I have a stock 1998 Honda Civic LX that I took in for an alignment because it is pulling hard to the rights.
When I went to pick it up, they said that the car would not align and that I would have to get the frame check since the camber was out of alignment. I questioned this and talked to the mechanic. He told me that my Civic camber and caster are not adjustable, only toe. Seems strange that would be fixed but they referred me to a body shop and said come back for a re-alignment at no charge. I am skeptical but....
Here's what the readings came up:
LEFT FRONT/ RIGHT FRONT
Camber 0.2/ -0.3
Caster 1.2/ 0.6
Toe 0.06"/ 0.05"
SAI 10.5/ 11.9

Does Honda really sell a car w/o camber & caster adjustments or is this shop pulling my leg? How do I get this fixed?

Dave

 

There are camber kits from the dealer, I had to get one for the rear passenger wheel. I think that you can get aftermarket kits if you want.

 

yup!
it's very possible that the car was in a minor accident that bent the subframe.

 

The shop you took it to should have tried a subframe shift, I have had 97 coupe and a 98 sedan and I had to shift them both and got the numbers right, also it don't take much to bend the control arms the civics I see it all the time .

 

Car has never been in an accident. There are plenty of potholes around here though.

Ok, update, I swapped the two front tires and the pull went to the left. Appears that this is a tire problem. I plan to rotate the backs to the front and get my alignment re-checked.

Ironically, I called 3 Honda dealers, 2 said that camber and caster was not adjustable, and the other, said they could adjust all 3 directions.

How does a camber kit fix the caster setting?

What's a subframe shift?

Thanks.

Dave

 

The camber is adjustable if you install a kit. I have one on my car at the rear passenger wheel. The dealer installed awhile back. I needed one because I was barely hit by a bumper from another car. I had about 4 to 5 wheel alignments on my 97 Civicand the dealer always get it dead on. When I get alignments from the tire places, it seems my tires wear out faster. I could never figure it out.

 

a subframe shift is when you losen bolts that hold the subframe to the body, move the subframe on the alignment rack so you can watch the numbers , usally I get about .5 degree of caster