[coldtotouch]

My rear right wheel won't align... its .5 a degree toe-in, and its at the MAX it can be adjusted... Furthermore, the mech tells me that hes not able to identify what exactly is throwing the alignment off. I'm told that even after replacing the rear trailing arm and lower control arm, there still is no guarentee that it will be straight. I asked if a frame shop would be able to tell me if my frame is off, causing the alignment to be off. He told me that a frame shop would not be able to be that precise in determining the issue.

what can i do guys? i'm ready to replace what needs to be replaced... but it hurts when a mech says that my frame might be "old" and "losing shape" and thats why my alignments off...

 

[jmart]

That sounds like a pretty shady set of claims from your mechanic. Has the car ever been in an accident? Is it lowered? Does it have rot in the frame? If not, then I doubt it can't be fixed.

 

[coldtotouch]

That sounds like a pretty shady set of claims from your mechanic. Has the car ever been in an accident? Is it lowered? Does it have rot in the frame? If not, then I doubt it can't be fixed.

he seemed like a legit guy...

I don't know if its been in an accident in the past, i'm gonna go with no (it all looks stock), if anything recently i had a bit of a fender bender, but it was on the oppsite end (ie. front left), and that didn't even throw my alignment off, stil it wasn't my rear right.

The car is lowered with 1.2" drop Pro-Kit springs and Tokico blues.

The car has been rust proofed, you can still see oem silver paint on the underbody!

 

[Krix]

sounds kinda fishy to me. He probably knows how to align a car with the machine they have, but might not know much else about cars. Id take it to a place that does only alignments or take it to a body shop and get their opinion.

 

[SETI20]

Agreed.
I've had an alignment shop tell me my car was as crooked as a seabiscuit before. They simply didn't know how to deal with a lowered car.

 

[coldtotouch]

i feel like a fool... i didn't realize rear toe adjustment kits existed. Presently my rear toe dogbone is moved so far in that its touching the inside part (ontop of the hole/dogbone end being grinded a bit to try n squeeze everything i could get out of the alignment, this was his recommendation......)

I'm going to find a good set of adjustable rear toe arms, and go from there... man i was worried...

 

[jmart]

I still don't think you should be having a problem with toe is you are only lowered 1.2 inches and you are using stock rear suspension components.

 

[downest]

It should toe-out when lowered right?

 

[mattminerDOTcom]

you get toe in in the rear when you lower. when i had teh EK lowered 3 or more inches, the stock adjustment couldnt get me to 0. I had to get creative.

lower gives you - toe and - camber

[email protected]

 

[downest]

Stock adjustment on mine won't go in more than 0.5 degree out...

 

[coldtotouch]

yea i'm very interested about the exact alignment settings on a stock crx, and exactly how many degrees adjustment exists... its funny, only the right is really badly off... the left one aligns fine both directions (it can go - or +)... but i can't get the right side to go +... hell it won't go past -.54, and thats after modding the bloody piece, before that it was -.91......

 

[jmart]

Hmmmm, check your bushings and you linkages. For instance, I have late model integra lcas in my car and i think they are ever so slightly longer than stock crx which give me a little more negative camber and a littl emore negative toe. Downest on the other hand has some aftermarket aluminum lcas on his car which I believe are a little shorter than stock and make his car toe out relatively more.
I just can't believe that there is some random oddity in your suspension that makes the right so different from the right. Theres got to be a reason.

 

[bittles110]

Quick question: What made you decide to get your car aligned? Did you have any complaints?

Do you happen to have the measurements as well?

 

[ZeniceguyCRX]

I do at least 4 alignments a day at my shop and Iv almost always been able to align a lowered honda. my crx is slamed and I got it to go in spec. just remember that if the person doing the alignment is a lazy fuck they might not wqant to put the effort into getting the best job. also it is accepted that as long as u are in specs you are allowed to stop there. its just not that good for you. see if u can post a befor and after from your alignment. they should have a printed record. see how much they actualy moved you toe.

