jmandawg

Hi guys,

I have not lowered my car at all, but i have some major camber issues. The inside of the tires are gone after a few months. Any ideas what could be causing this? It's a 99 civic hatch.

Thanks.

grumblemarc

iTrader: (4)

Is it aligned?

noridetoolow

Take it to Sears, $70 and they will align it. Have them flip the tires on the rims for another $10-15 per tire so you get the full life out of the tires after the alignment. (Unless you have belts showing already, hard to tell in the pic). When this is all done, they can also tell you if there is a major issue and why its so far out. Could have been wrecked or driven over a curb real hard by a previous owner.

98civdx

Honestly this is normal. Mine was like this as well.

Climb under and start checking the bushings, mainly the big *** TA bushing.


And yes, get the car aligned, note you will have to realign if you replace bushings.



If both sides are the same you can slip a washer between the rear UCA's and the body. This is called the washer trick, and will help remove some of that camber.

cetcivic

could it be toe-in or toe-out settings being outta whack,as well?

98civdx

Yes, camber changes toe.

That little bit of camber wont kill tires, toe will.

jmandawg

Thanks guys going to get an alignment tomorrow will report back tomorrow. Just didn't want to shell out the $80 for it.

jmandawg

Here's the results, they recommend getting a camber kit. What do you guys think? (Sorry it's rotated)

noridetoolow

My question is WHY on a non-lowered stock suspension car you need a camber kit??? In addition, if you do some research, many shops will build you the generic shim\washer kit for cheap. I have a local shop that charges $16 for the rear "kit", yeah thats a lot of money for 2 bolts and some washers but its done by the shop and warranteed. All this aside, I still question why you would need a camber kit to begin with. But......fact is, it appears you do, i would just look for a less expensive alternative.

RonThaMonsta

I don't know if you are a handy guy or not, but if you are you could always install the camber kit yourself to save some $, but I have a decent suggestion about the alignment deal. The thing about alignments are that they are necessary if you want your tires to last. I recommend going to Firestone(If you have one near you) and purchasing their LIFETIME alignment for 179.00. That is good deal if you are a guy like me that can't afford to do "everything" that needs to be done to a car at once. Anyways, alot of people don't know about the Lifetime alignment at Firestone so I figured I would throw it out there.

jmandawg

IDK, i think trailer arm bushing are a little shot, and the springs are probably a little compressed from being so old. I also think the car also had rear end damage at some point in time before i bought it.

noridetoolow

And all that makes sense. If your not gonna lower the car but plan on keeping it for a while, the lifetime warranty alignment is prolly the way to go. Not sure what Firestone will do to correct the rear but its worth looking into. I know some other places offer the lifetime as well but Im not sure who all does.

jmandawg

Thanks guys, i'm going to pick up some SPC camber arms and put them on myself and then bring it down for alignment. I was reading the reviews on google and it seems like the two firestones near me are pretty shady so i don't know if it's worth getting the lifetime alignment or not.

tracychase

sounds like your toe is out. Toe will kill the tread way worse than camber.

jmandawg

Do you think i should just get the tow aligned and be done with it?

98civdx

Beat up bushings. Plus EKs have a steeper camber curve in rear.

Are you sure the car isn't lowered? -2.6* is a decent amount of camber. Almost on par with my ~2.5'' drop.


Either way there is something going on with the right rear, that is a **** TON of toe.

Don't buy a camber kit until you know what's going on under there.

accorse07

Have them set toe and caster to "0" or as close to it as you can get. As for the -2.6 rear passenger camber...ask them to do the washer trick...or you can do the washer trick. Other than that you should be good.

"tracychase" is right about your toe angle though....your pretty much dragging your tire while it rotates...probably why you have worn inners in 4 months

jmandawg

Any suggestions where to look?

speedjunkie_g35

You don't need a camber kit!!! They always want to use that BS because they were too lazy to look for the true problem. They did it to me. You have worn out bushing that need to be replaced. I believe hardrace sells a kit as well as Energy Suspension. I just recently installed ES bushing on my 94 hatch and boy what a difference it made!!!

jmandawg

Which bushings? Just the trailer arm?

noridetoolow

I believe he is referring to a kit like this, more of a general suspension kit;

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ENERGY-SUSPE...4e76ee&vxp=mtr

jmandawg

I was looking at my struts and there is some crap hanging out of the top of them. Is there a bushing above the spring that might be destroyed?

speedjunkie_g35

I was referring to the lca bushings, possibly the trailing arm bushing. WHen you start having problems like this I recommend trying to replace all possible bushing because the ones you don't replace are in similar to the one that need replacing and IMO are not far behind. I prefer doing it only once/ The insulator above the spring wouldn't cause your problems. You should be able to visually see the bushing and tell which ones are worn and cracked.

MikeM

Have any worn components replaced. It looks like the spring insulators on the struts should be replaced. The toe angle is the most severe tire wearing angle, and your front and rear toe are way out. The camber and caster are not adjustable without some modifications, or shifting the sub frame. If you want to spend only the minimum, set the toe.