All,
I have a 2006 Civic. Since day one, the car has had a freeway speed vibration especially felt in the steering wheel. For the first year of ownership, we had the car in the shop at least four times trying to chase the vibration. Every time, the dealership said that it was the tires. I even was allowed to drive another brand-new same Civic and I felt the shake as well.
Well,,, the tires finally have worn out. I put on my spare set of AP1 fronts on all four corners and strapped them with Potenzas just last week. Guess what...? the car shakes just like it did always. I'm thinking that the alignment needs adjusting...perhaps the toe angle is not right and the tires are "skipping" at freeway speeds. In fact, the car wants to move around even in a straight line. The car does pull to the right ... so some alignment is off... has to be.
Any one of you have a a Civic and know what a proven alignment setting is?
I need to get my Honda stable in good shape.

Thanks,
CB

 

Thanks for posting, I have been dealing with this issue with my 06 Civic Si. Ever since day one I have had a hell of a time trying to get the tires to last a full life. My fronts usually will last and hold up pretty good, but the rears always have been an issue. With multiple alignments I cant get the rears not to cup or feather which is causing my vibration 100%. I just installed new tires last week and its smooth but it could be smoother. Its just something I have just learned to ignore.

 

Mugen kid- have you tried installin a camber kit in the rear? I know from the factory honda puts a lot of - camber on the rear.

 

This is a problem from Honda on the Civics but they won't admit it. The rear upper control arms are off causing the tires to Cup and wear unevenly and excessively fast. There is a bulletin out for it #08-001 (but they are refusing to make it a recall); take your car in and make them fix it. Also fight like hell to get them to pay for your tires. They won't want to but you might get them to goodwill at least a little bit of the cost...

However, because the suspension is different on the Si Mugen Kid, they are not included in the bulletin... Not sure what your problem is.

 

i drove my neighbors 06 si.. no issues.. feels fine to me.. her car is bone stock..

 

Here's my plan...
1. Start cheap. I ordered front strut camber bolts. They should be in today.
2. Go to my local trusted alignment shop and get the current settings, then make a few tweaks.
3. If the front camber does not make a difference, then I'll look into a rear camber kit. The kits that I've seen so far are around 300 bones.
4. Re-adjust at my trusted non-Honda shop.
5. Still vibrate... New struts and shocks.
6. Still vibrate ... sell the car.

I put AP1 S2000 fronts on all four corners, then strapped on Potenza 205's.
The dealer tells me that they won't touch the car because it is out of spec... dig this. They took one look at the car and assumed that I put on the staggered set of AP1s. Do I look stupid to you?

Absolutely HORRIBLE customer service with this Civic! I bought the thing blindly because I was so impressed with the S2000 and assumed I'd get the same quality and support with the new steed. Nope.

I'll post my results as I go through the steps.
From my research, it appears that the Civic was manufactured with little-to-no camber adjustment. I'm not sure about the toe and caster.

Hopefully, we can work this bug out because Honda sure as hell is not willing to help.

CB

 

1. Took the Civic, "Berry", in to Shuman's for alignment check today. Tech found only one thing - the rear had a bit too much toe. All other settings were near perfect and cannot be the sole reason for the vibration. Tech zeroed out the toe in the rear.

Next step is to look in to the struts, shocks, and maybe stiffen the springs.

Stay tuned...

 

Sell Berry and buy another S

 

...
Nah...
I'm on a mission.
Gonna make the Civic drive as well as it should.
Honda isn't helping us out one bit - but there's a reason why this car drives like shiznit...and I'm determined to find out why.
Honda really dropped the ball lately.
Bummer.

 

Update:
At Shuman's, the tech told me that the front alignment looked "golden". No reason for any tire wear there - however, the rear had excessive toe. So, the toe was zeroed out.
Now the car still rumbles and vibrates at 202 speeds, but is different. The steering wheel isn't shaking.
Also, the car isn't wandering. Straight-line directional control is improved.

I did not need to use the camber kit. So, 30 bucks spent on something I'll not put in is "okay".

Next is replacing the front struts. I did read that some of the early '06 models were fitted with a bad batch of struts.

As for SPLNDID, I had Shuman's set up a Euro alignment and all is well. Still running with KW Variant 3s... just not as low.

Note that both the Civic and S2000 have new rubber on all four corners. The goal is to fix the Civic problem before wearing out a perfectly good set of Potenzas.

Stay tuned...