The purpose of this thread is to share the specifics of my TEIN H-Tech install results. The results are based on my G35 only and it is important to point out that any other stock vehicle will almost certainly obtain different results.

Well most of you all know that I got new wheels and then dropped my car on TEIN H-Techs for the 350Z. I’ve taken a series of measurements to record the initial height, the initial dropped height, and a 1-week drop height (after alignment) to see how much, if any, the springs actually settle.

Let’s start off with the drop:
• For taking the measurements I used a new wooden yardstick and a 2' level. I placed the level up next to the yardstick to make sure it was vertical and then positioned the yardstick in the middle of the wheel and rested it on the garage floor. I measured the distance from the garage floor to the top of the wheel well (or the bottom part of the front and rear quarter panels). To my surprise, all 4 corners with the 19” PIAA Super Rozza’s on were EXACTLY 27-1/4" off of the ground. I also made sure to fill the tank full of gas about 1.5 miles away from home, so the tank would be full for each measurement. All measurements were taken with hot tires, so when I get the suspension I'll make sure to fill the car back up with gas on the way home and the tires will be hot too.
• After the springs were installed on the vehicle, I drove home, stopped at the same gas station and filled up the vehicle. Drove directly home and immediately took new measurements following the aforementioned procedures. The drop was 0.5” in the front and 0.25” in the back.
• The final measurements were taken after the alignment was performed. The same procedure of filling up the gas tank and measuring with hot tires was followed. The front total drop was 26 9/16” and the rear total drop was 27.0”. I guess this either means that the fronts “settled” slightly or the secondary measurement was slightly off. The total drop was 11/16” in the front and ¼” in the back. This isn’t quite what I expected but I’m very happy with the results. I do know that the extremely negative camber being taken out with the alignment must have raised the back of the vehicle some, so maybe this had something to do with the less than drastic measurements in the back.

The ride characteristics:
• The ride actually changed quite drastically. The information that I was able to obtain about the H-Techs actually led me to believe that the ride would be quite “stock like” in nature. Supposedly the fronts would be 14% stiffer and the rears 11% stiffer. This information is completely misleading to a novice suspension guy like me. I cannot imagine how the TEIN FLEX would feel, but can only imagine that this coil-over setup would be best left to those who plan on tracking their vehicle rather competitively. The vehicle with the H-Techs is now much rougher over bumps; however the handling has improved quite a bit. There is virtually no “squat” whenever I accelerate or decelerate and the body roll (keep in mind I have the 6MT) seems to have also improved ever so slightly as well.

Looks:
• As far as looks, I am extremely happy with the vehicle aesthetically. The drop, although subtle by some peoples standards, still maintains a reasonable amount of ground clearance, yet gives the car a much better look. I personally would not want a lower drop on my daily driver.

Alignment:
• Here I’ll refer you to the spreadsheet at the top of the post. As you can see, initially my alignment was all out of whack. The toe was out by about 400% on the front left and the camber was out close to 150% in the left rear.
• After the alignment I was able to get caster and toe to within spec on all 4 corners, but the camber is another story.
• IMPORTANT! There is absolutely no camber adjustment on the front 2 tires. What ever the camber is, that’s what it is!!! As you can see, my camber is just out of spec on 3 of the 4 wheels and just in the upper spec limit on one wheel.

Additional Details:
• I have a good friend, PlatG, with a lowered G35, 5AT who is riding around town on the RS-R springs. His drop is lower than mine and he was able to have an alignment done (at the same dealership) and was able to get his car back into the factory spec limits (at least that’s what he’s told me). I would have thought that I would be able to get my car back into the factory specs without any trouble but that was not the case. Another friend, Pimpinpearl had a drop with the Eibach springs and his drop was lower than mine. He is running on 10” wheels in the back and with +22 offsets and he didn’t need to have any fender/body work performed. This means that I should not have had work done, but this is another story all together.

