my car is a 90 crx si,
i had my car at a suspension, alignment & frame shop after a balljoint busted on me, and got lower drivers balljoint replaced, a driver side CV axle and rear trailing arm bushings, and he also checked everything else out and made a list of everything that was bad and needed to be replaced. it said both front lower control arms were bent, even know i just got new ones in 2012, and i need to see for myself exactly how bent they are?, cause they might just be slightly bent, but don't think i need to replace them right away, he just puts anything that is'nt perfect for him to be able to do a
proper alignment, but does'nt always mean they are all things i must replace just cause he lists them.

he also said i need 2 adjustable radius rods along with new bushings for them, and i asked why, and said its cause my front wheels are pushed far back in the wheel wells, and to be able and adjust to center them in the wheel wells.

then i read on other posts that another option would be for me to get a machine shop to extend the threads of the radius rods, and would be able to have room to be able to adjust them with the extra thread on them, and be cheaper than buying adjustable radius rods.

so i need to decide which would be the better one to do?, and i need to get a price quote from machine shop for how much to extend the threads of the radius rods? and compare to price to buy adjustable radius rods ?,
when i searched all over google for adjustable radius rods for my car, i could'nt find anything at all barely ?, just some for some domestic cars was the closest i found, but none when searching with the word "honda" ? so not sure where i would even get those anyway ?

anyone know where to get adjustable radius rods for honda crx or civic's ?
or anyone have any info about extending the threads of the radius rods or anything? thanks

 

Here is a link to a innovative mounts competition bar which has adjustable radius rods.

Competition Bar for 1988-1991 Honda Civic/CRX

Prior to buying have you had any other shops look this over? Did you hit something with serious force to bend the FLCA's and Subframe?

Seems odd that you need adjustable radius rods with out more information.

 

I wouldn't believe anything that dude is saying. I was in a collision with my ef where they hit the passenger side fender area. Even after that hit my car aligned with no problems. Check your knuckle to see if its bent or the radius rods themselves.

 

this link is for a post i made that shows pics of both sides of my car :
https://honda-tech.com/honda-crx-ef-...thers-3192860/

you can see how the front wheels are back real far in the wheel wells, its been like that for a while, but i just never noticed until someone pointed it out to me, and just curious to know what suspension components are responsible for controlling where the wheel is positioned forward or backward within the wheel wells ? the radius rods ? or does it depend on how the condition of the whole frame is? and how the front cross-member and everything else bolts into place ? cause i know i have been in a wreck in 2001 on the drivers corner, but had the frame pulled and fixed, and drives straight ever since, but does'nt seem like that would make them like that, cause the wheels on boths sides are the same, and the wreck was just on one side corner, i just have a feeling its some suspension parts underneath and how they are positioned or something ?

 

The caster is not adjustable on the CRX. ( caster is how far forwards or backwards the wheels are in the wheel well) Since it is not adjustable, something has to be out of spec for the wheels to be pushed back that much. Since both wheels are pushed back about the same, I would guess the part of the frame where the cross member bolts to is bent backwards. The cross member itself could be bent backwards as well.

 

Something or several somethings are bent.

 

thanks for your opinions, and of course i realise i'm not expecting people to know exactly what it is just from looking at pics through the internet, but just good to run it by other crx / honda people, to get their perspective, opposed to a mechanic's perspective from some shop.

i got the front crossmember at a junkyard, but looks straight when setting it down on level pavement and looking at it straight ahead, plus i had the guy at suspension and frame shop look it over before doing anything with it, and he said it looked good and not bent, but thats what i hate getting stuff from junkyard and not knowing if the parts are already bent or not?, like i also got a pass. knuckle few years ago cause i had a bent one, and it looked good to me and mechanic said the same, but i still don't know if its bent really or not? but hard to tell.

maybe i just bent the front lower control arms, even know i just got them in 2012, cause i read around google search that usually when you have bent LCA's, that your wheels look back further in the wheel wells.

i guess the part of the body or frame that the front crossmember bolts up to could of already been bent further back, which would make the front crossmember back further, and then the rear subframe back too in order to fit with the front crossmember ? making the wheels back? cause i could easily see how that part the front crossmember could of been hit hard over the years bad enough that it would push back further, cause thats a part thats low and the thing that usually hits stuff first, such as curbs you are parking up towards and just pulled up too much, or any other stuff, so i think thats a real possibility.

