bravo79

I was trying to get an Alignment and the guy there told me that I have 1.5 + in rear passinger side wheel! do I really need Rear Camber kit for stock setup? I started to think that there is something wrong with the control arm or something.

I have KYB-GR2 shocks and stock springs in the rear

Does anybody have any Idea what could it be wrong with the rear suspension ? Or what to check

Any cheap rear camber kit suggestion?

bravo79

No one? Did I posted this in the wrong place ? How do i moved it

b0ssman

1. determine if the shocks made the car any lower(I doubt they did)

2.If they did not then check honda factor specs and tolerances for rear camber.If it is out of spec then check to see that nothing is bent,which is what it could be due to the fact only one side(that you told us) is cambered.

2a.If the shocks did lower the car then determine if the otherside is the same way and my suggestion is to buy a rear camber kit for your car.

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

if the oem shocks are old, it can cause strange things to happen with the ride height. esp in the rear where the shocks arent the best to start with. i had massive sagging with the oems and it can throw off the camber if they are messed enough.

MindBomber

Our springs also have a tendency to sag after a number of years. Could you take a picture of the gap between your rear tire and fender or measure it for us?

This is a forum, not a call center that answers questions immediately. Although car problems are stressful and it's understandable that you would want a quick answer, please give members at least 12 hours to respond before you bump the thread. You gave us 12 minutes lol

bravo79

I dont have measuring tape right now. I know that its lower from the driver side than the passenger side.. And I thought that the ground is not even... I always thought that my car is tilted to the left which is the driver side but the if there is a sag in the spring how that effect camber ? I mean to the alignment machine ?

I will be taking picture with a measuring tape tomorrow

MindBomber

The suspension sitting lower than the factory specifications causes negative camber, if that camber exceeds the limits of the factory camber arm it can't be corrected during an alignment. Use your fingers and measure how many fit in between the tire and rear fender that will give us an idea of how low your sitting.

I suspect you need new springs, not a camber kit. Struts and springs are regular maintenance, they always need to be replaced at a certain point, but there should never be a need to replace a camber kit on a factory suspension.

b0ssman

take note he did say he had aftermarket shocks put on his old springs....I doubt they are bad already.Springs are what actually hold the weight of the car,I'd look there first and then at suspension components for something bent.Possibly there was an installation problem aswell.

bravo79

I just checked and so COLD outside ... There are 2 fingers from the tire to the rear fender on the driver side and a tied 3 fingers on the passenger side. My rear Shocks are KYB-GR2 (Made in Japan-Gray ones) are 3 months old only but the springs are stock and I believe they never been changed

b0ssman

when it warms up tomorrow(I know what it's like to work cold) check to see that everything was installed correctly..that the springs are'nt sitting un-evenly or anything(not likely but worth a shot).The next thing is to figure out if it's the springs(likely) or a bent suspension part(possible).

MindBomber

Springs being improperly aligned on the strut could account for some difference in ride height and thats a relatively easy mistake to make, but the difference would still be within the tolerances of the camber arms. That might be the reason for the difference between the driver and passenger side.

Bravo, you said you think these are the original springs, how many miles does the car have?

bravo79

The car has 112.000 Miles ... I measured the sides today on the rear drive side from the ground to the fender its 25.25Inches and on the passenger side its 25.75 Inches . I have attached the alignment test results here, I was wrong about the Camber measurement its actually -1.9 and not +1.5 (I'm putting a Camber kit in the front ) I just changed the front Mounts and the spring hats with this stupid plastic bearings
--------------------

sdaidoji

iTrader: (1)

?!?
you have too much positive camber in the left front as well.
Your right rear camber is too negative, but you say you left is lower?
Or you need new bushings, or you have bent suspension (not only rear, but fronts as well), or your springs are tired (112k should not be enough for that, but...).
Did they not find any bent parts?
If not, you should try another shop...

bravo79

I Dont know how to inspect for bent suspension other than looking at it and see if I can find anything not right. How do I know that the LCAs are bent? In the front everything have been changed even the LCA bushings. I know the car hit the curb from the previews owner because he told me about it.

Also this Alignment results are from Firestone do you know any better place that I can go to?

Thanks.

bravo79

I opened the rear suspension today and toke pictures I hope this help

I will post the right side first and the left side next

Picture on the left is Right side (passenger) picture on the right is driver's side
----------------------------

Kennykid2002

iTrader: (1)

Umm, those pictures dont really help....

