Suspension work + alignment results
#16
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iTrader: (3)
It drives really straight.
I just paid Nissan because I was sick and TIREd of monkeys working on it. Two different mechanics from two different Firestones did not fully torque down the rear right toe but and it came loose giving me active rear toe.
I had to go back to Nissan because the wheel wasn't straight. It drives me up a wall that they would accept money for an alignment and then the wheel wouldn't be perfectly straight while you drive!
I just paid Nissan because I was sick and TIREd of monkeys working on it. Two different mechanics from two different Firestones did not fully torque down the rear right toe but and it came loose giving me active rear toe.
I had to go back to Nissan because the wheel wasn't straight. It drives me up a wall that they would accept money for an alignment and then the wheel wouldn't be perfectly straight while you drive!
#17
Join Date: May 2017
Location: Washington State
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Yeah I understand that, I make sure to call ahead (or visit) anyone who's doing work for me beforehand so I can ask them exact questions and let them know EXACTLY what my expectations are before they even touch my car. Fortunately there's a really good shop near me that does a lot of chassis work and deals with sports cars on a regular basis, they cost double what Nissan does but they get the alignment right where I want it.
EDIT: It also may or may not even be an issue for you depending on how many miles you drive per year in relation to how many years your tires are good for. Tire shops are really sleazy about always trying to upsell a "higher mile tire" to customers without even asking the customer how many miles they drive per year. If you put 5k per year on your car you don't need the new Toyo 90k mile tires... you're going to be throwing away a set of tires that still has almost 75% tread in 5 years when the rubber compound has degraded to the point of replacement. However someone in that situation could have terrible alignment but it wouldn't matter because they still might not wear out the tires within 5 years.
I normally never buy a tire that's rated for more than 30-45k miles, I would prefer to always have FRESH rubber under me and need new to replace tires every 2-3 years.
EDIT: It also may or may not even be an issue for you depending on how many miles you drive per year in relation to how many years your tires are good for. Tire shops are really sleazy about always trying to upsell a "higher mile tire" to customers without even asking the customer how many miles they drive per year. If you put 5k per year on your car you don't need the new Toyo 90k mile tires... you're going to be throwing away a set of tires that still has almost 75% tread in 5 years when the rubber compound has degraded to the point of replacement. However someone in that situation could have terrible alignment but it wouldn't matter because they still might not wear out the tires within 5 years.
I normally never buy a tire that's rated for more than 30-45k miles, I would prefer to always have FRESH rubber under me and need new to replace tires every 2-3 years.
Last edited by cleric670; 04-20-2018 at 02:26 PM.
#19
Finally found some time to pull the camber arms over the weekend....
It's not a rubber bushing that has failed... It's some sort of low quality ball joint with a ripped rubber boot masquerading as a bushing.... pic attached. It doesn't look like I can press it out, thanks China.
So I picked up a set of Truehart arms off of Amazon because they look sturdy and use rubber bushings.... so if they fail I can just put in some polys in a couple of years. I'll share my alignment sheet once I've got those installed, aligned, and have my summer 19"s wrapped in new Firestone Indy 500 summers! Excited....
It's not a rubber bushing that has failed... It's some sort of low quality ball joint with a ripped rubber boot masquerading as a bushing.... pic attached. It doesn't look like I can press it out, thanks China.
So I picked up a set of Truehart arms off of Amazon because they look sturdy and use rubber bushings.... so if they fail I can just put in some polys in a couple of years. I'll share my alignment sheet once I've got those installed, aligned, and have my summer 19"s wrapped in new Firestone Indy 500 summers! Excited....
#20
OP, your problem is because of those spring bucket bolts. You need to get some SPC eccentric toe boots and Dremel out the slide hole (SPC provides a template for this). Without eccentric bolts you're going to eat tires like crazy. They're only $27 for the bolts, so there's no excuse not to get them.
Also, if you haven't yet installed those truheart arms, return them and get some eibach or SPC arms. Those truhearts aren't gonna have the adjustability you want
If you're looking for front arms, Kinetix makes the best arms for the money. Of course spc, voodoo and spl make great ones too, but cost much more. The Kinetix are great and once they're set, they cannot move from that setting, so you'll never have to worry about them slipping out of spec.
Also, if you haven't yet installed those truheart arms, return them and get some eibach or SPC arms. Those truhearts aren't gonna have the adjustability you want
If you're looking for front arms, Kinetix makes the best arms for the money. Of course spc, voodoo and spl make great ones too, but cost much more. The Kinetix are great and once they're set, they cannot move from that setting, so you'll never have to worry about them slipping out of spec.
#22
#23
I'm not too worried about adjustability as I'm at stock ride height: I probably could have gotten away with using stock parts, but i didn't want any chance of going back to the alignment shop and finding out I still couldn't get aligned. I might do the rear spring mount mod just to even out my wheel gap but any camber arms should have enough adjustability for that.
I'm in college and can't afford to drop the G properly so I'm not going to at all.
I'm in college and can't afford to drop the G properly so I'm not going to at all.
#24
I'm not too worried about adjustability as I'm at stock ride height: I probably could have gotten away with using stock parts, but i didn't want any chance of going back to the alignment shop and finding out I still couldn't get aligned. I might do the rear spring mount mod just to even out my wheel gap but any camber arms should have enough adjustability for that.
I'm in college and can't afford to drop the G properly so I'm not going to at all.
I'm in college and can't afford to drop the G properly so I'm not going to at all.
If you'd like, I'll send you some stock toe bolts with the washers for free. You can't have straight regular bolts in there tho.
#25
#28
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#29
#30
Got the chance to install the Truehart arms and lockout bolts (Thanks Cleric!) as well as swap the OEM camber bolt onto the correct location. New alignment sheet is above, everything is within green although the tech did say I would need more toe adjustability to go any lower with the camber.... oh well. I bought a set of the SPC bolts but ended up reinstalling the OEM ones as the SPCs weren't getting here by the weekend and I had hoped to run at the Brunswick airfield autocross which I ended up missing anyways. I'll have to install those now when I cut my springmount but for now I'll just be driving it and focusing on my car's cosmetic issues such as the rapidly spreading wheel well and rocker rust.
Last edited by cswlightning; 05-06-2018 at 01:35 PM.