 

i don't think its anything big to worry about, cause he did'nt make it sound like i needed to fix it as soon as possible, but i want to eventually fix it, so its how its supposed to be more.

even know i've hit different things and had a few wrecks over the years, the main thing is that it drives straight, i can let steering wheel go and it goes straight, not pulling to either side, and the steeering wheel is centered, and i have no vibration through steering wheel or on any wheels or any specific clunk sounds or odd symptoms, only thing is some squeaks and rattles from all the interior parts and panels from just being a 23 yr old car, so thats good because a lot of stuff that you need to replace that are real bad, have symptoms of some sort, such as looseness, slop, vibration, shakeness, etc ..., so makes me feel like i don't have anything major needing to be fixed, and that i got most of the main stuff covered, and the wheel stuff is probably more of something having to do with how fast you wear through your tires.

 

As a matter of fact it could be the crossmember. My civic has the same problem, I hit a patch of raised asphalt and it caught my crossmember. It's not that bad of a bend but it is somewhat noticeable once you look at it good. Combine that with 20 year old radius rod bushings.

 

replace the rear subframe. the one that holds the steering rack and LCA.

your whole car is rekt.

 

You said you got 'new' LCAs in 2012.
NEW or 'new to you'/used???

If NEW, then I too agree with everyone's answer to replace the rear subframe.
You may be able to find dimensional service limits in a the service manual (Honda or Helms - not Chilton or Haynes)

 

There is a bit of adjustability in the stock radius rods. You can shim it on either side of the bushings. Also, you can set the front cross member at a minor angle to help out. Small adjustments but worth a try.

 

I did some body work for quiet a few years and after reading your posts I have to wonder how bad your car was beat when you got it.

You say you put fenders and a hood and a cross member and various other parts on it.

And then you go on to say that you continue to bend suspension parts due to the way you drive.... I think you need to buy a pickup truck and call it a day.

CRX's are one of the lowest cars on the road and need to be driven with a bit of care if you expect to keep it... If you don't live in an area with decent roads or if you overdrive the car you either have to expect to throw money at it for as long as you own it.. or just get a larger car.

With that said the way you approach your problem is.

You need the frame on your vehicle measured.
When a frame mechanic measures a frame manually they use reference points that are provided by honda and long bar calipers that let them reach from one point to another. After the caliper has been set to the points it is removed and measured and it must come within an 1/8th of an inch to be considered within spec.

If you hit something.. if the previous owner hit something.. if you continue to hit a lot of things... then you could have frame damage that requires a front clip or better.

Once your frame is straight and only at that point can you move on to measuring your suspension parts and make any adjustments as necessary.

You can not really adjust out frame damage... I mean sure you can to some extent but then you end up like a football player with all the ligiments in their legs torn .. they work their muscles and get real fit.. then one small bump and back in the hospital only to be told sorry we can't repair it this time your legs have to come off....

So .. get your frame measured and stop messing around with paying lots of money to alignment mechanics...

After that you will have choices to make.

Good Luck .. and seriously consider a larger vehicle if you are beating on the crx .. they arent designed to be race cars or beaten on .. the only way that ever works out is if you go full out and weld up a frame and just use the body as a shell... and although I am a long time CRX owner.. I would never build up my or anyone elses car for that reason.. there are dozens of other options out there that come stock with v6's v8's that with just a bit more work than stock can beat the crap out of a crx with $$$$ invested in it...

Seriously.. you want a 300HP car... well they sell them stock .. go get a charger for $5000 or a mustang or camaro.. and stop wasting all your extra cash because you or whom ever owned it before you overdrove it and beat it to the ground.