Front passenger suspension problems
 

I have a 2002 civic ex. I recently replaced both of my front struts due to them leaking. I replaced them with monroe quickstruts. Every thing bolted back together like it should have. Although i noticed that the passenger tire/wheel now has a huge negative tilt to it..in other words the tire is not straight up and down like before. So i dissasembled and reasembled everything...Still had the tilt to it. I went to Orielly Auto and asked them about it. The guy looked at it and said that my lower control arm may have been bent from a previous wreck(before i purchased the car). So i bought the LCA and installed it...yet again still has the tilt to it. I have no clue on what it could be now. But i did notice on the old strut they had drilled the bottom hole double the size that it should be so that the part that bolts to the strut could be adjusted to make the tilt go away. If anyone know what the problem could be please let me know. Thanks.

Re: Front passenger suspension problems
 

Have you had an alignment done?

Monroe products are complete junk, btw.

Re: Front passenger suspension problems
 

No alignment has been done yet. I went to get it done as well and they won't do the alignment because its tilted too much.

Re: Front passenger suspension problems
 

After thinking some more, could it be a bent steering knuckle? Thats the only other part that I have not changed out.

Re: Front passenger suspension problems
 

so you had this problem before you replaced the struts ???

Re: Front passenger suspension problems
 

steering knuckle doesnt much to do with negative camber. it deals with toe.

if you did not have this problem before, i am betting it is because of a defective strut on the passenger side.

measure the distance from the top of the rim to the edge of the fender (straight up) is the measurement from the passenger/driver side completely off?

take a picture of it (both passenger and driver side) and it could help us help you better.

Re: Front passenger suspension problems
 

No, there was no problem before replacing the strut. But why would someone drill out the bottom hole double the size though? It wasn't like that on the driver side. The only thing I could think of is something being bent on the passenger side to make them drill the hole bigger on the old strut so they could adjust it accordingly so that there wouldn't be a tilt to the wheel. I will take a pic and post so y'all can see what i'm talking about.

Re: Front passenger suspension problems
 

Okay, I've uploaded some photos so that y'all can see what I'm dealing with. There's a view of the drivers side and passengers side. Then a view of the old drivers side strut and then the old passengers side strut. You can see that on the passenger side strut the bottom hole was drilled more elongated vs. the driver side strut which was normal. I've also replaced the tie rod end and the lower balljoint(not that it has to do with my current situation) and as mentioned before the LCA was replaced too. The only other thing I could possibly think of now is the subframe being bent?? If some one could help me out I'd really appreciate it. Thanks

Re: Front passenger suspension problems
 

Something is definitely not right about your car. That hole in the old strut was enlarged by someone to fix the camber issue. The subframe is probably bent from a collision on the pass side I doubt the car rolled off the factory line like that.

Cheapest option would be to take both the old and new strut to a machine shop and ask them to enlarge the hole the same as the old strut. Shouldn't take them much time at all.

The proper way to fix it, is to take the car to a body shop and have them evaluate the subframe, and straighten it out or replace with a new one.

Re: Front passenger suspension problems
 

yea, check the subframe for damage....wow that is definitely something!

Re: Front passenger suspension problems
 

Hi, I just found this post through a Google search. I know the original post was 9 years ago but wondering if you ever solved the problem? I'm having the EXACT same problem with my passenger side suspension, I also user Monroe quick struts.

Re: Front passenger suspension problems
 

What year is your Civic? The crash bolts (strut to knuckle) are smaller on the '01-02. I believe it's 14 mm on the '01-'02 and 16 mm on the '03-'05. If the hole in the new struts doesn't match the knuckle then your camber will be all over the place.

Re: Front passenger suspension problems
 

I don’t recall finding out what the issue was. I ended up selling the car. But it was most likely subframe damage as previously mentioned.