95 Accord Camber Problems

I have a 95 Accord that is wearing out the inside and outside of the
front tires. (mostly inside left front)

I bought the car in 97 with 33,000 miles on it. It had new tires when I
bought it and I'm now getting ready to buy my third set due to the outer
and inner wear. (just turned over to 80,000)

I've been taking it to Goodyear over the yrs for new tires and alignment
and they keep telling me that they can't align the front end correctly
that I need to have some kind of kit installed to correct the problem
($350).

Up until now I have just replaced the tires and let them do the best
that they can as far as alignment. Now the car just turned 80,000 miles
and this problem is seemingly getting worse. I need new tires again, as
in ASAP.

As far as I know, I'm the second owner of this car and it was never
lowered or wrecked. When you look at the car for the front everything
looks fine.

What is the deal? Anyone else have this problem?

 

Take it to a frame shop. Usually to get more camber adjustment they slot
(elongate) the mounting bolt holes in the bottom of the strut. It should
not cost $350, but it probably will cost around $150.

Btw. If the tires are wearing both the inside and outside edges, that is a
symptom of air pressure too low, not necessarily out of spec camber. Try
upping the tire pressure by 5 PSI or so and see if the edge wear minimizes
or goes away. If they start wearing out in the middle, let a couple of PSI
back out until you get even wear across the tread. The recommended air
pressure on the sticker on the door is usually on the low side. You can
safely experiment with pressures up to the maximum molded into the side of
the tires.

 

==================

Like what E. meyer said . . . To wear out the inside AND outside, your
tire pressure must be set WAY too low. Get a new guage, and make sure to
add SIX pounds if you're checking your tires when they're HOT. This is
explained in your Owner's manual.

Underinflated tires are hard on gas mileage and make for TERRIBLE
handling on winding roads.

'Curly'

 

I just went through this with my son's lowered Civic. The alignment shop
had two options-- buy the kit like you said and the price was very
similar, or he offered to bend something that would make the wheel sit
more upright, rather than leaning in on the inside edge. The price was
$55. each side in the front. Add the alignment and it was $155.

(Ron) wrote:

I have a 95 Accord that is wearing out the inside and outside of the
front tires. (mostly inside left front)
I bought the car in 97 with 33,000 miles on it. It had new tires when I
bought it and I'm now getting ready to buy my third set due to the outer
and inner wear. (just turned over to 80,000)
I've been taking it to Goodyear over the yrs for new tires and alignment
and they keep telling me that they can't align the front end correctly
that I need to have some kind of kit installed to correct the problem
($350).
Up until now I have just replaced the tires and let them do the best
that they can as far as alignment. Now the car just turned 80,000 miles
and this problem is seemingly getting worse. I need new tires again, as
in ASAP.
As far as I know, I'm the second owner of this car and it was never
lowered or wrecked. When you look at the car for the front everything
looks fine.
What is the deal? Anyone else have this problem?

 

I suggest you take it somewhere else and get a second opinion. It would be
cheaper in the long run to find the problem rather than throwing new tires
at it so often.

 

Both tires inside and outside edges wearing out? That could be just
(severe) underinflation.

Has the car been lowered? If not they are lying - there is no corrective
alignment kit available or required. Check for a broken front spring, near
the bottom where it enters into the spring perch; another clue: when you
jack the car up you'll hear doink sounds. Other than that the suspension
could be bent from accident damage. If there's cupping or scalloping of
the tires as they wear, it could be a bad shock absorber or your tire shop
doesn't know how to do balancing... quite common IME.

The worst tires I've ever experienced were Good Years - wouldn't stay in
balance for >3K miles. At first I thought it was the car until a tire
expert told me that the tread was not aligned properly with the wheel
rotation - it wobbled as it turned.

Ah I see you've answered the lowered Q. I'd advise finding another tire
supplier and a different brand tire - try the Dunlop SP SPort A2... not a
ultra-long wear tire (35-40K) but they work well and I've never had uneven
wear problems. Also find someone else who can do good tire balancing and a
precision algnment check to put your mind at rest on this. If there's no
damage you might just need the front and rear toe adjusted.

