OK so I have been researching for my son. His PC crashed... anyway...

He recently bought a 1996 Accord LX. The tires were acceptable when he got it. The other day his way to his new job, his boss noticed his rear tires were dangerously worn on the inside edge. Decent tread left in the center and outside edges... It was so bad that the boss made him leave the car. His boss is pretty good with cars, so he offered to look at it to see if anything was amiss.

From what he could tell the car is fully stock. He did not notice any damage to the rear suspension and he said it has not been lowered. Both rear tires are leaning in quite badly at the top. He said it does not visually appear to have any excessive toe issues.

From what my research has shown, the rears of the Accords have no provisions for camber adjustment. So what on earth could have caused his vehicle to be showing signs of negative camber? I have read that I can use the washer trick to make some camber adjustments. I'm concerned though. Considering this is a stock car, that has not been lowered, doing any washer adjustments would simply be a Band-Aid for some under lying issue?

My sons money is tight, so I don't want him to go to an alignment shop to get a "sort of" alignment or have them make him pay for surprise repairs he can't afford. Or only to have to make repairs and get yet another alignment. I want to get an idea what's going on before he gets it aligned. Maybe narrow down the culprit so we can repair it before it goes for an alignment.

Thanks for any help you can offer.

 

Some pictures pictures from his boss.

 

If the rear suspension has sagged negative camber may occur.
If the tires are under-inflated the tires will wear as though there is negative camber.
Verify the rear upper control arm BJs are not overly worn.
Verify the rear upper control arms are stock(no adjustment in the arm)
Verify the rear upper control arm to body mount is still factory. There are two bolts and collars that the upper control arm bolts to, there should be no additional shims.
Verify the rear wheel bearings are properly torqued to spec.

 

Thank you! I will be sure they verify all this. I appreciate the suggestions.

 

Son calls last night and says it's a 94 not 96.... grr. Does this change anything?

Also what kind of ball joints do hondas use? Is there any wear indicators built in like some ball joints, or is this a measure the play versus factory specs sort of thing?

Thank you. I have personally never messed with diagnosing or replacing ball joints. Good time to learn! keep me from getting my own car in this position.

 

Nothing changes.

Do yourself a favor and buy Deeza parts from rockauto.com for the budget, direct from Honda if you can spare the expense. Moog used to be the brand to get for aftermarket replacement parts, but ever since Federal Mogul bought the brand, they've just been producing crap parts. Deeza has REALLY impressed me, parts are about 1/2 the price of everyone else because they're a remanufacturer of OEM components(my Deeza replacement parts all have the same stamping, sizes, casting marks, etc as the factory Honda stuff) and sell direct; they are not a rebranded/rebadged part of unknown quality like Federal Mogul does with aftermarket parts, or redistributor like Beck/Arnley(which are usually very good components as well) who buys from the OEM supplier of the parts and slaps a Beck/Arnley label on them. Moog now has two lines, their crappy, totally junk parts, the "R" line, and their normal line of products which will not have an "R" at the beginning or end of the product number. Deeza parts are produced in Germany, Belgium, and Turkey, and have VERY high QC.

Price no option, Go Honda OEM. Otherwise, this order:

Deeza
Beck Arnley
Federal Mogul brands(Moog)