doobiedoo

Hi All - this isn't scooby related but where better to get a good opinion than this grand forum? :-) I have tried the Honda forums but nothing compares to scoobynet!!

I have just bought a 99 Honda Prelude VTI Motegi and noticed that the wheel alignment is a bit wierd. Unfortunately it was a private sale and I didn't notice this at the time.

The car camber of both nearside wheels is such that they lean out at the top and the offside wheels both lead in at the top. I have spoken to Honda and apparently there is a some (but not much) adjustment in the camber on this car. I'm off for a laser alignment check tomorrow. Underneath the car looks pretty straight - no sign of big problems at all.

The car has non-standard alloys and 205-45-17's. I believe the wheel offset is larger than it should be on the non-standard wheels (they stick out a little)and the car should have 50-17's rather than 45's. Do any of you geometry experts reckon this would be enough to make the cars camber look wierd??

I don't think the car is twisted becuase it drives very nicely and the tyre wear is pretty even. I have also called all the garages in the service book and they have no history of anything nasty.

Any opinions / advice welcome.

Cheers scoobynetters,

dooooooooobiedoooooooo.

silent running

There shouldn't be positive camber on any modern road car (i.e. the tops of the wheels farther out than the bottoms). Because of the way most suspension works nowadays, the wheels do not go straight up and down when they hit a bump. In general the more the wheels are compressed into their wheel arches, the more it will appear that they have negative camber. When the wheels are on full droop i.e. if you jacked up the car and let them hang down, you'd have what looked like very positive camber. If you parked sideways on a slope you might have something weird like this showing?

doobiedoo

thanks for the response.

I have parked the car on very flat ground and taken the spirit level out! There is defo positive camber on the nearside and negative on the offside.

silent running

In that case you've got a serious problem! Looking forward to hearing the before and after results from your alignment...

Just thought of something else. It's a longshot, but sometimes if you've had the wheels on and off a lot, you can get crud trapped between the hub and wheel? Have you tried taking the whole lot off, cleaning it all and refitting?

doobiedoo

the alignment check was close to ok but it was only a tow check. I think the car may have hit a kerb sideways on. Its going to Honda on Wednesday next week for a full inspection.

I am really irritated (with myself as much as anything) that I didn't spot this when I bought it. I am notmally so strict with looking at the angles and geometry on a car.

foook, sheeet, boooooollacks.

Powerstation

Where are you based doobiedo?


Andy