Hey there! Brand spankin' new user and first post here. This one's kind of a doozey.

I've had my Fit for almost 4 years now. I love my car. We've been through a lot together. I've never had any major problems with it. The only thing is that I've always had to get tire changes pretty often, but I never really thought twice about it.

I recently went on a long road trip of sorts from California to Arizona. Beforehand, I took my car into a Les Schwab for a basic car inspection. I've gotten these done each time I get my oil changed at my local Honda dealership. (This is important later.) But, I was in a time crunch so I took it to Les Schwab. They told me my rear axle was majorly bent and they asked me if I had ever been in a car accident. I drive like a grandma and I take extremely good care of my car, so I was shocked they even asked me that.

Les Schwab told me it had to get fixed because it is wearing out my rear tires faster than usual. When they told me that, everything started to make sense as to why I've been having to get my tires changed all the time. Les Schwab told me they would not be able to fix the issue, and that I would have to go to a specialty shop to get it fixed. At the time, I thought it would be a quick fix I could get taken care of, but they assured me that it wouldn't be an issue with my roadtrip at least.

So once I got back home, I called McCoy's Tires to see if they would be able to fix it. I was in the shop for ten minutes before they told me my axle was "UNFIXABLE". That was scary to hear. They also asked me if I had ever been in a major collision, and I again told them no. They were pretty concerned about it because it was so bad. So, I'm freaking out, but they told me it was so bad that I had to take it back to the dealership to get it fixed because it had to have been a manufacturer error since I had never been in an accident.

Now I'm wondering how my Honda dealership has NEVER come across this issue in the ten or so times I've had to go in for an oil change. They do a car inspection to make sure my car is up to par every time I go in, so now I am suspicious.

What I need to know is if I have a case. I called my dealership to see if they can get me an appointment to get this looked at, but they said if they found the issue to be a problem that I am responsible for, they would charge me $200 alone for the appointment. If they deem the problem their fault, then they would fix the issue with no charge. I want to be 100% sure that when I go in, they are able to see that there is no way this axle was damaged due to my own driving.

I have been told that I would need to do heavy research before I make an appointment with the dealership so that I have a strong case against them. So far, I have found some forums discussing this issue, but none of them seem to be as serious as mine. Please let me know if these numbers are so bad that it would be PLAINLY OBVIOUS that it wasn't my fault. I really really realllllyyyyyy do not want to have to pay $200 for them to come back and tell me it was my fault since I know my Honda dealership would most likely not want to foot the bill to get this fixed.

Here are the 2 numbers both Les Schwab and McCoy's Tires have given me:

Rear Total Toe: 0.58 / 0.65
Rear Left Toe: 0.41 / 0.52

All other specs seem to be in good order. If you are able to give me ANY information about this issue, or if you know of any other cases where this is common, please please give me any information that you can. I am worried that my Honda dealership will take advantage of the fact that I am not car savvy.

Thank you so so much. You will be a great help to me.

 

Welcome. The big unknown is whether this was caused by an ill-fitting part or installation, or due to external trauma, like an accident, pothole, or something hitting the undercarriage.

You can ask Honda corporate for assistance. They will probably counter that you never brought it in for that specific problem (bent axle), especially not before the warranty expired, and they can't tell from a cursory inspection (like what you get with an oil change) whether there's a major issue. You say you drive like a grandma, but they say you could have hit a pothole or something hit your rear wheels at speed, so it's not on them.

I'd still ask Honda corporate for assistance before proceeding. Unless you can prove that the bent axle is their fault and not yours, you probably don't have much to go on, but it's worth a shot.

 

Thank you thank you! I will definitely call Honda Corporate for further assistance since my local dealership has not been the most helpful with this issue. From those specs, are you able to tell how bad the bend is? I told the mechanics at both shops that I may have driven over potholes a few times, but never anything major, and they said a pothole or a curb or a speed bump would not make that kind of damage. Are you able to tell if that's accurate from those numbers??

Again, seriously thank you for responding. I don't know why calling Honda Corporate never crossed my mind!

 

I would say, look for a junkyard Fit with a good rear axle. Rear toe L/R should be (almost) 0.

 

i think it's doubtful honda will help you out on this ,looks like you'll have to foot the bill on a replacement .just curious , with the toe out like that , you never felt anything
going on with the steering , especially on the highway ?

 

My car was toed to the inside on the right rear tire pretty bad. I installed urethane bushings and rigid collars for performance. I also shimmed both rear hubs to get the toe I desired since there is no adjustment in the rear. Good luck!

 

I have to be cynical in regards to believing you will be able to get support from Honda. I hope I'm wrong. But with a nearly 4 year old vehicle, out of warranty, I think it's a very uphill battle. All you can do is say nothing ever happened to cause that type of damage, but all Honda has to say is something did, 4 years away from the factory, it's scenario vs. scenario, and nobody on Honda;s side is going to want to pay for a new axle,
Maybe I'm wrong and they'll look at the damage and side with you. But in my experience that's not how it usually works out. However...

You can try. And you should. How many set's of tires have you bought? I think you could show the frequency of needed tires as evidence that the problem has existed since the start.

Don't think there is much leverage in wondering why the dealership didn't catch the problem with Oil Change inspections. I get those every time I get my Honda serviced, and how thorough they are is suspect They seem designed to be just thorough enough to recommend future services-$$, but not really thorough enough to catch any warranty issues that would be fixed for free.

Where did you have tires replaced? If an axle issue was going to be caught, it's when the tires were being replaced. A good shop might of noticed the wear on your tires, and your frequency of replacement, and they should of been suspicious.

Anyway, tough situation. I think you are just going to need axle replacement.
I also would talk more to McCoy's Tires, and see what they mean by "unfixable". I think they mean, not fixable through adjustment. It's obviously fixable through replacement. But I'd also want a clearer explanation of what they are seeing when they are looking at your unfixable axle.


And finally....assuming through all this the vehicle was bought new, and you are the original owner. We're not dealing with a used vehicle or a salvage title?
If either of those are the case then don't pass go and just get ready to buy a new axle.

 

How many miles are on the car? In the 4 years you've owned it, have you ever had an alignment done? It would be good to have to document its history.

I forgot the member's name, but I recall he was able to get his rear beam replaced under warranty as it was way out of spec. He did have to go through a set of tires to realize something was not right.

 

if the route of SPC Toe and Camber SHIMS comes into play.... contact me. I have a brand new set for sale

 

My ‘15 Fit wore half the tread off the right rear tire in 8,000 miles. The dealer told me after inspection that the axle was “out of spec” and couldn’t be aligned. They replaced the axle under warranty but wouldn’t replace the tire.

I purchased the car new and it was never in an accident either.

 

Poor quality control from the Honda supplier who makes the axle.

 

Fixed it for you.