rear alignment/lock pin

[everlast]

Has anybody else experienced repeated rear end out of alignment? I have a 2004 5AT, nonnavi. I drive alot of miles (about 40k per year) almost all smooth highway and encounter few rough road conditions yet I've had to have the rear aligned 3 or 4 times in the last year. Seems excessive to me but maybe thats typical. I've never had a car before that the shop ever mentioned rear alignment. Comments?
Also, I know its an old issue in this form but has anybody came up with a simple fix for the annoying door lock position? Does the lock pin unscrew such that I can simply remove, shave it down, and reinstall?. If so, are they clockwise threads (to tighten)? If not screw-in can they be removed?
Thanks for any input.

[LannyMCS]

Many people have found that their rear camber is out of spec (max is -1.5 degrees), usually way out on one side and well within on the other.

Theoretically there is no camber adjustment from the factory, although a really good tech would know how to shift the carriage to even out the camber, in the process probably getting both sides within spec. The shifting carriage technique is not a normal alignment procedure though, and it is relatively difficult to fine tune the camber using this procedure.

When you bring the car in for an alignment, are they giving you a before and after sheet? What exactly are they changing?

[everlast]

Thanx for the reply LannyM
They have never given me a before and/or after sheet. Somehow they have adjusted the rear camber but specifically I do not know by what method. I believe they did mention the 1.5 deg spec but I also recall them translating that to some number of 15 in drift over a 1 mile distance. Can't remember exact numbers. Next time I will pay more attention and ask more questions. I do remember them charging me $89 USD each time.
So this is not an uncommon issue?
It doesnt seem to create any problems, ie no noticeble drift, no vibration, and tires have been wearing even.

[LannyMCS]

I would make sure when you make an appointment that they will give you before and after printouts.

Is this the dealer or an alignment shop?

I've only come across a couple of people who were aware of being able to shift the rear carriage, and they were both dealership personnel. And they really didn't want to do it, because it's a two person, pain in the *** job....

So I'm kind of at a loss as to how these guys are changing your rear camber-they can certainly measure it, but there's no other way to change it. The rear multi-links are fixed in length and that's what determines the camber. The aftermarket camber kits substitute adjustable length links to dial in whatever camber you want.

If I were a pessimist I might think that whoever was doing this alignment might not actually be doing anything............

There has been some talk on the boards of a new, shorter link being made available by Acura to correct this problem, but my dealership contact has not seen anything on this as of yet.....not a big priority for me anyway as I have the Ingalls kit.

[everlast]

All work has been done by reputable Acura dealership in western NY. As i said I will ask more questions if it comes up again. I also suspect i've paid for nothing but I have no experience or knowledge in this area. Lanny, u seem to know the setup pretty well, u an auto tech or an experienced DIYer?