I am having issues with alignment on a 2015 Honda Fit. It has been in the shop on at least 3 occasions. The Beam was replaced at 16000 miles as well as the rear tires. Various dealerships have attempted to align the car but the rear measurements exceed the .24 specs that I believe are correct and safe for the vehicle. One dealership told me the car was unsafe to drive and others have mentioned that a car with the type of alignment issues I am having should be totalled. Instead of acknowledging that the car can't be fixed, Honda sent someone to the dealership I am working with to recallobrate their machine and have now lowered the standard for correct toe from .24 to .30. Under the redefined measurements, I am told that my car is now fixed. I am setting it for arbitration per the lemon laws of Tennessee. Any suggestions or advice on proof to present at the hearing?

 

The more research I do about the rear toe, the less concerned I am about it. Even the amount of + toe my car has shouldn't really increase tire wear significantly (.47L; .25R).

It's possible rear toe-in might be added to increase understeer and to keep it tracking straight under hard braking for safety reasons. It's definitely a consistent range of toe-in, usually less than .4 degrees on all the GK's that I have seen. That's not horrendous like people keep making it out to be. It is not only found on other makes of vehicles, but it seems to be an issue on the last two gen Fits as well. With the 100's of thousands of cars made, it would just seem odd that this would keep on happening if it was unintentional or an issue with safety.

I never see toe-out -- that would loosen the handling and create a safety issue. The mfr's would jump on that sh!t with a quickness if a safety issue opened them up to action. A slight amount of toe-in isn't dangerous, and most likely, is safer for the average Joe and Josette.

If you look at it this way, Honda produces the first gen car with hubs that can be shimmed. The next gen this feature is removed by permanently attaching the spindle. Did they do this to prevent people from F'ing with it?

This proves problematic for repair reasons, so the third gen the removable hub is reintroduced, but the surface area between the hub and axle is changed and now unsatisfactory for shimming (maybe possibly).

Another thing to consider: The accumulative deflection of suspension arms, bushings, wheels, tires, spindle, etc will allow enough deflection so that the wheels (all 4 if toe is 0) to toe out under heavy braking (front will toe in under acceleration) and this can create a wandering, squirming effect on handling. Almost all driving forces induce toe-out deflection to the rear wheels -- at least a little -- from their static setting.

I believe a little toe in on the rear of a Fit is good.

Problem: Why does Honda frequently produce a car that is out of spec with their own alignment data sheet? I'm trying really hard to give them the benefit of doubt here that this is not a QC issue for the rear axle makers. I really believe this is where the perceived problem lies. The specs are out of their own data sheet.If specs were +.3 or +.4 BEFORE anyone had this car there'd be no issue.

Another theory: The car companies are in cahoots w/ the tire companies and it is a planned obsolescence thing. No, this isn't a foil hat thing - engineering a service life into a product is real. The + toe could be engineered in to deliberately increase tire wear and make people buy tires a little sooner. You know, just a lil' bit out of spec--enough that can't be easily fixed or cheaply corrected. It will just have to force a driver to buy tires a little sooner, that's all.

And another theory: Honda has sloppy QC spanning over 3 generations of cars, as do other manufacturers. I don't believe this is what's happening though. I think the toe is put there for a reason, I'm just not sure why.

Could be a little of all of the above, or it could be something else?

Sorry, no data to back up my thinking, but you know, this is the internet and all. Who needs hard data?

 

You are definitely on the Honda bandwagon which is where I would like to be except I'm the one with the problem that was severe enough for one dealership to insist the car was too unsafe to drive. On tires with an approximate 50,000 mile life expectancy, 16,000 miles is unacceptable and takes away all of the savings that could be obtained from buying a more fuel efficient vehicle. I'm thinking the move to Mexico for the 2015 production may not have been such a good idea for the quality and reputation of Honda. Of course, all of this information is also on my car fax for this vehicle which reduces my resale or trade in value as well.

 

Your alignment is worse than mine? What are the numbers?

 

You can add Ezshims behind the rear hubs to correct toe and camber. No dealership will do this though.

get an alignment, adjust ezshim to compensate numbers, realign, done.

 

You go first, haha.

If it works ok, I'll do mine. I'd like mine around +.2 both sides. Let us know how it goes :-)

 

The FIT isn't the only new car with alignment issues . The Mitsubishi Mirage has them too . Go here for details , Rear Wheel Misaligned? - MirageForum.com .

 

i also have an alignment issue though already modified the suspension.

I am currently using BC Racing coilovers. Even with stiock camber bolts, front passenger tire is visually have more negative camber compare to the front driver side. Though in the alignment machine, both have equal amount of camber or at least +-.1 difference

I installed camber bolts and still the visual look is still the same. Problem is the baseline for the alignment is still for the previous gen and no update yet from Hunter (brand of aligning machine) for the new Fit.

Would anyone know the stock specs (camber, toe, caster etc) of a stock Fit? We might be able to configure the machine.

Thanks!

 

My car tracks straight and no adverse tire wear issues with Monroe Max-Air shocks in the rear for towing. ::knock on wood::


If I need to shim at any point you know I'll be sure to document it on here.


If anyone has the balls and knowhow to do the shims, its pretty easy. Check out my video for a quick look at how to remove the hub and spindle from the rear brake drum assembly.