Rear End Alignment Problem

[j404303]

j404303 j404303 is online now
Junior Member

Join Date: Dec 2005
Posts: 1
Re: 2007 Ridgeline Suggestion
Dear honda.

I urge all Honda ridgline owners who are having problems with their steering wheel alingnment to have a 4 wheel alignment done. The problem may not be found by doing a front end alingment alone. I have found that honda ridgelines may have a rear end alignment problem which im told by honda dealership is known to be an acceptable margin of error in thier books, and will not cover repairs to your new vehicle. So if your car pulls to one side or the other, or will not generally stay in the center, or maybe whey you apply the brakes it tends to pull to one side as you stop, just get out and take a look at your rear tires and if they seem inverted on the top and not straight vertical as they should be, congratulaitions your problem isint the steering ,brakes, or tires , it may just be a crooked rear end, Which will not be covered.
Read the following post i have written for futher clearification,and hopefully a reply by honda if they indeed care and read about what thier customers feel.

I love your products, and every time i get a chance to purchase a new product form your company i do, from your lawn mowers to your cars, and now your trucks. It is no news that when you came out with the ridgeline , I was in line for one of the first to hit Arizona. Since then i have run into a few questions.
Why do the Honda dealers wait till you find something wrong with your ridgeline and complain about before they fix it. Why do your dealers say that they Have no knowledge about the problem tsb's, and then i have to produce one before they will fix the problem. The dealers also say that tsb's are really not their responsibility to repair, but they will fix tsb problems upon request.
I have had the water in the passenger side, the water enter in the back seat durring rains took two trips to have repaired, the wind noise from the windshield which has not been corrected as of yet, the trunk seal gasket falling off which is on order to be corrected, paint scratches on purchase that would not be fixed, the door locks that dont open as printed in the manual, damaged center console that took three trips to get it replaced. Pinstripining and clear door edge coating pealing off which your dealers will not address. But by far t he newst and worst of all Alignment. I have discovered that my new honda which now has 3thousand miles, has a rear end that is not lined up true in center. ON inspection of a possible alignment problem ,I was told at the honda dealership, that the rear drivers side tire is centered , but that the cameber is off postive by 7 degrees, and that on the passsenger side rear tire is also centered but also off 5 degrees positive on camber. I was also told that it would take putting it on a frame machine to bend it back where it sould be. I was also told that honda has a margin of error on their specs that allows for this, and for that reason honda will not authorize correction of the trueness of alignment.
I believe that missalignment may be due to shipping, and probably not a manufacturing problem. On examination of outher new unsold ridglines on the dealers lot i noticed the same inverted rear tires. My question is to honda are you willing to let your buyers learn on their own that they are buying new vehicles with crooked rear ends, of which they will end up paying to have fixed. I belive that soonner or later other buyers will be complainging about aligment problems, and when they go beyond a front end aligment and get a 4 wheel alignment they will discover that the pulling to oneside is not a front wheel problem but a rear wheel problem.
I as you honda Persons responsible for your answer to my qestion, Is it true that you are aware, and have a margin of error set aside that allows honda to not fix a problem with their ridgeline alignment. I have heard of this occuring with outher companies vehicles in transport, but they did resposibly repair said vehicle for their customers as it was discovered. Why does honda with its reputation for having the best motorized equipment on the road allow this to happen?

I do not like the idea of just buying a new ridgeline to find out that i bought a vehicle with esentually a bent frame aligment problem. Is there anything that can be done to correct this problem , before i decide that it was a big mistake to buy Hondas first generation truck.

Jose
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[swampler]

Jose,

Welcome to the ROC. I haven't noticed an alignment problem. Hope you get yours resolved.

[Lingered_I]

Can you explain what you mean by "noticed...inverted rear tires"?
The toe in for the rear wheels is 0 +/- 2mm (or 1/16 in). The camber for the rear wheels is -0 deg 30 minutes +/- 45 minutes. You're seeing 5 and 7 degree cambers? That's way off. The rear camber cannot be adjusted. If it's off, the suspension should be checked for damage.

[j404303]

This is what the dealer told me . I was told that it was seven degress off, which would equate to 7centemeters diffrence on the right side, and on the left side it was 5 degrees off which equates to 5cenemeters diffrence on passengers side. In either words the top of the tires are tillted inward from the top, and tilted outward from the bottom virtically like / \ this. if your looking at it from the rear of the truck. I also so the same on the new ridglines in their new car sale lot. The shop forman told me that it was withing spec of hondas margin of error for that vehicle and that honda would not take responsibility for repairs. oh and i did not get the print out sheet of results, so i cant be any clearer.

