Wheel alignment messed up!

Coda007 · 08-16-2003

I installed 17's with Nuespeed sports, and full set of koni yellows with a camber kit. I can not keep my wheels aligned. My tires are wearing wrong and I have had it aligned 3 times in the past 3 months. HELP!?!?! can anyone help? What is the proper alignment for our cars with my setup. I have 215/45/17 Ecstas. My ride pulls and tugs so much I am considering a new ride or re-vamping my susp. back to factory.

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Zzyzx · 08-16-2003

With a camber kit, the alighnmet shop should have no problems setting the alignment back to stock. If they cant, take it to a different shop because that one is Incompitant.

BigDaddyHonda · 08-17-2003

Since you are talking about pulling & tugging it sounds like you are definitely talking about the front. The rear end too? Is there more visible tire wear on the front than on the rear? Sometimes the tires can set up a wear pattern, so your better tires might need to be rotated to the front when you take it to that NEW alignment shop.

I wish I knew the alignment specs for 7th Gen Civics

It's like a big secret that the alignment companies charge $$ and sell on a CD-ROM for use in their machines (I have the 5th Gen specs which I'll use below

)

Find a shop that has a 4-wheel laser alignment machine that can give a hard copy printout of the final alignment readings. I have Ground Control coilovers with yellow Konis and a rear camber kit only. It is lowered 2" in the back & 1-1/2" in the front and they were able to get this close on my car:

TOE: (5th gen range = 0 deg to + 0.24 deg)
FL 0"
FR 0"
RL 1/32"
RR 1/32"

CAMBER: (5th gen range = -1 deg to +1 deg)
FL +3/32 Deg
FR -3/16 Deg
RL -19/32 Deg
RR -19/32 Deg

CASTER: (5th gen range = +0.2 deg to +2.2 deg)
FL +2 5/16 Deg
FR +2 7/32 Deg
RL + 3/32
RR - 3/16

THRUST ANGLE: (not specified)
0 Degrees

Pharoh · 08-17-2003

I have Neuspeed Sports on my ride (1.75"). I know that unless you go to a full 2" drop you don't need a camber kit (but it never hurts). You of course need an allignment whenever you change out the suspension components like springs and struts. I've had my OEM struts swapped out three times and spent about 2 weeks driving on the bad ones between each replacement because the parts were always on back-order. Now my Pilots are worn on the inside and are also totally feathered dammit!
If you talk to a front end specialist they can go on the allignment computer and look up the expected results for your car. What they're looking for as a cause of your problem is Toe Angle. If you're only lowered 1.75" camber won't come into play if you don't have a camber kit. But since you do they can adjust it if it's uneven. I'm wondering if you alligned it too soon before the whole thing settled or if the strut inserts were installed incorrectly...Likely though that the worst of the tires are in the front (am I right).
Like BigDaddyHonda said, find a shop that can give you a printout. Alot of the machines crank those out.
Don't know why Koni doesn't go with a full replacement like KW or Progress did. I installed KW's on Tekgnosis' 4dr yesterday and they're really sweet!

Coda007 · 08-17-2003

Thanks guys for all your help. The only place around here that I can think of that I haven't gone to yet is NTB. I don't know if they are any good.
As for the wear... THe front are wearing faster than the rear but evenly. The rear are the ones that are wearing wrong. The inside of the tires are wearing in "diagonal" chuncks almost. I will have to replace in the next month or two or I'll be in trouble.
The one local guy told me that since I lowered it and put 17's on... I will never be able to align the car properly cause they don't have the proper "alignment numbers". Talk about frustrating.
Thanks for all the help guys!

BigDaddyHonda · 08-18-2003

Oh yeah

That last statement your local guy made says that he was in over his head!

Pharoh is right about the toe angle - that can cause the ugly feathering (and constant steering corrections if it is worse on one side than the other). If you were in the sky looking down on your car and these were your tires, the toe angle of the tires is supposed to be 0 degree, that is
[] [] (FRT)

[] [] (REAR)
exactly parallel to each other, pointed straight down the road.

It sounds like your back tires are like this
[] [] (FRT)

\\ // (REAR)
which is what starts eating those chunks of rubber out of the inside and causes instability in your daily drive.

Well good luck on your search for competence & a decent alignment machine

Green Civic · 08-18-2003

Check the tire pressure. Wrong tire presures can cause uneven wearing.

Amplify · 08-19-2003

Quote:

The only place around here that I can think of that I haven't gone to yet is NTB. I don't know if they are any good.

I took my car to 2 NTBs. The first one, the mechanic had no idea what he was doing and jacked up my alignment. The second one, they were able to align it perfectly fine. Sucks that they charged $89.99 though. But if you feel your car is still off afterwards, you can take it back to the same one and get them to look at it again. Or else, the warranty also applied to any NTB nationwide.

If you ask, NTB will also give you a print-out of the specs afterwards. Always ask for a print-out. That way you can see for yourself.