jhammermil2008

Hello. Need some helping figuring this out. The rear tires of my 1998 civic lx are slanted outward. Not sure what the deal is. I've attached some photos so you can get a better look. Thanks for your help.

ezone

Rear tires almost always lean in at the top by some amount, that's negative camber.
0 to -2 degrees is spec. for the rear.
Up to -2.5* is typical after a bunch of miles due to spring sag.

How much lean do yours have? More than -3*?
How much weight is in the trunk? Empty it.
How many miles on the car?
Is it lowered?

jhammermil2008

I'm not sure how much lean there is, I'll have to figure out how to check that. I do know that it's off enough to cause interior tire wear. The trunk is empty, including the spare tire. I have about 184k miles on the car. The vehicle is not lowered.

I was wondering if bad springs and struts could cause this or perhaps it's the strut mounts. I've checked the camber arm, lower/upper control arms and trailing arms, and the bushings appear ok. I bounced the rear end up and down the other day and noticed an intermittent popping noise coming from the left side. Nothing from the right side. Afterwards I noticed the left side was lower. Then I took it for a drive and it balanced out. I do notice the car sits a little lower than normal, but I wasn't sure if this could cause the odd angle. I haven't experience this before.

Mad Dog Tannen

it could be spring sag.

Maybe someone else could chime in on whether or not the trailing arm bushing could affect this? I would think it could if it where broken up.

the popping sound is probably the shock mount... can you hear it making the sound when you go over speed bumps?

jhammermil2008

No popping sound when going over bumps. I was under the car and just pushed it up and down and heard an intermittent popping sound coming from the left side. Then I noticed the left side was a little lower. Drove it around and it corrected itself.

the popping sound is probably the shock mount... can you hear it making the sound when you go over speed bumps?[/QUOTE]

ezone

Springs do wear and settle or sag as mileage accumulates, but most people aren't going to rush out and buy new springs for this.

If the suspension is good and tight (bushings), it's probably not a big deal.

Look at the alignment......the rear tires need a little bit of toe-in to compensate for the negative camber lean. If they point dead ahead or outward the rear tires can eat the inboard edges off rather quick.
IF the rear toe adjusters are seized up, it may be next to impossible to correct the issue without a lot of extra work.

Beyond all that, the rear will wear the inboard edges a little faster than the outboard edges....that's one more reason we rotate the tires regularly, to help keep all the tires wearing at about the same rates.


Maybe you could flip the rear tires on the wheels so they have fresher edges to wear?