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Ezone,

Bought new tires for the daughters 2008 Honda Civic LX. I had the them (Sears) to do an alignment. The tech said the he could not get the tow in since he had no adjustment left. He thinks the struts are bent. Before I spent any money thought I would run it by you on what should be none. I have attach the report from the alignment.

 
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Toe looks fine, but left front camber says the tire leans in a the top, quite a bit. Does it pull right?

Tech too lazy to take a caster measurement. Alignment is half-azzed....unless a bent strut is obvious it's probably just a guess.......go to a real shop instead.


SAI/IA readings can help determine if something may be incorrectly located (bent), reducing wild guesses (there's always educated guesswork though)....sears guy cant be bothered to take all the measurements......so he isn't going to do that much work.



They sell struts, so you must need some. Maybe it will correct the issue, but when it's done and it's still not right whats their next guess?



Camber might be compensated for using a smaller through bolt between strut and knuckle. See a better shop about it.

 
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Thanks Ezone It does not pull to the right will take it to the dealer to have it checked since all the tire shops around me are about the same. They just want to get you in and out or upsale you.

P.S. Can the camber be adjusted?

 
Rep Power: 518

If it does not pull....you could leave it alone and plan for that one corner to wear the inside edge (the rears also wear the inside edges)

Ask for the rocket scientist, not the guys they just hired from sears and the tire shops LOL
You'll have that almost anywhere. Everyone needs to generate revenue to survive LOL

Many of us DO care about solving problems and fixing cars...but for many others it's all about extracting money.

No, but yes. That's why I wrote
Camber might be compensated for using a smaller through bolt between strut and knuckle. See a better shop about it.

This means the factory didn't really provide any way to make adjustments, but there are still ways to make adjustments. In this case the use of a smaller diameter bolt (damper pinch bolt) allows some movement to make changes and stand the wheel up straight(er).

Simple version is just using a smaller diameter pinch bolt to gain some adjustment room, then making "stab-and-check" adjustments until it's better.

There are bolt kits available that have an eccentric lobe to make it a little easier to make adjustments... see image:



Another method is to simply grind out some metal to allow adjustment, (this is how I did my own struts) but it is more time consuming--- and it's easy to screw it up. I'd expect most shops would not want to do this for a customer, but IDK.

 
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Ezone

When to the Honda dealer this morning they have Sunday service hours. anyway I have attach the new alignment readings. The tech said he thinks that the right rear control arm is bent a little and could not get that reading any better. What do you think? I bought the car used and the tech also said that the front struts have been replaced he said they look like they are from a junk yard.

 
Rep Power: 518

Probably has yellow paint pen writing on them?

IDK about bent. rear camber is pretty equal on both sides.
Rear toe changed quite a bit on both sides, so why wasn't it set a little closer to spec? Nevermind, the total toe in the rear is close enough. Adjuster may be stuck or something.

Drive the car. If it goes straight for you, it's good enough. Numbers say it shouldn't eat the tires off.....but these cars do eat rear tires if you don't rotate tires often enough.


There seems to be a whole bunch of difference between the two places' printouts.

You said you don't notice it pulling right so that supports the dealers printout front camber/caster readings.

Which begs the question, how in the he!! does the sears guy make the alignment appear so far out of whack in the 'before' picture? I have my suspicions as to HOW, but the why sure smells like an attempt to sell more parts (they are paid on commission).
Typical chain store tactics. Not all do it but a whole bunch of them do, as do many other shops-- independent and dealer alike.
FWIW a local tire chain store does the same thing to unsuspecting customers...this place tilts the hoist so all 4 camber angles of the car all read as though it's leaning to one side (because it really is leaning to one side). They also advertise FREE alignment with tire purchase, but how much you want to bet every last car they do a FREE alignment on needs more expensive parts?
Same place lures you in with a low low low advertised price on a brake job.....then once the wheels are off, your car becomes a hostage

 
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Ezone,

Thanks for responding my thought too on the two readings. Make you wonder if Sears balance the tires right...

P.S. What your recommendation on mileage for tire rotation?

 
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Didn't they try to upsell you synthetic wheel weights???

 
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Define "right". LOL

perfect
damn close to perfect
good
it's all good
passable
that's okay
it's technically within specs
it's almost in spec
close enough for government work
Halfazzed
IDGAF
ohhellno
will anyone notice that
oops
ohshit
they haven't fired me yet, let's see how little work I can do and still get paid



Depends. Some tires and tread designs are more prone to becoming choppy than others.

You usually won't know if a tire will do it until it's already begun, and then it's usually too late to stop it.

Some people rotate tires with every oil change but sometimes even that's too long if they are on (example) 10k oil changes.

When do you do your oil changes?
Pick a round number and rotate regularly, maybe every 5k?

 
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Thanks