****THIS THREAD CONTAINS VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION AND SHOULD BE READ BY EVERY 2006-2007 CIVIC OWNER****

The TSB:
On January 22, 2008 the American Honda Motor Co, Inc. release a service bulletin (08-001), which applies to all 2006-2007 Honda Civics, except Si and Honda Accessory HFP Package. This includes all 2 and four door civics, not just hybrids. If you have an Si and wish to get this fixed, talk to your dealer- there have been reports of certain dealers doing this on the Si's if you ask. UPDATE: THIS ALSO APPLIES TO A NUMBER OF 2008s (determined by VIN).

The Problem:
Whether you have symptoms or not, if you have a 2006-2007 civic, your rear upper control arms were manufactured to incorrect specifications. You may notice uneven and/or rapid wear to your tires, a roaring noise from the rear, and/or a vibration at highway speeds.

What Needs to be Done:
Take your car to your local Honda dealer, preferably bringing a copy of the service bulletin. Tell your dealer about the symptoms that you are experiencing, if any, and tell them that you have not had your upper control arms updated.
Your dealer should replace your rear upper control arm kit (part #04523-SNA-A00), four 12X51 flange bolts (part # 90397-SNA-A00), and two 12X95 flange bolts (part #90396-SNA-000). If your tire wear is substantial, American Honda will pay part, if not all of the cost of a replacement set. (see service bulletin page one for more info) The dealer should also do a full alignment. This should all be done at no cost to you.

Links:
Original threads about negative camber and tire problems:
http://www.greenhybrid.com/discuss/f...006-hch-12142/
http://www.greenhybrid.com/discuss/f...roblems-16366/
Original thread about this TSB:
http://www.greenhybrid.com/discuss/f...rse-mpg-17072/
Thread at 8thCivic.com about this TSB:
http://www.8thcivic.com/forums/mecha...01-merged.html
Thread at HondaTech about this TSB:
http://www.honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=2225229
The actual TSB (scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the download link)
http://www.sendspace.com/file/qz71y9
The TSB for Candians:
http://showcase.netins.net/web/repti...III-10-07).pdf
An older TSB (does not apply to the hybrid):
http://showcase.netins.net/web/repti...III-10-07).pdf

Pictures:


Corrected Control Arms (courtesy of GreenHybrid member PeterG)


My right upper control arm, after replacement. You can tell that it's new, because it's darker than the rest of the car and has a "C" printed on it.

My left upper control arm, after replacement. You can see that it is newer than the rest of the car. The picture was taken from behind, and the "C" is on the other side.
The upper control arm is extremely visible. There is no need to jack up your car. If you get on the ground, you can easily see whether a "C" is printed or not. Check the right side, because you won't be able to see the "C" on the left.


My receipt after repairs at Hoehn Honda

This is NOT a recall:
Although Honda has admitted to incorrectly manufacturing these parts, they have not (yet) issued a full recall of the part. For this reason, neither Honda nor your dealership are obligated to tell you about this. They may not even tell you about it if/when they find problems such as uneven tire wear. Because of this, you will need to take action. Honda will most likely not bring this issue to you; you will need to bring it to them.

Dealers Who Want Your Business:
I am compiling a list of dealers who are willing to do this service bulletin with little or no hassle/nagging. The following dealers have received positive reviews regarding this service bulletin.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CANADA:
Kingston Honda
2839 Princess Street
Kingston Ontario
Canada
K7L 4V2
http://www.kingstonhonda.ca/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
UNITED STATES:
Arizona:
Tempe Honda
8030 S. Autoplex Loop
Tempe, Arizona 85284
866-394-1084
www.tempehonda.com
--------------------
California:
Hoehn Honda
5454 Paseo Del Norte
Carlsbad, CA 92008
www.hoehnhonda.com
(888)842-0220

Hardin Honda
1381 Auto Center Dr
Anaheim, CA 92806
714-533-6200
www.hardinhonda.com

Kolbe Honda
7514 Reseda Blvd
Reseda, CA 91335
818-609-7441
http://www.kolbemotors.com/
(^took some work to get them to do the TSB, but they did it in the end)
---------------------
Illinois:
Motor-Werks
1475 S. Barrington Rd
Barrington, IL
888-300-5124
http://honda.motorwerks.com
---------------------
Indiana:
Wetzel Family Auto Cruise
3505 Chester Blvd
Richmond, IN 47374
www.wetzelauto.com
---------------------
Kentucky:
Jeff Wyler Honda of Florence
949 Burlington Pike
Florence, KY 41042.
859-283-2727
www.jeffwylerhondaofflorence.com
(this dealer has gotten bad reviews
overall as a dealership, but they are
willing to fix the control arms)
---------------------
Michigan:
Grand Blanc Honda
10825 S Saginaw St
Grand Blanc, MI 48439
http://honda.alserra.com/
(810) 695-3390
(Contact Eric at: ehay@alserra.com)
--------------------
New York:
Lia Honda of Albany
1258 Central Ave
Albany, NY 12205
518-438-4555

