2008 Civic suspension changes...

[honda93]

From my secret contact(I have cleaned this up a little for ease of viewing on a message board, but the original content has NOT changed)...

2008 Civic changes...

* New rear upper arm that decreases the amount of rear camber from -1.5* to -0.75*.

* For all 2DR models the rear spring has changed to the 4DR spring (lower rate).

* DX models now use the LX/EX Coupe (SVA) damper, not the Si Coupe (SVB) damper.

This was all done because of the camber change that was necessary to prevent abnormal tire wear (especially prevalent on Canadian market cars). The camber change caused less rear grip, so the engineers had to soften the rear... Perfect example of Honda's insurance lawyers defeating the engineers I suppose. However, my contact has driven both back to back and said that while the new setup is definitely more conservative, its not horrible. He bets that most drivers would not be able to pickup the difference.

BTW, I still don't know if the new rear upper arm has a unique part number or if it will use the existing number.

Anthony "Mario" Crea
NNJR-SCCA

[cracker099]

What model does the does this apply too? (New upper arm)

[honda93]

ALL

Anthony "Mario" Crea
NNJR-SCCA

[twistedframe]

Good info! I hope it is a whole new part number, b/c otherwise if we were to mess up our rear arms there would be no way to get an older style right? That and they would be replacing rear arms as a set if you were to get into an accident. Either way I would just the adjustable ones if it came down to it.

[Holland]

I could never figure out why they put so much camber in the rear....???

[aki]

Less rear camber would put less understeer, not more. If anything having that 1.5 deg camber would prevent a car from spinning out.

[twistedframe]

Originally Posted by aki

Less rear camber would put less understeer, not more. If anything having that 1.5 deg camber would prevent a car from spinning out.

i understand what you are saying but you both mean the same thing. More negative camber (less positive camber) will produce less understeer. What they are doing is putting more camber in there so there is less negative camber or more camber. So this will produce more understeer. I hope that made sense.

[aki]

Originally Posted by twistedframe

More negative camber (less positive camber) will produce less understeer.

My point was the opposite--having more negative camber on the rears would produce *more* understeer.

[BLouIsGod]

great info

[LucasBlack]

Originally Posted by twistedframe

What they are doing is putting more camber in there so there is less negative camber or more camber. So this will produce more understeer. I hope that made sense.

less neg. camber equals closer to zero camber in the rear...this would produce less understeer - to an extent.

[FIJIROB]

With the exception of TPMS - this is the only change I've heard of for the 2008 Civics. (Oh yeah - I hear there is an EX-L version now)...

Anything else new for 2008?

[hoanger]

* DX models now use the LX/EX Coupe (SVA) damper, not the Si Coupe (SVB) damper.


So does the DX/DX-G not use the same suspension components as the EX and LX? This concerns me since I have just ordered function form coilovers for the FG1 and I know it fits EX/LX but now i'm not sure it fits the DX-G

["Ridge"Racer]

so by all rights, this new .5 camber arm would be a cheaper alternative to camber kits for the rear for lowered cars, correct???

[MDO677]

So would anybody know why it was only prevalent on the Canadian models?

depending on price I might definatly look into this to get rid of the horrid amount of rear camber I have (-2.0)

[TampaSi07]

Originally Posted by LucasBlack

less neg. camber equals closer to zero camber in the rear...this would produce less understeer - to an extent.

Hence they softened the springs to keep the lawyers happy (read inducing understeer).

[honda93]

Originally Posted by hoanger

So does the DX/DX-G not use the same suspension components as the EX and LX? This concerns me since I have just ordered function form coilovers for the FG1 and I know it fits EX/LX but now i'm not sure it fits the DX-G

No, because the DX's lack a rear sway bar, Honda put the Si shocks (SVB) on the DX to keep its performance somewhat consistent to the LX and EX which have rear bars, although they are small (11mm on Coupes).

Anthony "Mario" Crea
NNJR-SCCA

[hoanger]

Originally Posted by honda93

No, because the DX's lack a rear sway bar, Honda put the Si shocks (SVB) on the DX to keep its performance somewhat consistent to the LX and EX which have rear bars, although they are small (11mm on Coupes).

Anthony "Mario" Crea
NNJR-SCCA

so this confuses me. did you answer "no" to whether the coilovers will fit or not or.......

[honda93]

Originally Posted by hoanger

so this confuses me. did you answer "no" to whether the coilovers will fit or not or.......

They'll fit. The chassis themselves, meaning all the mounting points and such are the same whether the model is the DX or the Si.

[hoanger]

Ah i see, thanks a lot honda93. +rep

[UR2SLOW1]

All I can say is that abnormal rear tires wear has been a common complaint in our garage but only for 4dr cars. This is true even with those who rotate frequently. Hopefully this change will fix the problem.