Okay, here's my case. I dropped my 97 civic 4dr a while ago and my rear drivers side strut started to leak and so a year later I decided to replace the strut. I went back to the factory springs and strut and now my rear wheel slants out or "butterfly" does anyone know whats wrong with it? do i just need an allignment or do i need new bushings and a control arm? please help!!

 

You mean its cambered excessively? Are all four corners at roughly the same height? Are you using stock control arms on that corner, or have you fiddled with/adjusting anything back there? Have you had an alignment done?

 

yes its cambered, but is this suppose to happen with stock struts and all? the front corners are the same but the rear driver corner is 1/2'' lower than the rear passenger corner. i do have a stock control arm on but when i was changing the strut the factory bolt broke and so i went to the hardware store and bought a simple bolt to replace it....do you think thats the problem? and i have not had it alligned yet...will that help to determine whats worng with it?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 4dr-Si &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">yes its cambered, but is this suppose to happen with stock struts and all? the front corners are the same but the rear driver corner is 1/2'' lower than the rear passenger corner. i do have a stock control arm on but when i was changing the strut the factory bolt broke and so i went to the hardware store and bought a simple bolt to replace it....do you think thats the problem? and i have not had it alligned yet...will that help to determine whats worng with it?</TD></TR></TABLE> So the top of the tire sticks out? With factory UCAs. Well I guess I would first see if something is bent. Sounds like you have been back there quite a bit. Then take it to an alignment shop (Sears ) See what the actual camber is in the back. Ask them nicely if anything is bent/broken. If they say no, then either have them install a camber kit or you can do it. Im still looking into if nothing is bent, how could camber be so far out. Let me know what the alignment shop says.

 

Lets put it this way: if everything is stock, and all the stock parts were installed correctly, the only reason to have so much negative camber is something is bent.
Time to get the car up in the air, and take a peek around your suspension. Does the corner in question look significantly different than the corner that is alright? If so, find out whats different, its possible that something was installed incorrectly of the wrong parts were used. If nothing seems clearly wrong, start taking some measurements. You'll want to make sure that the control arms (upper and lower) on one side are the same length as their counterparts on the other. And visually inspect other components of the undercarriage and chassis to spot dents or bended stuff. Any discrepancies down there might be a hint as to why you're experiencing the camber with stock stuff. Also, is it negatively cambered (top of the tire pointing inwards), or positively cambered (top pointing outwards)?