Ontario Honda
2311 Rochester Rd
Canandaigua, NY 14424
(585) 396-3000
http://www.cars.com/ontariohonda/
--------------------
North Carolina:
Honda of Concord
7650 Speedway Boulevard
Concord, NC 28027
(800) 251-9068
www.hondaofconcord.com
--------------------
Oklahoma:
Steve Bailey Honda
8700 NW Expressway
Oklahoma City,OK 73162
800-734-0632
www.stevebailyhonda.net
--------------------
Texas:
John Eagle Honda
18787 Northwest Fwy
Houston, TX 77065
(281) 955-6666
www.johneaglehonda.com
--------------------
Washington:
Valley Honda
8201 E. Sprague Avenue
Spokane, WA 99212
(509) 927-7000
www.spokanevalleyhonda.com


Dealers who do not want your business:
These dealers have received negative reviews regarding the service bulletin. I am not going to put all their contact info, because I don't want anyone accidentally trying to go to them.

Arizona:
SanTan Honda
Chandler, AZ
-------------------
California:
Poway Honda
Poway, CA

Woodland Hills Keyes Honda
Woodland Hills, CA

My Experience:
The whole process took about four and a half hours. I took my car to Hoehn Honda in Carlsbad, CA. The dealership had told me only a couple of weeks earlier that my tire tread was fine. When I told them I was experiencing vibration and a loud roaring noise, along with mentioning the service bulletin, they checked again. This time, my tires were wearing unevenly. Hoehn agreed to replace the upper control arms at no cost. They did a full alignment and adjusted the subframe, front, and rear toe. My tires were not worn down enough for me to qualify for replacements. (see page one of the service bulletin for tire replacement info).

If anyone has any suggestions or info (i.e. dealers who want our business) I should add to this, please let me know. I would like to make this post as informative as possible.
If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. I will try to get back to you as quickly as possible, so you can get this fixed.

Thanks for putting this important information all in one place, giantquesadilla!

Nicely done. What pathway did you take to upload the pictures?

Did you include a link to the "Negative camber" string on this Website?

We should collect Dealer rebuttals and refusals, and possible customer responses.

The opposite of Bad Dealer Syndrome is...?

--Peterg

I tried to upload the pix to GH, but it still won't work for me. I ended up using google's picasa picture service. For some reason, those two pictures of the control arms have trouble showing up. Even after I copied them onto my computer and uploaded them to a different server. They are the phantom pictures. (the two that I took of my car seem to work okay)

It is the first link under the "links" section.

We could make a list of dealers who do not want our business, to go along with the list of dealers who do. If anyone has tried to get this fix (successful or not), please post up some info on your dealers.

Good Dealer Syndrome? I don't think it is a term that needs to be used much.

Awesome, great service to the commumity GQ!

http://greenhybrid.com/compare/mileage/car/3686.html

http://greenhybrid.com/compare/mileage/car/4955.html

Thank you- I am due for my 3rd oil change and this was very timely. I emailed it to my dealer- T and T Honda, Calgary, Alberta, Canada- and am waiting to get their response- which I will pst here for the Canadian owners. I am hoping they don't say that this is a Honda America issue since we all know the Civics are made in Ontario (or Japan for the Hybrids).

There already was a separate TSB for Canadian Dealers, and they were replacing the arms even last year. Let us know if your Dealer has a case of Bad Dealer Syndrome (ie: they give you the run around and find rebuttals to everything you say because they do not want to do the work).

--Peterg

I posted to clear pictures of the new control arms with their "C" mark very easy to see.
Go to "SHARE" on the top right of this page, type into SEARCH "arm" or "control" or both.
One is from the left side, one from the right, both from the back looking forward past the rear strut.

--Peterg

Peter:
Thanks for the pics!
Would you mind sharing what dealer did this for you?

Not a problem. Grand Blanc Honda, in Grand Blanc, Michigan (near Flint, aka, "Buick City")
You can contact Eric at ehay@alserra.com (prefers rather than phone calls). They went way out of their way to figure out what is going on with this problem. The techs actually THANKED me. They get it!

Coffee was so-so, but they had fresh popcorn!

--Peterg