Purchased Michelin Pilot Exaltos for my 2006 EX, ~75,000 miles.
Have excessive interior cupping occurring on both rear tires.
Did not have cupping on old tires that I replaced.

Took it to a dealer, spoke to the technician who worked on the car. Drilled him with about 50 questions.

Technician stated no problems with shocks/struts etc. I gave this guy every opportunity to sell me a whole new rear end. He advised me that there was no problem with the suspension.

Had 4 wheel alignment done too. Front left was out of adjustment by .03%, very small, in addition this was in the front, cupping is occurring in rear.

Why the hell are my rear tires cupping?
Pressures are good. Alignment/camber good. Shocks good (and not bottoming out). Never had this problem before.

Thoughts?

 

Take it back and tell him the 06-08 civic's have a tsb out for the rear camber arms.
I think the TSB number is 08-001.

 

Hey, thanks for the NHTSA bulletin, but it is vague... Just states uneven rear tire wear. Would you know where I can find any other info on civic rear camber/suspension issues.... Looking to keep the car, but it is destroying my rear tires....

 

I've got the same problem on my '07 civic, my (non dealer)mechanic said that he isn't aware of any rear suspension problem with civics to cause such problems. His remedy is a new set of tires and a 4 wheel alignment.

 

A new set of tires and a 4 wheel alignment will NOT fix your problem. You need to spend more time googling this.

The issue is an undersized rear control/swing arm (can't remember which it). If you don't get this replaced, your new tires will cup as well.

Honda will not do anything for you on it, i tried.

 

I've been having the same problem with, now, about the 4th set of tires on my 2006 Civic. This time, I just destroyed 75,000 mile Michelins in 4 months. I cannot afford the amount of money I spend on tires! Found the "service bulletin" and it looks like they wrote it according to my problem! Local Honda service people are telling me that the service bulletin basically means nothing and that it's my rear shocks...wouldn't I feel very bouncy and springy in the back end? I don't at all. I do sway side to side because of the unevenly worn tires! They say it's not the control arms at all...that all I need is new shocks and a 4-wheel alignment. They aren't even asking me to bring the car in so they can check it out, they just tell me to get new shocks and the alignment. They say Honda will not cover the control arm kit at all, because it wasn't a recall.
Thanks for nothing Honda.

 

cupping......if cupping is inner rear wheel wear on both rear wheels,mine does the same thing,but its a 95 civic ex.i put new tires on it and took to get it aligned...the tire shop told me i'd need to put aftermarket parts on it bring it back to correct camber...or by a shim kit.if they did it ,400 to 500 per side.then one of the mechanics pulled me aside and said he had the same problem with his honda civic,he told me to use fender washers to shim out the rear end,rather then pay for a shim kit to be installed.i did it and it helped alot with it being squirrly on the road...wet surfaces,etc. im not sure if this makes me sound like a dumbars,but it really helped with the rear sliding out on me in the rain and snow.

this took several sets of tires to get right,waiting to see how the wear was affecting the tires even now.

 

Is everyone sure that the shocks are okay? Usually if a tire is cupping, it's because the dampeners are shot. If it was a trailing arm issue, I would imagine the wear would show up as feathering on one side or another.

Typically, bad shocks are leaking (but may have bad internal seals), or tend to clunk around over bumps. Some OEM ones last 100k miles or more, but I've seen some that were pretty used up by 30k.

 

Rear tire cupping on 06 thru 08 civics is because of rear suspension geometry. TSB 1-008 reduced the rear camber from -1.5 to -0.75 degrees. That will still not fix the problem. I went for 3rd party adjustable camber arms and set the camber at 0.0 degrees and the toe at 0.0 degrees at no load. Have travelled lots of miles since and it seems to do the job well.

 

Just a confirmation of setting the rear camber at 0.0 and the rear toe at 0.0 (no load) solved my 2007 EX cupping problem. That was in April of 2009. The adjustable rear camber arms were from SPC Performance PN 67470.