jztam

Dear TCC'ers,
Ninja lamppost hip-checked my Right rear quarter last week. Now the RR wheel is noticably toed-In about 3/4" by eyeballing it, from front of rim to rear of rim. Right Lower Control Arm is visually bent, compared to the Left side. The expected deficiencies in responsiveness are safely liveable until I know how to attack the repair. No highway speeds for a while. Having researched the previous posts and the Haynes docs, I'm wondering about the order of operations to fix this extreme toe-in problem, or scrapping the car. So, here is the draft:
1. Penetrating oil the fasteners, hit them repeatedly to encourage the oil to pentrate Into the crusty threads. Wait a day and repeat.
1.1 Replace the bent LCA, following Haynes Page 10-9. Copper anti-seize new hardware. Snug down LCA fasteners, just snug.
Q1.1 Do I need a spring compressor for this LCA removal?

2. Now, the compensator/trailing arm adjustment(s). Starting from bow to stern, loosen the mounting bolt at the compensator arm.
2.1 Attempt a toe-OUT adjustment with a helper and some long sticks. Put a straight edge on the rim to see what effect this procedure had.

3. Decide if more time and parts are worth it.

Please advise on gotchas, extra bits/tools, cost effectiveness.
BACKGROUND INFO:
1993 Civic Sir
+rear anti-sway bar
+stock rear height AFAIK
+stock suspension in rear AFAIK other than the anti-sway bar.
+rear stock discs and calipers
+big honking dents at right rear quarter panel, about 3/4" in compound curves from Ninja lamppost defence. I cannot tell if any of the mount point have been compromised at this point in time.

Please, thanks, cheers.
Jordan

MPR

You don't need to compress the spring to remove the LCA. Just zip off the 3 bolts. (that is, if they all come out without protest...)

Something I noticed in your description: You mentioned the LCA is bent, which that alone would cause excessive positive camber... Also would cause the wheel to tow out, not tow in. In that case if you have tow in, there might be other damaged components. I suggest you check ALL the suspension components on that corner, including the trailing arm, compensator, and upper control arm.

Hope you can fix it. Good luck.

tr1p

Like mpr suggested it could be other damages . Your control arm might be visually bent but it shouldn't cost a toe in. I had a similar issue when I did my rear disk swap I ended up with a bent trailing arm, with my comp arm adjustment maxed out (toe out side) . My quick fix solution was a toe kit at optionjdm for $120 to correct the toe in, or spend $140 on swapping my old trailing arms back. I ended up swappin the trailing arm, I couldn't bare the fact I was riding on a bent trailing arm. As for my future suspension mod that might haunt me down in the end. 3/4" is too much for a toe in that's like -1.85 deg. Where a factory spec toe is +/- 0.15 deg.


If your comp arms are highly siezed, good luck lol, I spent well over an hour getting the stupid bolt out. Honestly a toe kit can fix that and it's one good reason to ugrade those damn bushings/tune your suspension like in forza lollllll