My steering wheel started to shake at high speeds, so I went to the tire place to have my wheels rotated and rebalance.

They let me know that my tires are starting to cup ( highs and lows on inside of tire). They said my lowered car was probably the reason for it. However, I've lowered a few cars and never had this problem.

My current set up is H&R Sport Springs with stock shocks and no camber kit. Is this spring too much for my stock shocks? Causing my car to hop and cup the tires? Or would my shocks just be going out?

I've had this setup for about a year. The stock shocks are more than likely the original ones from 2000 that have about 120,000 miles on them.


Let me know your thoughts!

Thanks!


Modified by JDMhatchback20 at 12:02 PM 10/13/2007

 

What tires?

 

Kumho Ecsta SPT

215/40/16

 

under inflation will cause this but i see that more on suv tires then car tires.

as long as u have a wheel alignment and nothings is off, it doesnt matter how low the car sits.

is it all 4 wheels or just the fronts? might be the type of tire that you are using.

wheel balance, proper psi, wheel alighment. if all is good their, change to a different tire.

 

probably tires. check the ball joints

 

if you're camber is in spec i'd have to check for over/under inflation.

a picture would be awesome

 

Cause for cupping of the tires is bad/worn shocks/struts. As the car goes over bumps, the tires come completely off the ground causing cupping

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by DelSolstice &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Cause for cupping of the tires is bad/worn shocks/struts. As the car goes over bumps, the tires come completely off the ground causing cupping </TD></TR></TABLE>

Thank you, as I was reading the other post, I'm thinking OMG these guy's don't have a clue.

Any car guy can tell you that.


Under inflated tires wear the inside and outside equally while not wearing the center.

Over inflated tires wear the center tread.

Camber wears the inside only.

 

Lowering a car will throw off almost every angle on any car, caster included. There is no exception to this rule, for better or worse.

There is a reason alignment shops start with camber then caster and lastly toe. Bad struts will cause tramping of the tire, and will create a wipe pattern on the tire diagonally across the tread. Overloading does this most of the time. A static out of balance will also do that. (dynamic also)

Lowering your car will throw off the thrust angle in the back, and the steer ahead angle in the front. Bushings flex, and they learn a resting point, changing angles changes this and can warp or distort a bushing, necessitating an alignment. If you neglected to adjust your camber it will cause some instability, since the tires will want to "roll" inward towards the center of the car due to negative camber. The biggest problem with lowering is people forget to shim the steering rack accordingly. Having the tie rods at the wrong angles will adversely affect steering performance and result in bump steer. It will also affect the toe-out-on-turns as well. Lowering the car also puts the knuckle at an angle, which will move your scrub radius outward and be more negative. This will help generalize the location of the cupping, but is not practical since it is designed into the car, and you've changed suspensions so calculating it is not possible.

Cupping 8/10 times is camber related. The other 2/10 is due to excessive scrub radius by using a larger/smaller offset wheel, or a wider rim.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by slowcivic2k &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Lowering a car will throw off almost every angle on any car, caster included. There is no exception to this rule, for better or worse.

There is a reason alignment shops start with camber then caster and lastly toe. Bad struts will cause tramping of the tire, and will create a wipe pattern on the tire diagonally across the tread. Overloading does this most of the time. A static out of balance will also do that. (dynamic also)

Lowering your car will throw off the thrust angle in the back, and the steer ahead angle in the front. Bushings flex, and they learn a resting point, changing angles changes this and can warp or distort a bushing, necessitating an alignment. If you neglected to adjust your camber it will cause some instability, since the tires will want to "roll" inward towards the center of the car due to negative camber. The biggest problem with lowering is people forget to shim the steering rack accordingly. Having the tie rods at the wrong angles will adversely affect steering performance and result in bump steer. It will also affect the toe-out-on-turns as well. Lowering the car also puts the knuckle at an angle, which will move your scrub radius outward and be more negative. This will help generalize the location of the cupping, but is not practical since it is designed into the car, and you've changed suspensions so calculating it is not possible.

Cupping 8/10 times is camber related. The other 2/10 is due to excessive scrub radius by using a larger/smaller offset wheel, or a wider rim.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Man.... all that info is just a pickle in the turd sandwich that has been my day

 

...actually they start with caster then work from there...since castor is usually not adjustable on near all FF that use a mcphearson shock design. castor should not be adjusted from stock unless compensated for. so swapping to a stifer bushing or having a worn.torn bushing would cause vibration at higher speeds and in low gearpulls. the wheel will either move forward or back more with respect to a 90 degree angle. get it?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 1992Si &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Thank you, as I was reading the other post, I'm thinking OMG these guy's don't have a clue.

Camber wears the inside only.</TD></TR></TABLE>

and thats because positive camber wears the inside jsut like negative camber right???

dont try to show off when ppl suggest something and turn around and u say the wrong thing.

 

Caster can be/is adjusted by using camber. If you've ever used an alignment rack you'd know that...

What the hell are you talking about compensation?

Lowering a civic will increase the caster, which will make directional stability much better. Its not in respect to a 90 degree angle, its in respect to the axis of the controlling arm, in this case, the bottom and top arm and the separation angle from straight up and down.

Everything 88-00 uses a multi-link front suspension, 88-91's have a radius rod in the front that "could" be used to adjust caster.

Bad bushings are something that technicians should point out, along with loosening the bushing bolts after the car has been lowered, and re-tighten them.

You need to stop posting in here, you have no clue what your talking about.