 

[coldtotouch]

I went for an alignment because i needed a camber kit in the rear to prevent my tires from wearing prematurely... this was after i had gone 3 months before cause we had changed my rear trailing arm bushings...

anyway, long story short... i really don't know for sure exactly why it won't align... it could potentially be my rear LCAs, i bought them used cause i was in a tight spot at the time and i needed to replace my old ones as the bushings were worn badly... i'm reallly not 100% sure if they're bent out of spec, or what... nor am i sure if it affects my alignment.

Interms of a printed record... they provided me with one my first alignment, this time the guy just did a half ass job for me (enough to get around...), cause now i need a front camber kit too... (i dunno how the hell my front camber apparently went off over the last 3 months, cause it was fine last time i got aligned, hence the reason i only bought a rear camber kit...)

anyway... longstory short, i'm going to get some adjustable dogbones... and a front camber kit... go for an alignment, and call it a day.

 

[mattminerDOTcom]

you dont need all these camber kits....you really just need all your toe to be in spec and your abnormal tire wear will all but go away.

[email protected]

 

[jmart]

I second what Matt said. I'm lowered 1.75" and I align the toe myself and i've gone many thousands of miles on this set of tires with no significant premature wear on the inside. Toe is what eats up the edges of your tires, not camber. You can safely run probably up to -3 degrees of camber. You do not need camber kis in the rear, nor the front, especially if you are only 1.2" lower. In fact, you actually want a littl ebit of negative camber because as the cars chassis rolls out when cornering you gain positivie camber back.

I would go park the car on a level surface, wheels straight. then roll it back and forth a bit to make sure the wheels aren't inder tension. Pull a long carpenter's string around all four tires. The string should lay flat across the front and back of the face of both tires on each side. If it doesn't then adjust the toe until it does. I'm sure the front and rear tires area spaced a little differently, but tis method has been working for me for a long time now on my crx.

 

[downest]

In fact, you actually want a littl ebit of negative camber because as the cars chassis rolls out when cornering you gain positivie camber back.

Is that right? I thought one of the benefits of double wishbone was the constant camber in a corner. As the car loads the suspension, it gains negative camber, offsetting the chassis roll... am I wrong?

 

[jfrolang]

You can safely run probably up to -3 degrees of camber.

I've been at -3.5 for going on 4 years.

In fact, you actually want a little bit of negative camber because as the car's chassis rolls out when cornering you gain positive camber back.

Is that right? I thought one of the benefits of double wishbone was the constant camber in a corner. As the car loads the suspension, it gains negative camber, offsetting the chassis roll... am I wrong?

I think jmart means that as the car leans in the corner, the net camber is more positive than if the car was level and at that same corner ride height. The chassis lean pushes the upper arm outward relative to the lower arm. This of course is offset by the beautiful nature of the double wishbone setup that forces more negative camber as the suspension loads.

 

[coldtotouch]

i wish i had pics of my tires i just ate the crap outta in 3 months...

and i was told it was camber... its really bad...

i got the camber kit (and kits to come) because i didn't want my next set of tires (winters) to suffer the same fate... and i figure i fix it now, i can set it up however i like later... (come on guys, i'm trying to make myself feel better for having to spend over 500 bucks on fixing my F*(#ing alignment)...

seriously, recently i put on my SIR front end... 4 days later i was going 90kmph on a highway in the rain, and outta the blue my car pulled so hard to the left that i ended up drifting (i dunno of thats the term? aqua plane'ing) across 2 lanes... and slammed into the guard rail... thankfully no one got hurt, and i didn't hit anybody else, etc... the damage was cosmetic (but man... fresh SIR front end... TOAST)

After the camber kit, and my winters on... now i can prob go 120kmph on the highway in the rain and i don't feel ANY uncertainty in my car... (which makes me feel safe)...

i don't ever want to risk that again... ever............ so i decided to do it right, and get the right components i need to align my car under any conditions (still, based on what you guys are tellin me... i shouldn't need it...) ah i dunno guys... i just want a safe car.......................