Honda release a SB on Feb 8, 2008 for 06 and 07 Civic ( except SI ) for uneven or rapid tire wear. I was told that it was a rear geometry problem and the upper control arms and flange bolts would be replaced. But beware that they gave me a hard time on replacing the rear tires ( 26K on them ). They would not offer anything on those....however they are cupped due to the problem and are useless with plenty of tread left. If you have any rough rear end noise and vibration it would pay to have the dealer look at the rear end and take a road test......mention SB 08-001.

 

I hate that dealers wont stand behind their products when it is clear it is a defect. No wonder people sue them

 

I'd complain to the appropriate authorities and also contact Honda America. I'm sure if this is such a widespread "design" problem, the main headquarters will wise up b/4 they get sued out of their pants. Just wait so long as the tire is still driveable for a little while or get it replaced and save the receipt so that you can get it reimbursed later on. sorry to hear about this. this gen appears to have a lot of problems normally not associated with hondas.

 

We replaced the tires on our new 2007 Civic after 18000 miles. We took the car to a tire dealer and they indicated it needed alignment and that we should rotate the tires more often. Now at 37000 miles we are dismayed to find that the tires are unsafe to drive on. Taking the car to the dealer we discovered we are now 1000 miles out of warrenty. They did agree to replace the rear control arms at half the originally quoted price. The service manager used the words "defective welds". This car is becoming too expensive to operate. The normal tire life is 1/3 what it should be. The current condition of the tires has led to a vehicle that is unsafe to drive. The excessive wear on the tires also leads to a load and irritating roar from the rear axle. We have lost confidence in Honda. This was our fourth Honda in a row. We do not know if the replace parts will correct the problem. We cannot get a straight answer from the service dept at the dealer. They shrug their shoulders when we ask them for compensation for the ruined tires. Any person with this problem should submit a complaint to the Federal Highway Traffic Safety Administration at www.nhtsa.dot.gov/ It seems that number matter here and if enough people make them aware of the problem they could force the manufacturer to issue a recall. If you have a civic and hear tire roar from the rear end take it in for service immediatly. Delay could be expensive and dangerous.

 

nice rant, anyways.... ...when you get a brand new with a new generation design there WILL be adjustments needed to be made. That's way it's sometimes "safer" to buy a lightly used, new to you car. That way most of the bugs have been worked out. The same goes for any car manufacturer.

New cars, new problems, unknown solutions.
Old cars, old problems, proven solutions.

 

You should go to corporate with this. They've been giving everyone with this problem the control arms (installed) for free.

The tires, maybe not. If it's any consolation, the tires that come on any new car from any maker are usually really cheap ones that won't last very long under ideal conditions anyway.

 

I found a Honda Service Bulletin online number 08-001 dated April 11, 2008 where it addresses this issue. If the vehicle shows inside uneven tire wear they are replacing the control arms and offering tire replacement using a prorated formula.

 

my question is are the new control arms redesigned as simply replacing the same design will be useless. i hope they redesigned them so that the "geometry" problem is resolved once and for all.

 

Well said! We have gone the full TSB 08-001 route with our dealer and we still have a car that eats up rear tires. Turns out the rear wheel geometry will not allow for carrying any kind of load for extended distances. We are Snowbirders, as such, each fall and spring we drive 1800 miles with a car loaded with luggage and as such we ruin a set of rear tires each winter. The problem on the 06-08 Civic is when the rear springs are compressed, the rear Camber goes more NEGATIVE which in turn causes MORE TOE IN. I cannot for the life of me understand why the Honda Engineers ended up with this design, are they targeting the younger "sporty" driver, because from our experience, it is not a car for a retired couple that want to travel by automobile.

 

I had this problem also on my 06 4 door and ya they replaced the control arm. the issue I had was that they tried to get ME to pay for the alignment afterwards. with a little fighting on my part they finally agreed to take care of the alignment. since then we have had no more problems with the rear tires