Hi all. First time poster, here. So here is my quick story: I bought this Honda Civic LX (4 door) new off the lot in 2001. I performed all the scheduled maintenance on it (well, the Honda dealership did) up until my ex got the car in the divorce in 2009. Fast forward four years, and I now own the car again as she no longer used it and I needed a car. Anyhow, she has done nothing but oil changes in the past 4 years. What does this mean? This is what this means: Honda quoted me over $5,000 in necessary repairs, including new brakes and master cylinder, struts, control arms and associated parts, front engine mount, belts and hoses, the list goes on.

The reason I'm posting: Instead of having Honda do these repairs, I've been using mobile mechanics to do the jobs, basing it on who is giving me the best price - and who seems to know what they're talking about. A couple of days ago, I had a guy change all four struts and replace my two front control arms and front engine mount. He charged me $400 for the labor and I bought the parts on Amazon and ebay getting really good deals on them. However, when I took my car to get it aligned, the shop told me that the two front tires are pointed inward and there is no room left on the tie rods to allow for adjustment. Therefore, they could not perform the alignment. I called the mobile mechanic and he told me everything seemed normal when he changed them out. I have no idea what could possibly be causing this other than a bad install. I've already confirmed that the parts I used were the right parts.

The shop told me they think if it was the control arms I'd be having bigger issues, so it's either that the struts were incorrectly installed, or the car has been in an accident, causing it to have been bent somehow. I know that my ex was rear-ended at one point, but supposedly it wasn't that big of an impact. Toe readings from the printout they gave me at the shop showed 2.31 degrees on the left front and 1.24 degrees on the right front. Thanks for any feedback as to whether it was a bad install or maybe something else is going on here.