

It's not good for daily driver tire wear either.

Toe out in front reduced understeer. Lots of guys run 1/8th inch toe out on each side, some run 1/4 inch.

https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=1061318

.25 degrees toe out is roughly .1", just under an eighth.

 

Damn bat, that sucks. If Gregg doesn't know anybody that can identify bent suspension parts, I may have a guy in Grandview that can. It sure felt good on the road though. Hope you don't mind the pic. This is the aR before her maiden voyage after living on jack stands.

 

i wish i knew what was wrong with my car's camber too
driver side rear camber is off .8 + degrees
i cant figure it out, the car is like new, never wrecked, this was its first alignment prolly... and too low miles for me to be worrying about anything being wrong!!!

one of the previos owners had zeal b6's on it. but swapping that out for stock, nothing could really be damaged from that, so i dont really know

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by migs &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Shifting your subframe is not the answer to your problem. Something is obviously bent. Shifting subframe only helps when you want 0.1-0.2 at most degree change in caster or camber.....Your toe seems a hair off unless you specified that range.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yeah, my gut feeling is something's bent. It's weird, though, how my toe got messed up on the right front, and camber got messed up on the left front. If I remember my usual front alignment spec's correctly, I normally take about -2.0 front camber and -.07 degrees toe (per side). It's going to be a PITA figuring out what's bent. I'll try another alignment this weekend, and if things are still out of whack I'll take a closer look at possible bent control arms.

 

Its what you call compensation. Usually the side that is showing wear on the tire is the opposite side of the damaged part. Not uncommon for us to see this. See it all the time actually.