On at least two past wheel alignments at Firestone on my 2006 Civic, the rear camber is near or out of factory specs. The negative camber is at least 2 degrees on both sides. The repair shop said there is no adjustment for the rear camber, but that this will affect my tire wear. Sure enough, I had to replace my tires again due to inner tread wear on all tires and particularly 'cupping' on the rear tires. The dealer would not rotate the tires on one of my last service appointments since the tread wear and cupping was so bad. I just hit 117,000 miles and paid $450 to get all four tires replaced for the 2nd time. Not sure if this is normal.

The idea that the rear camber is so off, and that it can't be adjusted bothered me. So I started searching online and found many other Civic owners with the same problem. There was even a service bulletin apparently dealing with this: TSB 08-001. I'm not sure what to do next. If there is a fix for this, is it effective? How much will I have to pay for this fix? I love my Civic, but I'm super bummed about this issue...

I have had issues with my 2006 Coup ever since new with uneven rear tire wear. I thought it was a alignment issue. After around 10,000 miles the rear tires began to roar and vibrate since they were cuffed on all 3 sets I have purchased. My Honda has 87000 miles on it now. I suffered with this issue rather than replace the tires each time.. and the tires would ware prematurely and had to be replaced more often than normal. I read this blog and found out about the control arms and placed a complaint with American Honda customer service. I later found out that this is an issue that Honda has an internal memo about. I requested that since this was a known issue that Honda knows about and since I have had 3 sets of tires go bad prematurely I requested for them to replace the rear control arms free and give me a full alignment free. American Honda would not initially agree to this until the car was inspected. It was the control arms. American Honda Customer Service paid my Honda Dealership in Moon Township PA, near Pittsburgh the $517 bill to Inspect, replace and align the wheels in full. How about that! I know many do not get this kind of treatment. Even the service department was surprised at the dealership.

FYI if you want to avoid dealing with Honda. you can do this job very easily if mechanically inclined. The control arms are only $45.00 each at Rockauto.com; and to have an independent mechanic install them would only take him 1 hour charge at most. each control arm only has 3 bolts holding them on. then have it aligned.. but mine was only out very minimally after install... Good luck. Mine was good with American Honda. But I knew about the internal memo when I made my request.

My tires were wearing out prematurely (just one year old). I had my brakes and tire rotation done by a local Honda dealer and afterwards I took the car back as the ride was awful and they brakes didn't feel right. They said it wasn't the brakes, it was the tires were worn unevenly and my rear upper control arms were shot and I would need new ones and new tires (probably at LEAST a thousand dollar repair bill). Upon doing research, I found the service bulletin issued regarding the control arms, promptly called Honda America and filed a complain. After much arguing my point, they agreed to replace the control arms and give me 2 new tires (since my tires already had a years worth of mileage on them). DO NOT GIVE UP! Call Honda America and argue until you get satisfaction....YOU WILL! Do not settle...do NOT give in. This was not the first time I had a problem with the car where I called Honda America and got the problem fixed (there was a service bulletin issued that time as well). Honda obviously knows that there are problems and if you stand your ground, they WILL make good.

I bought this vehicle new and when I tried to get the problem resolved, I was told it was out of warranty. I was out of warranty long before the service bulletin for this problem came out. I should have complain before about my tires but I assumed I was going through the tires so quickly because I have a manual transmission. I believe Honda should be responsible for this problem, I bought a new vehicle for peace of mind and not to replace parts that Honda screwed up in the first place. I am sorry to say I will not be buying a Honda again, this was my first and now my last all because of their customer service.

Our 2006 Honda Civic EX has the noisy & cupped rear tires as mentioned by so many other owners. The tire store wouldn't rotate them as a result. Worse yet, the tire store was anxious to sell us a new set (these only have about 10K on them) but I'm glad I found the real issue. Now to work either through the dealer, class action, or file complaints with the IL Attorney General, and NTSB. I did this regarding the faulty sun visors and after enough of us made noise we got results.

So for now we're driving the car with the cupped tires and dealing with the noise while we try to get results from Honda and beyond. Guess we won't be buying Hondas again after owning 3 previously.... Wake up Honda!

Update from Mar 15, 2012: Follow up: After visiting our Honda dealer I was told that Honda would not pay for any aspect of the upper trailing arm repair as indicated in Honda TSB 08-001 which was estimated at $585 plus a new set of tires. After 5 of them, no more new Honda's for us! How a major car company can get away with making a car that needs a new set of tire every year is beyond me. And one look through their current product line will tell you that Honda has lost their design edge with their clunky, cage like vehicles. Next stop the Class Action Suit!

Update from May 1, 2013: Follow up #2: Shortly after we reported this issue we decided to dump the 2006 Civic. It was basically "designed to fail" as the camber was built at the factory at an angle to eat tires every 7500 miles. If you keep your Civic and don't change these rear upper trailing arm parts you had better budget plenty of $$$ for tires! We traded it on a new Prius and never looked back.

I've been using dealers pretty often, once or twice a year to check my car up, especially before the winter season.