[Webwader]

Are you sure you have the correct figures? 5 and 7 degrees would be very noticeable to the naked eye, and if it were positive camber the wheels would look like \ /. In any case they would be way out of spec and nowhere near Honda's "margin of error". I would request the printout from the alignment machine and if it is not within specifications it should be repaired, barring any damage done post delivery.

[Lingered_I]

The only time I'd expect to see 5 or 7 degrees, or more, would be when the vehicle was placed back on the ground after being lifted, and then not being subsequently moved to allow the suspension to settle. It's highly unlikely that would be the case with every or even any vehicle on the lot.

[j404303]

What i have found in past expierence is that this can occurr during transport of a vehicle, like when a vehicle is secured with tow hooks, which if applied incorrectly to the rear can bend them, and cause them to pull to one side as if aligment problem is the cause, it has occured in fords and chevys etc. for some time now. In fact saturn cars are so effected that it is forbidden to tow, and must be trailered with tow hooks checked after every tow to see if rear end damaged has occured from the actual tow.....As a former tow truck co. owner...i can tell you that a man can bend any veh rear end out of position if tow hooks are incorrectly applied. Now as far as my ridgeline goes I will have to try and get a copy of the alignment stats and get back with you. But it did not take the shop forman but a minute to see the tilted wheels / \ ,
but says that it is probably an illusion caused by the fender splash guard causing it to look worse than it is. Even though he has told me that it is 7centemeters off on the drivers side and 5 centemeters on the passenger side rear. Whether it was durring aseembly, or during railroad transport or tow, or what ever , I still believe that a new vehicle should have a good aligment or they should not be sold to the public as a non salvage. I also believe that honda should stand behind their vehicle, or face the future litigation when someone pays the ultimate price when an accident proves that their vehichle was even remotely resposible for the cause, and they new it, margin of error or not!. I have also looked up alignment threads on this forum and have found that i am not the only one with aligment problems. I just note that they have not had their rear end alignment checked for the cause. I will be contacting the dealership tomorrow and ask for a copy of the alignment results. Then decide how to persue.

[kanji]

yes, i've noticed that my RL slightly wan't to go to the right when driving on flat level surface like a smooth freeway. When you going like 40mph and let the stearing wheel go it seems like the my RL wants to goto the right, and have to hold the steering wheel to the left to keep it straight. Honda is willing to replace my bumper since it was damage when i bought it, The Service Manager requested that i make a list and make an appointment one for the bumper and the other for the small tidbits like 4wheel alignment, small rattle or tapping on the front passanger side area, hood isn't aligned proplerly meaning large gap on left side and barely any gap on the right side of the hood. Etc...thanx for posting the alignement problem, i thought my alignement is off or something.
If the alignement is off, this means that the tire will wear faster if it isn't fix in the long term. Can this be a problem when going off road light duty?

[j404303]

I believe in the long run yes it will cause the tires to wear quicker, but mostly the vehicle will drive a little froggy, you know pulling to one side then the other espeically on more uneven surfaces. I dont think you will feel it much off roading,, becausse you will be going alot slower, and the ground is much softer. so it wont be as noticable in the dirt. Let me know how your aligment goes. be sure you get a 4wheel allignment, and if there is a problem, have them take you back to see the diffrence on the vehicle. In my opinion honda dealers have been trained well to treat you nice, until the sales over, then when you go to have something done its on you to bring the tsb, or proof that there is a problem before they are willing to admit that they have the burnden to repair it at their cost. I have even over heard some sevice advisors at diffrent locations admittedly telling customers that its not covered, until they insist, then oh hey guess what majically it suddenly is covered. Dont get me wrong, i dont think that all of them do this, but by my own experience the smiles somtimes hide the truth. You would be supprised at the power of a tsb in your hand, I thank the people on this forum especiall ladyridge who posted so much info that got most of my problems taken care of, because when i confronted them with a prolem, they said they never heard of it, and never heard of any tsb's , they dont get that info. Gee i guess honda relies on the customer to educate their employees on tsb's . I know it sounds sarcastic but at this time, im not feeling too good about the way they do business. I really dont blame honda. I do not think honda even knows whats really going on , on the dealership level. When i told them i had water comming in my vehicle, and to call honda to check it, they did not want honda to know a thing about it, and rather made tsb repair so they would not be called? Well anyway good luck.

[LadyRidge]

I alos have had a forceful "pulling" to the left recently. I'll keep a sharp eye on these posts for sure. Thanks again Jose.