I have an 08 type S and I needed to get new tires because my tires on the front were wore down unevenly towards the inside of each tire. It was so bad that I could see the metal wires. The guy at the tire store said I needed new tires and an alignment. So I got 4 new tires and then I went to get an alignment and the guy said the alignment was one issue but there is another issue with the caster. The measurements before alignement were:

Left Front: Right Front:
Camber: -0.8 0.0
Caster 3.4 2.5
Toe 0.06 -.14

Left Rear: Right Rear:
Camber: -0.9 -1.7
Toe -0.15 0.09

After alignment the measurements were:
Left Front: Right Front:
Camber: -0.8 0.0
Caster 3.4 2.5
Toe 0.00 0.03

Left Rear: Right Rear:
Camber: -0.9 -1.7
Toe : 0.00 0.01

I don't want my tires to end up like my old ones:








The guy said I need new ball joints in the front and new toe arms in the left. Has anyone else had issues like this? When driving home my car was going hard left when letting go of the steering wheel. I also need to hold the steering wheel a little right in order for the car to go straight sometimes. Sometimes it goes straight by itself. This is really pissing me off. Any advice from y'all on how to fix this issue?

 

Get a second opinion, there is no such thing as a toe arm ?? maybe a tie rod ? and ball joints are not very common, compliance arm bushings are common, I work at a Honda dealer and we check suspension for free and give you an estimate for any repairs needed, there are a lot of shady mechanics out there be careful

 

the moment you mentioned the mechanic said "there's something wrong with the caster" it raised a red flag to me... as far as i know (i could be wrong) our vehicles (honda/acura FWD) dont have adjustable caster, therefore that's the last thing that should had came out of his mouth, like the post above me, get a second opinion... my adjustable ball joints are busted but thats bcus im slammed and running -2.5 camber in the front..

 

Caster won't wear tires & isn't adjustable, go smack that "mechanic" & smack again for toe arm comment. I'd listen to others, take somewhere else, get second set of eyes to check over, most shops do free check ups on things like that

 

As others said, changes in caster wouldn't wear out your tires any quicker. It is out of spec camber and toe that will have you going through tires quickly.

 

Yeah I know the caster is not adjustable however it was on the edge of the spec and in order to move it back to 0 I would need adjustable control arms. What the mechanic was saying was in order to fix that I would need to change some of the parts so that caster can become adjustable. The toe is currently at 0 so hopefully my tires won't wear out like last time. I still have to hold the steering wheel a little right in order to go straight. I can tell by lining up the A emblem on the wheel isn't straight; so maybe the guy that did the alignment didn't keep the wheel straight when he tried to fix the issue.

 

hmm... no offense to that guy but I think you need a new alignment place. I used to go to Discount Tire for alignments because they had this 3 year unlimited alignments for $XXX. I went in once and the alignment was done in like 15 minutes...

I now go to a guy that charges almost $100 per alignment but damn is he a perfectionist.. takes about 30-40 minutes and he is VERY meticulous about dialing everything down just right, zeroing toe, going back and forth multiple times to ensure his work is pristine and perfect. He also ensures to center the steering wheel too.

"You get what you pay for" and maybe this is applies here too. Second what the others are saying though, Caster shouldn't be affecting tire wear as much as toe. Now that your toe is fixed, it should be significantly better.

 

I still have to hold the wheel a little right to go straight. If I let go, it veers left. So yeah I might need to find the perfectionist to fix this issue. I got lifetime alignment at Firestone so I might go to a different one and see what happens.