I'm sure its no secret around here that the TSX has camber issue -- which is NOT fixable from factory -- on the rear. When I bought my car 3 months ago, I got to looking at it, and noticed the right rear was leaning a lot more than the left rear. So, since I manager a automotive repair shop, I threw it up on the alignment rack to check the specs. Low and behold... I was right. Minimum specs on the car are -1.5 on the rear... and on the left, I was RIGHT at minimum, and on the right, I was almost a whole degree out @ -2.3 degrees. Figured I'd take it to the dealer and have them look at it.

Sadly, the dealers first excuse was "our alignment racks are old... it IS out, but let us check it on the NEW ones we're getting in a month". Fine. I'll bring it in next month. So I did....

Well... they looked at it again, its out, but they tried to tell me that its "supposed to be like that". One side is supposed to be out more than the other because of "handling reasons". I told them to go tell that to someone that doesn't know WTF they're talking about. They told me they were going to call their "tech line" and get back w/ me in a few days.... its been over a month. No calls yet. Finally, I go a hold of a person that works there and demanded a name and a number of someone that DOESN'T work at the dealership. He calls me back and tells me that the service manager is aware of my situation, and I'm not the only one w/ this problem. And here's the kicker... he said that Acura is trying to resolve the problem, and they've told dealerships to "BEND" certain parts of the suspension to get the specs within range. Well... I'm not a big fan of perfectly good parts being BENT to make it work, so I ordered a rear camber kit from Specialty Products today and they WILL be paying me back for it.

I'll post more as this fiasco unfolds... but for now, I know the camber is going to be fixed, and my $200 Michelins are going to last a little while longer.

 

just ask them to buy a camber kit for you

 

Damn if only I had known that before I lowered my car! Now that I lowered it, it's too late to bring it in and have the factory look at it.

How much did you get the rear camber kit for? and where?

 

Man am I glad I got the rear camber kit with my comptechs.

Now if I can find time (and courage) to put the damn things on...

 

,

Not EVERY TSX has that problem, but I would guess that most are pushing the -1.5 limit on both sides. Even after lowering with the A-Spec factory suspension kit, I'm at -1.7 on both sides, and I came down a good 1". The dealer tech was able to even the camber out by adjusting the carriage that the rear suspension mounts to.

I have seen stock TSXs on the road and on dealer lots that looked more out of whack though, and I did a poll a while back; very few people responded that had any kind of short tire life-not very scientific, but there doesn't seem to be a lot of people here who have noticed. Yet, anyways.

 

Maybe you should let Acura Customer Relations know about this?

 

The ones I got are the Specialty Product brand... MY cost was $70 since I'm buying them through my store, but they usually retail for $110+ each.

Ben

 

you know whats interesting? i also knew and have known for some time that the camber was a little out of whack. however the new set of tires i put on my car this summer and have now removed for the winter show more wear on the outside of the tires from the rear than the inside as i would have expected with the camber set like that.
i have noticed no tire wear issues from the rear and if any exist they are wearing on the outside worse than the inside. only way that could be is from the toe being off but i know that is in spec.

 

toe wear could wear the outside of your tire... camber wears the WHOLE tire at an "angle" (looking at it from the back). Camber wear and toe wear are very different.

 

-2.3 is a lot!


mine didn't have that problem.

 

Damn right. Thats why I'm doing this and making them pay for it, rather than them 'bending' parts to get my camber into spec.

 

Girth,

I had a number of alignment issues with my TSX when I first got it. The alignment issues were finally resolved. The most persistent one was the camber on the right rear. The dealer finally resolved this by replacing a number of the rods which connect the right rear wheel to the frame/subframe. Do a search under my name on this site and you will find all that I have written about my alignment problems and their resolutions. By the way, the specs for rear camber on the TSX (from Acura's intranet manual) are tighter than what alignment machine manufacurers code in. The spec for rear camber is Nominal= -1.00 degrees....Minimum= -.70 degrees...Maximum= -1.30 degrees. If you read through my posts you will find a note in which I relayed all of the alignment specs for the TSX. Good luck with resolving your alignment problem. This site seems to contain a lot of notes on frivolous issues and complaints. But, it also contains a lot of notes on important ones. I hope my note helps you with yours.

 

I just picked up my car from the Acura dealer with the same rear camber problem. I had noticed that my brand new car always had a very slight pull to the left. I took the car in, they checked the alignment. Front was spot on. Unfortunately, left rear camber was 2.1 degrees and right rear was 1.0 degrees. The service writer gave me the same story about having to call Acura/Honda tech line, but no one was around b/c of the holidays. He said he will keep trying until he speaks with someone to find out what the solution is.

The funny thing is, he mentioned that they went through the same issue with 2004 TSXs. I'm wondering, if that's the case, why the fuck haven't they figured out a solution yet? DUH!

 

When the dealer put on my A-Spec on, the tech was able to even out my camber by adjusting the carriage that the suspension mounts to, and that will basically split the difference. You'd end up at -1.65 per side (-2.3 + -1.0 = 3.3/2 = -1.65). While out of spec, the pulling would be gone, and I really haven't seen many posts about uneven tire wear, even by members who have racked up 30-40k miles. So I think the car can deal with that number.

I understand that it's a new car, and you want it to be perfect, but I doubt that correcting a slight rear camber issue is high on their priority list, especially when not that many people seem to be affected by it. I'm sure that they could just create a adjustment kit, but that would mean testing for long term durability, NVH, etc, and the aftermarket kits that are available wouldn't pass.

 

I'm not that much of a nitpicker. I don't care about the cricket squeak in the center console, the 2 holes the dealer put in my front bumper when they screwed the lic plate frame on too tightly. But, the problem with the drift/pull is that it is noticeable every day I drive the car. That can get annoying on a brand new car you just paid $30K for. If the car tracked straight, I wouldn't really care that the camber is half a degree out of spec. I agree with you that 2 degrees of negative camber - isn't going to cause significantly more tire wear.

What I am upset about is the fact that the service advisor told me that they went through the same issues with the 2004s. The 04s have been out for over 1 1/2 yrs now and Acura still hasn't developed an official fix? What did they do to fix the 04s? Are they still driving around w/ this issue unresolved? That's the sad part. We buy an Acura for perceived quality and service. Yet, they can't even fix a basic suspension issue after 1 1/2 yrs.

 

I think the problem is that Acura has probably not received enough complaints about this problem (and I agree it's a problem) to take any type of action. I would try to get your service department manager to have the carriage or subframe adjusted-I watched when then did mine-it didn't take more than a few minutes. Just looseneing some bolts and two guys pushing on it. They only moved it a small amount. Then they were able to get the camber even-and then the car should track straight. My car tracks perfectly.

 

I'm waiting for my service tech to call back. If they cannot get an official fix from the factory, I'll have them even out the camber using your suggestion.

I may still eventually need a rear camber kit as I plan on adding the A-spec suspension in the future.

 

Yeah, I'm at -1.7 with the A-spec, and I have not decided on a camber kit just yet. I thought I would wait until at least the spring and then check the tire wear. So far it is not unusual. If anything, the outside sidewall is a little scrubbed-nothing out of the ordinary, but I would have expected anything noticeable to be on the inside treads......

 

Girth,

I have the same problem. My rear camber is exactally what yours is, about -1.5 on the left and -2.3 on the right. I brought my car to my dealer and they refused to check the alignment for free. They said I must have hit a pot hole or something and bent something in the rear suspension. I told them to f-off. So I'll try bring my car to another Acura dealer and see what they say.