Hey everyone, Ive got a '94 Civic EX with around 218K on it.

Basically a short while after I got it which was around 4 months ago I noticed that the front driverside tire wears prematurely on the inside, basically its cambered out. I had a look at it but found no play in either of the ball joints or anything and there isn't any sort of rust other than superficial underneath. A shop checked it for free and told me everything was tight.

Im guessing this is possibly just something worn over time, or maybe long term chasis fatigue? Im not sure but at any rate its wearing out good tires and I need it fixed so Ice been looking at the camber kits that are available.

Most are up around 200 bucks, what would be the best kit for this application, Ive got no plans to lower the car, its an everyday driver. So preferably cheaper is better.

There seems to be the balljoint kits and also the control arms where the balljoint can move in grooves with locknuts type kits. The second option seems sketchy to me because of the crappy roads around here, those locknuts dont look that secure and I could see the alignment getting screwed if I nailed a pothole hard enough.

Is there some cheaper way to correct? Like with shims somewhere, ect?

Which of these kits are good quality? The car gets driven on mountain roads and whatnot so being rugged is a big plus

 

Depending on who reads this...it might open up an age old can of worms.

Long story short the arguement goes...

Camber kits help correct camber yes...

Camber kits often fail and cause catostrophic problems when they do...

Camber kits sometimes never fail and go years with a pleased customer...

Some camber is good to have as far of handling and whatnot *I'm not sure of exact numbers*

The best bet for premature tire wear is a good alignment...it will correct your toe...toe has more to do with tire wear then camber does.

There's more to it but that's the down and dirty.

Have all of your other suspension components looked at before you go into buying a shiny camber kit to fix the problem.

If you have stock suspension...you shouldn't have major camber unless something is wrong/worn/broken. Fixing the camber would only mask a bigger problem and have possible catastrophic failure down the road.

Does it have stock or aftermarket suspension?

 

if you're having wear issues first thing you need to do is get an alignment. obviously something is not right if you're still having premature tire wear.

 

^^what he's said. Start with an alingment.

 

Its my experience that the last two times I've tried to get my 96 civic aligned, i've come up with the same problem.. Once before I fixed the rear trailing arm bushings, and still once after... Both times I asked the shop what to do and both times they told me to buy a camber kit... BOTH times when I then asked them If they would tell me what was bent, worn, etc, neither shop would do that...

The low down is that something is bent, whether its the frame, something in your suspension, just bushings being worn, something needs addressed... My thought on this would be to take it to a frame shop and have them check it.. They may have more experience in such things and see if that helps... I have the same dilemma as u in that I would rather figure out what is WRONG with my car! Good luck and let us know how it works out for you!

 

If something is bent generally an alingment will tell you.
Something will be off, and giving you a hint to check something in that area.