After the last couple alignment jobs, I've noticed my passenger rear camber has been slightly out of spec: -1.3 to be exact (with a -0.5 to 0.5 range). Didn't really pay much attention to this, however, I was recently told that my rear strut is starting to weaken a bit causing the camber reading to be where it is. Everything is stock, original. 155,000 miles on the rear struts. Is it recommended to replace these? Will it bring the camber specs back within range? I was told before that teh rear struts on Honda/Acuras generally last the life of the car.

 

the only struts i've ever seen last that long with no issues are on a 1996 nissan 300zx twin turbo with 170k miles on the suspension that my friend owns. i don't know what kind of luck everyone else here has had though with their cars. my car had comptech springs when i bought it so i don't really have any points for comparison.

personally i would replace them. they might even be bent for all you know, causing the issue.

SSTS

 

thanks for your input. i am seriously thinking about going ahead and replacing them, all i need is about $200 and about 3 hours of my Saturday time max!!

 

you are lucky to have the struts lasted that long. mine lasted 45k. anyways, with 155k, you can replace them now.

 

mine made it to 170k or so and they still wernt that bad of shape. I dont know how the strut has any thing to do with the camber unless its sitting lower on that side

 

Well the only noticable difference that I see on the side in question is the wheel being ever so slightly slanted like ( \ ) . The other three are perfectly ( | ). The mechanic who aligned my car last indicated a new strut should straighten everything (thereby bringing the camber reading back within spec). Does this make sense to you? By the way, the camber range I quoted earler was incorrect. I mentioned -0.5 to +0.5, where it actually is -1.0 to 0.0. My number on the side in question is -1.3 (whereas the other side is dead on at -0.5).

 

it does not make sense that the new strut will correct your negative camber. The new strut will not give your wheel a positive camber. Could it be your spring, and not the strut?

 

the strut wont fix camber if its not sitting lower. our cars you cant adjust camber on, you need camber kits to do that. The strut does nothing more than attach to the car and lower control arm. it cant control/ adjust camber.

 

Thanks for your responses. I kinda knew that the camber was unadjustable, for some reason this "mechanic" seemed to think that a strut would correct the negative spec (and wanted to do the job to collect extra money that day). So now I know that unless I get some form of kit installed then my camber results will remain the same. In light of that, I will probably just leave things as is on this matter. Is there a maximum out of range spec I should keep my eye out for? Right now it is barely outta spec at -1.3. Thanks again!

 

you will have to keep on eye on the tire. if it gets excessive wear then you need to correct the problem sooner.