Just regarding the camber vs. caster tradeoff, yes you made the right choice.

Peter

 

Because you bent it in service.

 

Well, the steering wheel was aligned wrong on the day I bought the car (used) and hasn't changed (as mentioned in my first post). It has pulled a little since the day I bought the car and that hasn't changed, either. I'm not aware that I've ever hit anything, nor have I noticed the handling change.

Isn't it more likely that whoever owned the car before me bent it?

Honda sold me a certified car, with a warranty. It's just taken me two years to figure out that the a-arm is bent.

 

Whether or not you really bent it, they will say you bent it and you have no evidence otherwise. Especially since you didn't complain about it until two years later.

 

Before replacing it you could just try turning the caster adjustment bolt to see (visually or against some reference point) if the wheel can move forward any further. Before doing so, I would first mark the current starting positions of the eccentric and bolt so you can get it back into approximate starting position in case you have to drive it as is subsequently. If the wheel can move forward further then it was the tech's fault.

 

I believe there is a trade off when trying to acheive max camber... you lose caster. Am I correct?

 

Yes.

 

OK, I just talked to the tech while looking at the Manual (page 18-19). The self-locking cam nut (B) was backwards (out of phase by 180*) with regard to the cam collar (E).

I have a hard time believing that it came from the factory like this, because they never would have gotten the alignment right. Which means that someone did a repair. Only they didn't get it fixed completely. (Maybe they tried to fix a bent a-arm )

 

Well I guess you need to flip the cam on top over and see if you can get the caster you need.

 

Yes, he did that. Still couldn't even get 4* caster with 1.3* negative camber