Recently, I installed BC coilovers and Ichiba rear camber arms and had an alignment done. Afterward everything felt great but the more I drove the handling and ride would get worse and I noticed the wheel on the rear passenger side appeared to be sitting farther back in the wheel well. So, I took the car back to have the alignment checked again and they found the camber and toe on the passenger side rear had moved from where it was set previously. The alignment tech told me the nut for the eccentric bolt will not tighten all the way and thinks the bolt may be partially stripped and this is causing my alignment to change as I drive. Clearly a new eccentric bolt is needed but in starting to research I read that the eccentric bolts *can* slip with hard driving. Has anyone experienced this?

This car is my daily driver but I do some spirited driving with it and next month I will be taking a long road trip, auto crossing it and cruising some mountain roads and want to make sure I don't have any more issues. Will a new eccentric bolt be sufficient or is a lockout kit necessary?

 

Use lockout bolts and remove the eccentric since camber adjustment is done on the arm itself. Buy spc eccentric toe bolts for more adjustment, although by design, eccentric bolts can slip. if you have true style and not oem style coilovers in the rear then toe arms and lockouts would be a better choice also.

 

I have oem style coilovers. If I go with the lockouts will I still be able to adjust the toe?

 

Cant use a lockout with the oem spring bucket, only on the camber side since the adjustment is done on the ichiba arms.

 

So I could use them only on the camber side (the part farthest under the car) since this is where the problem is occurring and still retain ability to adjust the toe?

Any idea how hard of driving it takes to make SPC eccentric bolts slip or how common of a problem this is? In the research I did prior to installing the coils and camber arms I honestly never knew this could be a problem until now.

 

The lockout bolt/washer will be used where the ichiba arm connects to the subframe. Ive only read of a couple instances where the eccentric slipped. Its possible it wasnt torqued down properly.

 

In your opinion, do you think the lockouts are necessary? I have never driven the car at the limit but as I mentioned it will be autocrossed next month and it may see a race track later on this year.

 

It wouldn't be a bad idea. If you don't have time, make some marks so you can tell if one of your bolts shifts at the track events. It will take serious autocross driving or an impact to get one to shift if it is torqued properly.

 

Sorry to bump an old thread but I am still needing to find some kind of solution. The car won't hold an alignment and it is causing feathering of the front tires on the inside edge. I had it aligned 5 times last year and the alignment guy says the rear toe is out every time I bring it back in which then causes the front to be off. I was reading about traction arms but found info on the Z forums saying they are useless and they kept moving with the suspension travel.

 

Have you been keeping track of the numbers as you have been leaving? Is he not torquing the bolts properly or are you leaving with a car that isn't in oem spec then he forgets that?

 

I have been taking it to Nissan so the guy doing the work does alignments at the dealership all day long. The printout always shows things are back in spec when he is done so maybe he isn't torquing them properly. It doesn't take long until it "feels" back out of spec even with normal driving and the fact that the tires are having a wear problem confirms it.

 

We usually crank those things down with a three footer and some muscle. Have you seen him do it before? I'm no big guy... Unless he is a serious wimp there is probably something else going on here. I would consider marking the outline of the eccentric cams to see if it is the bolts that are moving or something else. They warranty those alignments, no?

 

^ bolts should be on super tight, no excuse for them to move. Is your bushings shot?

 

Not that I recall but I can check when I pull the car out of storage. Which bushings exactly?

 

I have not seen him tighten them before. He was cool about it and did all but the first alignment off the books and on his own time. It is just a pain having to keep going back and of course I want it to be right. I am thinking I will likely go someplace to have it done again and will mark everything.