It'd be better if you post a picture of the tape measuring the gap between the fender and tires

sl33pyriceboi

iTrader: (3)

do u have a sub (or 50-100 lb sand bags..like some members on here. lol) in the trunk?

that might have made ur rear "sag" more than usual creating camber.

bravo79

I could see there is 1/4 inch between left and right rear camber from the previews pictures (Look at the zero of number 10 as well)

Here is the new fender to ground tape measurements. I aslo added picture of the front lca's But Im not sure if it helps.
Driver's side

Passenger's side


LCA's
Driver's side

Passenger's side


I dont have any subs !

sdaidoji

iTrader: (1)

firestone shops are hard to tell - if you get lucky, maybe you can get some good technician.
for bent LCA, one way is to measure them in length, but not much helpful.
the best is to ask around to try to find a good shop around your area. A 1/2 degree might be very small difference.
Also, your bushings might be torn or cracked, or similar, visual inspection. If they are too bad, they could be allowing too much play and changing alignment under loads.
Could also be play on the front crash bolts or the rear toe bolts.
just try to find some good shop and have them inspect the car.

bravo79

I toke allot of pictures from the rear suspension bushings. I also bought and SPC rear Camber kit for $50

Here are some bushings pictures

bravo79

I hooked up the rear camber kit and the front camber kit today and toke the car to Firestone to get an alignment... It toke them 2 hours than they call me inside to look at it
After putting the camber kit in the rear the passenger rear toe is off and cannot be adjusted because its maxed out !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!?????????? How can a camber kit change toe ?

The left front wheel still have + camber and cannot be adjusted more. It was at 1.5 not with the camber kit its 2.3 ????????

I dont know what think at this point .... If anybody know something about this issue please share your info

sdaidoji

iTrader: (1)

did they place the washer tab to the right direction in the front?...
rear arms could be really bent... did they inspect it? Hard to tell from the pictures... better in person...

MindBomber

I know what to think, Firestone has absolutely no clue what they're doing.

There's no reason a car with factory springs would need a camber kit, ever, period. Something else is wrong, either your springs have sagged or you have bent lower control arms I'm guessing. It's also possible your strut install was done incorrectly.

Take your car to a real mechanic, someone who knows civics well that you can trust and have him look over the parts to find out whats actually wrong. The group on this forum knows 7g civics better than any shop or forum, but there's a limit to what we can diagnose from pictures and alignment sheets.

bravo79

well they told me to bring it again when there best alignment specialist comes in to look at it but I paid them already ! So next time I dont pay.

They used a different camber kit and it did the same thing they just cant get the wheel to go in (Negative Camber) I watched them trying Though.

The strut has been changed 2 times before (The tire looked weird and it was very clear that it has + camber before) and its brand new. That Time I toke it to Pepboys and they didnt say anything about the camber.

How to tell if the LCA is bent? I dont want to buy one and dont solve my problem
i already spent allot money I could buy Konis and lowered the car with the money I spent trying to get the camber thing

MindBomber

The easiest way would be to compare it to a new LCA unfortunately, it takes someone who is very familiar with 7g civics to tell the difference between an LCA with a slight bend and perfect one.

Have they inspected the rest of your suspension?
Ball joints, tie rod ends?
If those are failing they could throw off your suspension geometry and make it impossible to get a proper alignment.

bravo79

The Tie Rods are brand new and the ball joint are ok.

MindBomber

Has the torque on the strut mount bolts been checked, if any of those are to loose it will throw the suspension geometry off.

sdaidoji

iTrader: (1)

from his alignment numbers, i would take both lca out and compare them

buuut... one circle is 365 degrees, 1-2 deg might even be difficult to eyeball...

bravo79

Problem fixed !!!!!!!!

So Today Firestone best alignment guy told me to get a knuckle or check the frame (Hes not sure) When I went to a frame shop they told me go get it checked at NTB - National Tire & Battery first

So the NTB Alignment guy did it! He told me that Firestone or whoever worked on it before didnt know how to use the chamber kit.

MindBomber

Glad to hear it finally got fixed, I've been trying to figure this out since you originally posted and it was driving me nuts that I couldn't.

Now I'm just wondering if the NTB guy could have done it with the stock camber kit... hmmm..