I did the service D, which changed the spark plugs in the engine about a half year ago before the control-arm breakdown. Afterward, I went to the dealer to get my car checked up due to an oil change and the severe rattling noise coming from the tires.

They told me I had to change the rear upper control arms, along with the tires (that I newly bought 1 and half years ago). I ended up changing the rear upper control arms and all 4 tires + alignment + oil change service. And it cost me $1900.

This was pretty upsetting after spending ~$1000 for the service D about a half year ago. Honda Canada credited $500 to my account at the dealer get my car repaired, covering the parts and labor for the rear control arms. I had to use this credit at the dealer, which wasn't really good at spotting problems and repairing them in my opinion. (Richmond Hill Honda)

After experiencing left rear tire wear repeatedly , buing new tires often and and 4 wheel alignments that never seemed to 'stick' I took my Honda to a local sports car alignment guru. He informed me that the left rear was out of camber from the factory by a significant percentage and that I would always experience tire wear and eventual tire 'thump' regardless of how often i rotated my tires. He did say that there may be a 'fix' using Acura parts, but I've never looked into it, as it seemed a dubious fix for the cost involved.

Update from Jun 3, 2012: This continues to be a problem. I buy tires for this car (wide performance tires are the only option) at a considerable expense on a regular basis.

PLEASE SEE HONDA TSB 08-001

I own three Honda Civics; an '05, '06 and a new '12. My rear tires on my '06 were making a roaring noise and vibrating at highway speeds. After putting 15,000 miles on it (bought used with 64,404 miles on it), my tires wore out due to uneven tire wear at the inner edges. Fortunately by chance, just before we embarked on a 1500 mile trip, I just accidentally happened to notice that the belts were showing on the inner edge of my right rear tire. This was not readily noticeable from the outside of the car, until I crawled under the back end of my car to check on something else. From the appearance of the outer edges and mid-sections of my tires, I never would have guessed that my tires were in need of immediate replacement and that this was an accident just waiting to happen! After inspecting the other tires on my car, I ended up replacing a total of three tires. However, this will not correct the problem with my tire-eating car, since the rear upper control arms require replacement, as outlined in Honda TSB 08-001.

I went to the local Honda dealer and was informed by a service rep that they handle these claims on a case-by-case basis. Since I did not save my worn out tires and due to the current mileage on my car, I decided that it would probably be a waste of time for me to try to get Honda to replace the control arms at their expense. After reviewing TSB 08-001, it is my opinion that Honda should do the right thing and initiate an immediate safety recall to correct this condition.

It is completely unacceptable for any car that has less than 100,000 miles on it to eat tires up due to the non-adjustable rear camber on this vehicle. Premature tire wear due to the rear upper control arm configuration appears to be a very common issue with these 06 & 07 Civic models, as indicated by the number of complaints and by the large number of aftermarket adjustable rear upper control arms/camber kits that are currently available.

My Civic is currently parked in the driveway, as I cannot afford to pay for a new set of tires for it every 15,000 miles!

I JOINED THE CLASS ACTION & AM FILING A SAFETY COMPLAINT AT safercar.gov

My 2006 Civic was just diagnosed with the control arm issue as well. My wife purchased the car new with an after market warranty from Honda. The car has 85,000 miles on it. I was hearing what I thought was a failing rear bearing when driving at speeds over 35mph. I took it to Honda expecting them to replace the bearing as there is a recall on the issue.

Honda called and said it is the rear control arm: it would cost something like $400 plus the cost of new tires. The TSB out by Honda explains that the control arm was created with a design flaw, but Honda refuses to recall it... why should they fix something that is their fault???

Anyway, the BS extended warranty my wife bought would not cover the cost because they blamed Honda's design flaw and said the part is not broken. So, naturally the dealer tried to spin it as a warranty problem and the warranty company spun it to Honda.

Also, my wife had to replace the rear drum brakes BEFORE the front pads at 34,000 miles.. this is UNHEARD OF: also due to the control arm defect. We just had the POS visor replaced under warranty. Now, I am waiting for the engine block to crack!

So let's see, a casting problem on the engine block, control arm flaws, visor design flaws... this is the 6th Honda I have owned: I also own a Honda lawnmower and powerwasher.

Looks like I will be trading the Civic in for another make that A. is reliable and B. will back their product when they produce a POS.

It was a good run Honda!

Now, off to research another make.

PS: Our other car; a 2009 Hyundai Sonata has 0 problems with a much better factory warranty... and cost $4,000 less than a lesser-equipped Accord.

Is Hyundai of 2010 the Honda of the 1980's?????... we know Honda is no longer what is used to be!

I have bought 4 new tires for my 2006 Honda Civic, 4 used tires (I could not afford new tires again, so I bought retreads) had an alignment done twice all in the 3 years I have owned it. After talking to my mechanic today he said I need 4 new tires again (the last 2 were bought in December 2010 and have about 25,000 miles on them) and an alignment as well as rear shocks.

Decided to do some research because of all the cars I have owned, I have never gone thru tires like this.

Now I find that there is an issue with the rear upper control arm! And no recall by Honda.