I have noticed for the longest time that my Civic seems to be uneven when looking at it from the rear. I've always thought it was my garage being uneven. About a year ago I lowered the car with H&R springs and a set of Koni Reds along with a complete set of Ingalls camber correction kit. Recently I just replaced the passenger side camber arm made by SPC and it's gap is much larger. The car kind of looks like a lower rider ready to hop. The drivers side of the car is noticeably lower then its counterpart, what can cause this? I bought the car brand new and it has never been in an accident. HELP!! Thanks,

 

Any pics? I know that saggin pretty much happens with all springs and they will be uneven. Its normal if its a small unevenness...

 

 

It's normal. Our cars are not the same weight on all 4 corners. Mine is like that, but at the front.

 

EK k Kay,
I understand that its normal that each wheels clearance can vary slightly (one side fits three fingers and the other two) but after replacing the rear with new camber arms the car sits higher then when it was first lowered. I'm pretty sure theres an alignment setting thats out of spec on both rear wheels. I think an alignment will do the job. What do you think?

 

It's normal
and plus its springs

 

jdmboi86,
Lol, are you saying that its normal for a car to be noticeably lopsided and lowering springs actually raise the car? I absoluely agree that the ride height will vary but not by almost two inches. Peace-

 

o ok i see it now i think mine was like that to but i cant rem what it was

 

Alignment has nothing to do with ride height. I also have a 2000 civic. Last weekend i lowered mine with the koni sport/ground control setup. The ground control lowering system has a giant thread and nut that cam be adjusted up and down to get a desired ride height. Looks like this:

https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=1212527

Well sorry to say this but the driver's side is heavier than the passenger's. That's why your car is leaning like that. Mine did too with my initial adjustment. I'm sure that you driving the car alone doesn't help the uneven weight situation. You have a few options.

1) if your koni shocks came with an adjustable snap ring postion (like on the koni sports) you can either raise the driver's or lower the passenger's snap ring postion.
2) get new shorter springs for the passenger's side or taller spring for drivers side.
3) buy a ground control kit so you can adjust the height however you want (around $300)

 

I have the same issue with my 91 hatch, its lopsided as hell and I hate it. In the back I have about a fist worth of gap and in the front is 3 fingers on the passenger and 2 on the driver. If I raise the car off its suspension (jackstands) and set it back down it sits pretty much even but it goes back to being lopsided....its annoying as all hell. I just purchased Omni full coilovers, maybe this will help cure the problem.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SC &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">EK k Kay,
I understand that its normal that each wheels clearance can vary slightly (one side fits three fingers and the other two) but after replacing the rear with new camber arms the car sits higher then when it was first lowered. I'm pretty sure theres an alignment setting thats out of spec on both rear wheels. I think an alignment will do the job. What do you think? </TD></TR></TABLE>

Replaced control arms? I'm willing to bet that some of this unevenness can be traced back to the bushings in the control arms. Did you tighten them while the car was in the air and the suspension at full droop? This might put more tension on the suspension bushings and not letting it settle to its proper ride height.

I would loosen all the bolts that have suspension bushings pivoting on them. Loosen, NOT remove the bolts. Then bounce the car a few times. And then tighten the bolts back up to spec while the car is on the ground (or the suspension at proper ride height). Unfortunately, this can only be done with a pit of some sort that you can drive your car over. Like a quick lube pit.

An alignment will not change your ride height.

Measuring wheelwell gap does not tell you a thing about what is going on with the suspension. I've corner balanced cars and it has nothing to do with wheelwell gap or suspension height. It's all about corner load. Basically the LF + RR weight should be equal to the RF + LR weight. This will result in a car that reacts the same way during left and right turns. Getting this balance right depends on spring preload at each corner, not ride height at each corner. Adjustable perches control spring preload, not ride height. It just happens to affect ride height.

So while it may look uneven, other factors may affect that look, and may not necessarily be a problem at all.

 

Definitely makes sense. I find it rather odd that this didn't happen the first time. Never would figure that repacing the camber arms could cause this change. Thanks very much for your advice.

 

how long have u had it in there for... let it settle give it a month

 

Had the setup for more then a year. Thanks for all the help guys. I'm parking it for the winter so no worries for a few months. I've also decided to upgrade to yellows with the gorund control sleeves in the spring that way I'll be able to tweak it to the exact mm.


Modified by SC at 7:08 PM 11/16/2005

 

you will never get your car even with springs. since most of us drive alone most of the time the weight is always on the driver side. my car is an inch lower on the driver side than the passenger side. i will be buying illumina's and ground controls shortly. i cant stand the uneven-ess

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SC &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">jdmboi86,
Lol, are you saying that its normal for a car to be noticeably lopsided and lowering springs actually raise the car? I absoluely agree that the ride height will vary but not by almost two inches. Peace- </TD></TR></TABLE>

thats not a 2 inch difference, its maybe a finger width. how long have you had the springs on the car? have yo umade sure that they are seated right?

 

you maybe put on the springs wrong like one rear on front and the front on the rear because some springs have differnt rates like 2.00 in front and 1.75 on rear

 

Thank You All For Your Input And Consideration. The Suspension Upgrades Were All Installed Properly Each Spring Is Installed In The Correct Locations. About A Month After The Upgrades I Drove Cross Country (Chicago - San Diego) And The Ride Quality Was Flawless. Only Recently I had A Camber Arm Strip And Disengage While I Was Cornering. The Two Pics Above Is The Extra Wheel Gap That Resulted After The Camber Arms Were Replaced.
Result Of Damage: