I'm at 40,000 Kms, and roughly 2 months ago my car started to get really shaky on the highway.. Like the balance was really off.
I took my car into the dealership, they told me one of the rear tires had a flat spot on it, and so I replaced it. They also rebalanced all the wheels, and did an alignment.
It seemed fine at that point.

About 2 weeks ago this started to happen again and I took it in again, they brought me in the shop and showed me the other rear tire which was worn way down on the inner side. So I've now replaced that tire.

They said it's because I haven't been rotating the wheels often enough..
Now I'm doing some reading and have come across this TSB 08-001, which seems to directly address this issue. It seems to be a camber issue from poor control arm design.
The TSB only applies up to '08 models though.

I've been trying to locate info on 2010 models regarding this issue, but haven't found much. Is anyone else having this issue with a newer than '08 civic?

Any help is greatly appreciated. I really hope this isn't going to be an ongoing issue with this car.

 

I heard of this problem on the older civic, it is possible your car just went out of spec. due to road conditions, and the other tire was about to give you problems and the tire guys just went the cheapest route and replaced the one tire.

I would keep a eye on the new rear tires for any signs that it's wearing on the inside, then if you do see a problem haunt honda for the repair.

 

I don't really know. It just seemed so odd that there was so much wear on the inner side of the tire, which I replaced, an then again on the other tire right after I had just had an alignment done.

When an alignment is done on this car, are the rear wheels aligned at all? Is there any adjustment that can be made there?

I went back to the dealership today, and they gave me the number of Honda Canada customer support, so I've opened a ticket with them on the issue. Given them the details, and they're supposed to be contacting the dealership to get information from them as well. Hopefully I'll hear something today. But I will be on Honda like crazy about this.

 

Yes the all four corners are adjustable, on these cars.

What I think the problem is/was the 2nd tire had some life left in it and they just replaced the one tire.

I think they would have to over correct the alignment to get that tire to wear on the good side, and that is something you don't do.

I would keep a close eye on your rear tires for a few 2k miles, and do more rotations in future.

Rotations keep tires wearing straight if the car is right, on my vette I rotate every chance I get, on my honda I do it every 2K.

I never have tire wear problems with any of my cars or trucks.

 

Thanks for the info.

I talked to Honda Canada again, they requested all of the service history from the local dealership, so Honda Canada was going through that with me on the phone.
The dealership never provided me (or Honda Canada) with an alignment sheet, saying what the alignment was set to when they did the alignment 2 months ago.
Honda Canada is skeptical of the alignment having been done to the proper spec, so I'm getting it aligned again, and the local dealership is being requested to work with Honda Tech to make sure the alignment is done correctly.

When I got this second bad back tire replaced, they did a rotation, and so now the original (front) tires are on the back, and the two new tires are actually on the front..
So I would imagine that the two back tires are pretty evenly matched wear wise, and the front's (which are pretty close to the same age) would be pretty evenly matched.

Hopefully that works out alright with the new alignment.

One thing everyone keeps mentioning to me is that load in the vehicle could be causing this.
I do a decent bit of traveling with a car of 4 and Luggage for everyone.. If this is too much load for the vehicle, than I personally think that that's a pretty big design flaw.
I have never had issues with any of my cars in the past where a full car is too much for the suspension to keep the tires wearing normally.

 

I didn't think of this until I was behind a newer civic looking at the angle on the tire, they were pitched out a bit, so your car heavy loaded would be pitched much further causing premature tire wear on the inboard side of the tire..

I would determine how much of your driving is done with and without a full load, if you spend more time with the car loaded, I would put a good load in the car and have it aligned.

You could put a lifting shock on the back of the car to compensate for your loads, I have no idea if anyone makes this sort of shock for this particular car.

there were aftermarket coil overs made to go over shocks years ago, but they did make for a hard ride but were effective, they were called overload springs/shocks.

 

The rear camber on these cars is agressive and is not adj without the use of a kit of some kind. I am not sure the trim of your civic but the 25000 is what I got out of my OEM tire on my Si with rotating them every 3k

 

So, I figured I should update this thread.
I took the car in again, and they did another alignment, but actually could not get the rear alignment within spec.
The rear camber was too negative, out of the specified range.
They said it was because of the weight of the hidden hitch that I have installed.

I have noticed that the car is a bit more bouncy than it used to be. I'm thinking maybe I should be looking at a stiffer rear suspension.
Would I be looking at stiffer shocks? Or springs? Or both? I want to keep the stock height.
Any recommendations?

Thanks.

 

I think maybe from all the loads you carry that your rear springs have surpassed there life span.
changing rear springs isn't that hard on these cars, maybe look to the aftermarket for a beefy spring or some sort of coil over system that would meet your needs.

 

It's not that it's "too much load" per say, it's that the load affects the alignment, in particular the camber. When I worked for Honda and we did alignments we used to make sure the trunk was empty other than the spare tire.

 

I'm new to this forum... and new to Honda Civics... but I used to own
a modded Jeep Wrangler and I tinkered with the suspension quite a bit.

I have seen a lowered Civic where the negative camber of the rear wheels
was clearly visible.

Is it possible that you over-compressed your rear springs or
bent one or more of the rear suspension components after
bottoming out (or something?) with 4 people and 4 suit cases
in the trunk?

If I'm in the ballpark, stiffer springs should get you back in shape,
assuming nothing is bent or broken.
And then, of course, ideally you'd run a shock tuned for your spring rate.
(At least that's what I'd say if you were driving a Jeep!

P.S. I hope I didn't step on any toes with my 1st post... lol

 

the bulletin for the older civics definitely states that load is a big factor in wearing the rear tires. this is likely due to the design of the suspension and cannot be changed. that being said, simply having a 20lb hitch installed would not toss the camber outside allowable specs on the alignment rack.
what they should have done is performed a ride height measurement BEFORE starting the alignment to make sure the rear springs did not sag.
also, i MAY be mistaken but i believe the manual states that the civic has ZERO towing capacity and therefore 4 people in the vehicle + luggage + trailer tongue weight (im assuming you have a class one hitch, anything heavier is asking for trouble) may have sagged the rear springs in the long run. i would recommend doing a quick ride height measurement on your vehicle, ill go try and find the specs now and re-post.


edit: Honda does not specify a ride height measurement on the alignment sheet in that specs section of the manual. maybe the alignment software has a measurement but i can't find it, so best is to compare with another 2010 on flat, level surface with nothing in both trunks, if yours sits lower, you may have sagged rear springs

 

It should be noted that Honda America is being sued over this issue. Keep a close eye on your tire wear problems.

I am the titled plantiff in this law suit. I have a great deal of expierience/knowledge with the geometry of the rear suspension .. At least on the 06-07 Civic EX.