Summary:
• I will now probably have to buy the SPC rear camber arms. This is the cheapest price that I was able to find. From there I will need to buy front upper control arms, but do not want to drop over $800+ for the nicely made 350evo arms, nor do I want to spend $600+ for the Kinetix arms due to what I consider to be a cheap looking design. After paying for the camber adjustment I will have to pay for installation of the parts and then get ANOTHER alignment, so I’m expecting to end up paying another $800 or so. Bottom line, unless you are very lucky, a drop and the necessary parts to keep your alignment in the stock ranges will cost about $1000.
• Does anyone have any information (or even a website) for the Cusco front upper control arms that are supposed to be out any day now?

(Sorry the file size is so large, maybe a moderator could shrink it down for me. I tried to have a friend shrink the file, but apparently it didn't work too well.)<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small"><EM>Edited by gsedanman on 11/01/04 11:08 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

Min -Max is a broad range where serious changes in handling occur. The car should always be set at NOMINAL no matter what it takes ........even 0.25 degree camber error or side to side differences are too much.

Unless you like differences in turning right and left, or braking when the side with the most camber will wash out first.

You or your weight must be sitting in the drivers seat for numbers to be meaningful! .......as camber changes as the body sinks with your weight [obviously leftside more than right]. Depending on spring stiffness [driver weight] up to 0.5 degree more negative on left side.

 

I thought the purpose of those H-techs were to give a
mild drop so that it would retain stock alignment
settings... but your camber after alignment is just as bad
as after I got my car aligned the first time with Eibachs...
and my car is lowered another inch. Im using stillen
rear camber adj rods and after the 2nd alignment, i am
at -1.4 camber on the rear.

Before you get your rear camber adjustment rods, go
under the car and see where the washer setting is on
the camber adjustment. If it looks like you can pull the
arm closer to the center of the car to lessen camber, go
get another alignment and tell them to max your
camber adjustment to minimum camber and re-adjust
toe. You probably shouldn't need rear camber adjust for
such a mild drop... also, try to get that thrust angle to 0.00.


2004 G35C 6MT Brilliant Silver

 

image

<font color=red>GSM</font color=red>
<font color=red>GSM</font color=red>
<font color=black>Silverstone Coupe</font color=black>

http://377578-377366-Alignment%20spe...nd%20after.jpg

 

I was also hoping for the Tein H techs to be the perfect drop without any camber issues but it looks like that is not the case, maybe I will wait till I can afford to get a full package before inbarking on this project.
Paul.

2004 G35 Coupe, Loaded.
2004 Lincoln Aviator
1995 Mitsubishi 3000GT VR4 completely modified
1999 VW Jetta

 

Here's the file that was SO LARGE. Hopefully this will help...

Thanks Dabomb and Colin for helping me resize the file! [img]/w3timages/icons/smile.gif[/img]

377738-Alignment spec before and after- wes.jpg

 

Wow, I didn't think camber would be so out of spec w/H-Techs after an alignment. Thanks for sharing the info.

 

Neffster:

Can you repost any pictures of your car before and after the install of the Tein H-tech springs. Also, did you need to get camber arms for the front? Thanks...

 

Anyone else have camber issues with H-techs? Looking to get these soon so I'm wondering if neffster's experience is a one-off or if this is common with H-techs for the Z.

thx
eddie

 

FYI, after many lengthy conversations with g35sedan I've come to the conclusion that Orlando Infiniti did my alignment "wrong". I still have to take my car back in and have it realigned to see if the "slightly out of camber" condition is real or due to a poor alignment.

I'll update soon with the results.

 

Camber gain curves are a FACT in suspension design. Whenever you change the ride height [by being overweight compared to the skinny Japanese] or lowering the car with springs.

Camberwise -1" front drop is the equivalent of putting ~~600 pounds in the 2 front seats [center of gravity]........not frequent occurance except in US. Sumo wrestlers don't buy G35.

Increased Bump steer from changing the angle of tie rods/lower suspension arms is often a consideration.

 

So what is the alternative? Coil Overs, Spindles, springs, shocks? I really don't want the camber, alignment, toe issues. Just want it to perform well and handle great also the looks are important...

Anyone? Also this post is old so how did you make out Neffster? Any end to the story?

BADG35

 

My previous post was made today.