Hi guys & girls,

Ever since I've owned my S, the alignment has been a major difficultly. Only a local Honda dealer ever got it close to perfect, after 3 hours of work. I'm kind of a perfectionist, but I'm trying to keep an open mind about it not being 100% bang on accurate. I just put new wheels and tires on the car so I was hoping this issue might go away. I was wrong.

The main problem is the passenger side rear toe. No one seems to be able to adjust it within spec. I just went out to see the techs explain to me what the problem is:

1. Right rear toe is at its maximum adjustment, rendering 0.37 degrees of toe (should be 0.20) which is the smallest they can get it.
2. Left rear toe is 0.20.
3. Total toe is acceptable at 0.57 degrees, but my right rear tire will always wear before the left rear.

The techs explained that they don't see anything broken, bent etc about the car or the suspension components. In fact they say it's the cleanest AP1 they've ever seen.
Right now I am only thinking two things are possible:
A. The frame in the rear is tweaked somehow.
B. Something about the rear suspension is bent or broken in a manner that is not readily apparent.

What can I do to start troubleshooting this problem? How expensive is it to check the trueness of the frame? If it isn't true, is there anything that can be done anyway? Please help.

 

i work at a honda dealership and have performed many alignments on customers s2000's and even my own. i have an 2008 with cr spec tire sizes and set to cr alignment specs. when performing the alignment, the rear camber and rear toe must be adjusted together(not individually) example not camber then toe. adjusting the camber first, tightening it, then adjusting toe, the camber may move. also if done the other way the toe may be set, but when moving camber, the toe will move. then when trying to get the toe back to spec because it moved, now it is at max adjustment. but if the alignment was done properly. then you have to have something bent. or maybe is any of the adjustments bolts stuck? have you ever got in an accident and hit the suspension? if you did. you might just have to start to swap parts and perform the alignments till everything in specs. hope this helps.

 

Thanks Rossco - although I don't think throwing parts at the car is a good idea. I'm looking for something where I can prove what's causing the problem.

 

i dont think youll find the answer until you try to start swapping parts out... i mean an alignment isnt that hard to do and im sure the techs know what they are doing for an alignment.

 

Sometimes that's all you can do because the part might be tweeked just a scoshe and can't be seen unless the part is removed and placed side-by-side. Even then it may be hard to tell...

 

I've found some alignment insturctions in section 18 of the service manual. I'm going to measure components and put them in an excel sheet so I can compare Left to Right, and to factory specs. At least that's a start. Just have to start narrowing down what could be causing this.