Hello all.

I took my Fit in for an oil change today. It has about 17k on the odometer. They told me I also needed an alignment because my right rear tire was cupping, and recommended a rotation and balance along with that. Their quote for that maintenance was $122. Is there any way for me to check and see if I need this work done, and they're not just trying to sell me unnecessary work? I would do the oil changes myself, but my apartment contract prohibits auto work on the premises.

-joshua

 

if you never had an alignment done in that 17K, is best to get one because your alignment will be off during that time.

 

Why would it be off that quick-17K is nothing as far as I am concerned, my fit seems to be wearing out the tires quickly also.

 

you can always bring it in to a tire shop that do aligments and ask if you need an alignment. Last time i went to big o tires to have my tires mounted i ask if they can check if i need an alignment.
i don't know how your road condition are but here in SF there alot of pot hole and dips in the road i know during that 17k my car will be out of alignment.

 

Well, I paid for the alignment, balance, and rotation. $122 later and they say the Fit has a fixed rear axle and cannot be adjusted, but it is bent and the right rear alignment is off. What can I do about this? I don't want to wear through tires because of a factory defect. I'm going to try to call a local Honda dealership, but am not getting my hopes up as the service reviews are not great for the dealership here.

 

ok, so this shop sounds like bs to me. I work for a pep boys and we do allignments etc all the time. Cupping is when your struts are bad and the tire tread is worn very unevenly to the point where each tread block will have a high spot that goes to a low spot and back up to a high spot. it looks kind of like a wave pattern. an alignment wont fix cupping, to fix that you need new struts and possibly springs. at 17k i doubt you have cupping. if your tires are worn unevenly across the tread (the inside tread wears quicker than the outside tread) then you have an alignment issue.

the fit can have a 4 wheel alignment no problem. it has the same type of rear end as most other front wheel drive cars. its not a fixed axel, in fact it doesnt even have rear axle. it has two independent hubs. i would go back to that shop and ask for my money back if i were you. a 90$ alignment means a 4 wheel alignment, any less and it isnt worth 90$.

so to sum up, if your tires are worn unevenly from the inside out or vice versa, you needed the alignment. if they are worn in a wavey uneven pattern you need struts. either way find a new shop.

edit: also, you should never put bad tires on the powertrain axle. if your rear tires were cupping / uneven wear then they should remain on the rear, otherwise you can damage the transmission.

 

The right thing to do is to find out what part is bent or worn, and replace it so as to bring your alignment back into factory spec. But if it's only a little bit out of spec, an aftermarket shim from SPC would do the trick. Do you have a print-out of how much out of alignment that corner is?

Cupping can't be blanket blamed on struts (of which our rear suspension has none). It could be the shock, but other parts of the suspension can cause it as well - bushings, wheel bearing, ball joint, etc. In (very?) rare cases it might be the spring.

The shop he took it to is correct, the Fit's rear suspension is not adjustable. It can be tweaked, however, with adjustable shims like the ones SPC sells.


For the most part I agree - a shop that sells you on a 4 wheel alignment for this car is a little bit of a gouge since only front toe is adjustable from the factory. But in this case they were diagnosing bad tire wear on a rear tire . . . so more of a gray area, I guess.

 

I notice a few people have had alignment issues for the rear axel. I was just told today that I need a new one which will cost a couple thousand. It is only a year old and 28,000 on the clock..can't think of anything that would have caused it to be that far out of aligment. The mechanic said it is a poor design.

 

Cupping is often caused by a bad shock. Cupping is a repeating series of cupped out depressions in the tire tread around the whole tire. And it can be a tire construction defect also.
Its not usually a result of poor alignment.