Rgds, George Macdonald

"Just because they're paranoid doesn't mean you're not psychotic" - Who, me??

 

Specifically what model of Goodyear tires did you have?

 

OK, I've read everyones responses and I need to clear up one thing. It
is definitely not due to the air pressure being to low..I should have
explained the problem more clearly.

Since day one when I bought this car with 30,000 miles on it (has 80,000
now) - it has slowly but surely worn out the inner part of both font
tires all the way down to the metal cords/belts. Two different shops
told me that it couldn't be aligned correctly that it had to have a
"camber kit" installed.
Like I said, to my knowledge the car has never been lowered. But
something isn't right if at 30,000 miles it was wearing out
tires.....Maybe it was lowered and then they tried to raise it back up
to sell it.

I was just wondering if anyone else had this problem. In other words I
was wondering if it was a common problem with the 95 Accords.

I guess I will just get them to install the kit because I need to get
some really good rain tires on it and I don't won't them to start
wearing out at 5,000 miles.

Living here in Fla. it rains almost every late afternoon. After being
90-99 degrees all day long, the oil that is on the road rises to the top
and the pavement becomes as slick as a sheet of ice when it first starts
to rain. You can tell that the entire contact patch of the tire is not
touching the road when you brake hard or go around a 90 degree corner
because the front end of the car just wants to slide.

BTW, someone mentioned that Goodyear tires wear on the inside. The car
does have GY's on it but I've used GY's my entire life and I've never
had a problem.

AND, the car had Michelin tires on it when I first bought it and it also
ate them up.

 

Ask them for the alignment numbers and compare with factory specs. The
extreme end of those specs for caster and especially toe-out *can* cause
extreme inner tire wear like yours.

My first Civic (1990), wore the inner fornt tires excessively in 11K miles
- all it needed was a minor toe-in correction.

I would not install a kit on a factory spec suspension without the numbers.

I don't see any mention of GYs doing that. What I had with them was tires
which would not stay in balance.

Rgds, George Macdonald

"Just because they're paranoid doesn't mean you're not psychotic" - Who, me??

 

OK, I've read everyones responses and I need to clear up one thing. It

post the alignment specs please, could be struts or springs. or
it could be a uni-body problem. everyone is just guessing without
interpreting the specs.
Chip

 

Who - me? The specs are in the Honda/Helm manual.

Rgds, George Macdonald

"Just because they're paranoid doesn't mean you're not psychotic" - Who, me??

 

i have an 87 accord and the passenger side wheel had a camber problem. the
tires would wear hard on the outer edge after i hit the curb hard. i just
drove the car half up on the side walk and smacked the inside of the tire up
against the curb and that fixed it......no frills camber alignment....i dont
recommend that anybody do that but it just seems that yours should be even
easier, you would just have to hit the curb slightly and pretty softlybit by
bit until it stops wearing on the inside...iput some paint on the edge of
the tire and drove it on the highway to see if it was still wearing on the
edge.

 

I imagine your tool box consists of rubberbands, duct tape, and bailing wire

 

Don't forget the chewing gum (or has duct tape superseded it?)!

 

its all about the JB weld.

 

||i have an 87 accord and the passenger side wheel had a camber problem. the
||tires would wear hard on the outer edge after i hit the curb hard. i just
||drove the car half up on the side walk and smacked the inside of the tire up
||against the curb and that fixed it......no frills camber alignment....i dont
||recommend that anybody do that but it just seems that yours should be even
||easier, you would just have to hit the curb slightly and pretty softlybit by
||bit until it stops wearing on the inside...iput some paint on the edge of
||the tire and drove it on the highway to see if it was still wearing on the
||edge.

A crude variation on the Bigger Hammer school of auto tech.
Obviously for a car wich is near EOL.

Texas Parts Guy

 

no, actually i do contracting work and have great tools including makita
drivers impact wrenches snapon craftsman etc. but...im not not about to
spend that kind of money on installing camber kits on an 87 accord...besides
i tapped it lightly til it stopped wearing like that