Need Help

[elmore_awe]

i need some serious help. i live in southern missouri, and i can't seem to find the right information from anyone down here. i just turned 16 a while back, and my parents bought me a 98 civic ex from a dealer in springfield, MO. i know next to nothing about this stuff, and i need someone's advice bad. this car came with 17 in. konig's and "intrax" springs. like i said i know nothing about these. the dealer told us it was lowered 2 inches because of these springs. i know it looks good, but we didn't know what we were getting in to. the tires would occasionally rub if i hit a bump or had people in the back, but nothing too big i didn't think. well, my dad researched into this stuff a little, and found out we needed a camber adjustment. so, yesterday we had a new camber kit installed and had the thing adjusted. well, i don't know what the problem is, but since we got that done, it rubs constantly. it rubbs pretty bad when i'm the only one in the car. any turn i take it rubs badly, and makes this terrible noise. dad said the side wall looked scratched up too. i didn't drive it any more last night, and i drove my parents car to school today, but i want to get it fixed soon! we are totally clueless as to what needs to be done though, so somebody please help!!! budget isn't huge either, so lowest cost would be best, but i mainly just want to know what is wrong and what needs to be done.

[strodda]

you can fix rubbing with a camber kit, but whoever installed it, adjusting it incorrectly for the purpose you wanted. when the car was lowered it created negative camber of about 2degrees. meaning that the top of the tire is tilted inward. before the kit you only hit when the car was squated low because the angled tire was mostly missing the fender edge. but when the camber kit was installed, the mechanic "fixed" the camber, meaning the tires are straight up and down. which caused the tires to hit even more, just like you said. since you are stuck with the rims, what you can do is go back to the shop and tell him he didnt do what you wanted. hopefully he'll adjust them again for free. what he needs to do is add more negative camber, just make sure you get an alignment to decrease tirewear as much as possible.

btw, what size tires do you have?

[Tominos]

rolling your fenders will give you more clearance to stop the rubbing. it sounds like your tire is rubbing up against the fenders and quarter panel part in the back. adjusting for too much negative camber will cause your tires to wear out prematurely, so don't overdo it. you said it rubbed before the camber was fixed, so i'm sure just a little negative camber change will not fix the problem, so rolling the fenders is the best option. if you do it free, you can cut slits on bottom edges of fenders, and use a bat and roll em. or, you can just switch to smaller size rims/tires.