on my car the rear tires have flat spots on them, all the way around, im not sliding or locking up the rears, so im thinking its an alignment issue.. i slid under the car the other day and the bushings are shot.. ok, so that could be it.. the ones that i see that are really shot are on what i'm guessing are the trailing arms.. they have a metal bat that is bolted into the car on each end, and this goes through the rubber thats in the arm....

what im thinking is to order a set of replacement bushings from jegs or summit or somewhere, thier red urithane or something like that... is that going to help with the tire wear? I've looked for other bushings in urithand for the rest of the back end of this car but i havent found any... is this my major problem, or are all the bushings a contributing factor.. would just doing the trailing arms and not the others a bad idea? other than doing the work of changing them out and then maby having to pull it apart again later to do the others....

next question, whats a compensator arm? is that the little link thats attached to the front of the trailing arm, infront of that bushing?

 

little help?
someone?

 

ok well my trailing arm bushings came in from energy suspension... but i'm still wondering what to do about the other 7 or so rubber bushings that are on each side of the rear of this car.. thier 10+ years old, and cant be holding like they once were... but all the bushing kits that i can find are mostely for the front end.. and while im sure that i need to do thoes soon as well, right now my concern is the rear, cause thats where my funky tire wear is...
please help.. im getting new tires and wheels mid to late this comming week, and i'd hate to wear my new tires out cause i couldnt find the parts to fix this...

 

Sorry I missed this thread before.

Can you get a picture of which bushings are shot? Just so we're talking about the same thing.

You have to get the rear lower control arm bushings from Prothane.... ES doesn't make them. Check their site for part numbers. I got mine from Pro Street Online (they were the only place I could find that had both the LCA bushings AND the shock bushings in stock)

Once you get everything replaced, get an alignment right away. You WILL mess up your toe settings when you replace all the rear bushings.

 

roger that, coolness, i'll check 'em out drectly.

yea, i can probably shoot some frames late tonight or tomarrow...

when you say mess up the toe settings, ok i know what toe in is.. and i can see changing these parts could affect it for the rear.....
but since this car hasnt had an alignment in i dunno how long, i have to wonder if maby it wont be closer than where it is now... or are you telling me that changing the rears will somehow affect the front?

 

I'm saying that the toe being out of spec will prematurely wear your tires. Reason being, if the toe is off, your tires are traveling at an angle when the car is going forwards. Since you said this car hasn't had an alignment in a while, that leads me to believe that's probably your problem. Toe is adjustable in both the front and rear of your car.

 

I had the same problem with my car when I bought it. I replaced the struts at a shop ($200) and bought new tires. No problems ever since. I've traditionally had a rough time figureing out how to get the toe correct on my hondas in the past (as well as my other cars) so I generally leave it to someone more knowledgeable than myself.

I bet you have somewhere around 130,000-160,000 on yours. Looks like you're running into the same stuff I am at about the same time frame. First the cracked header and now the struts. Know where I could pick up a decent pair of the grey-interior visors. Someone got mine wet and the edges wore off on the bottom.

 

actually its got 195k on it... struts huh? i wouldnta thought that they woule affect the tire wear this much... the bushings and toe settings, yes, but i guess i learned something new...

i can see how the toe in settings on the car could cause the tire wear, but i didnt see any adjustment for it when i was last under the car... oh and i did find a complete bushing set on jc whitney... its like $159 or so, but from what i understand its got everything.. so i can do the fronts and the rears... might be a good idea to just do 'em all, then go the the alignment shop 1 time....

well if im looking at new struts.. what kind aftermarked stuff could i look at... i might consider lowering the car an inch or so if its not gonna cost me an arm and a leg.... but i'm not gonna go so low that i have to worrie about speed bumps...

 

Toe adjustment is on the tie rod in the front, and the compensator arm in the back. Here's a diagram from the factory service manual.


For shocks and springs, just stick with something name-brand. Tokico Blues are decent stock replacements for shocks; for springs look at Eibach Pro-kit, H&R OE Sport, Tein H-tech.

 

you might be suprised how much sturts could wear your tires. most of the time, your tires end up getting cupped, but if they are just crappy enough a sturt, you could really wear your tires bald.

sounds like you have probably got a problem with your toe so you're on the right track with the brushings. that diagram is excellet. I would check your struts just in case. with that many miles and the possibility that they have not been replaced, it's probably better to make sure. plus, if they're bad, then you have an excuse to replace them with something aftermarket, like you said.