on a 1996 cx hatch...

To make a long story short I spun out last year in the snow and hit a curb HARD with my right rear wheel. I dont care about the wheels (16's) as long as they hold air and it still does. But the alignment is now horrible. The whole car drives crooked, and I have to turn the steering wheel about 2 inches to the right just to drive straight.

Anyways I have lived with it for over a year now, but I am ready to fix it. I have done a lot of research and I cannot find anything i need on rear alingment issues. I just spent a few hours looking at the rear end and taking stuff apart, and I dont see anything wrong.

My only guess now is to start by replacing the right rear trailing arm and see if it works.

Couple questions...

Is this a good place to start, or am i way off?

I can't find a "trailing arm" anywhere online, does it go by another name?

Anyone have a trailing arm to sell me?

Any advice would help, thanks in advance....

 

I just took measurements from the right tire to the left tire.

The front of the rear tires shows 59 1/4 "
The rear of the rear tires shows 58 9/16"

Thats almost 3/4 of an inch difference

These numbers seem way off to me, even more than I was expecting.

 

here...

 

Bump, doesnt anyone have any experience with rear alignment?

Would a tire shop be able to fix this with a 4-wheel alignment, or is it too far off?

 

u should care about the wheel because it may be bent which would throw off the balance which can affect the way the car drives.

first thing i'd do it check for any bends on trailing arm, lower control arm, upper control arm, compensator arm and hub. also for damaged bushings on all those partsand any subframe damage. carefully inspect and compare all the parts with the other side. even if ur sure no parts are damaged, an alignment is def. something to do. if somethings wrong, they should be able to notice it during the alignment process andlet u know.

 

Yeah well after comparing the two sides for over an hour it looks straight. some of the bushings are in rough shape, and could use replacement. I figure the smallest bend could throw it off a lot, and I wouldnt even be able to notice with the bare eye.

The wheel is fine, I had it balanced shortly after because it was off. But not bent.

I guess what I really want is a place to buy a new trailing arm. Everywhere I look I see control arms and trailing arm bushings, and everything else, other than a trailing arm. Am i missing something?

I will call the junkyard on monday

 

You can get them all over online, but they'll cost you. Places like www.majestichonda.com go to their online parts catalog. or https://www.hondapartsdeals.com/

 

Thanks, found one at majestic for 171. A little too much for my taste

 

why are u set on buying a trailing arm? get the alignment done first. some places offer lifetime alignments. just take ur car in whenever u feel u need an alignment done and they'll do it. again, if somethings wrong, they very well may notice it and then u'll know what u need to get before wasting hundreds.

 

Yeah that is what I am going to do at this point.

I have a feeling they are going to tell me its more than just the alignment though.