So I have a 2003 Sedan, on 285-30-20's rear and 245-35-20 fronts.

Lowered with Tein H-Techs.


I've taken the car in 16 times within the past year to get aligned via the dealership. They CANNOT get it right.

First merry go round they told me i needed a camber kit. I went to intensepower.com and purchased from Darren (super cool dude) K Sport fronts and Intensepower rears.

Fronts ZOMFG... Garbage would be better stated. since they have steel bushings, everytime you hit a lane marker it would sound inside the cabin as if someone just smacked the chassis with a 30lb sledge hammer, and not to talk about actually hitting a pot hole.

So i went back to stock front camber arms.


The rears.....

They did their job so to say, untill it rain fell upon the streets of Miami, once that occured the steel bushings went from good to bad and then from bad to OMFG what is this? Car sounded like a run down beat up taxi cab with 500k miles. It sqeaked so loud that you could have the stereo as loud as you'd like to to be (20+) and be doing 55mph and still be louded than the music/road noise inside the cabin.

anyhow, had the car aligned MANY TIMES over and they could not get the camber right in the rear because the TOE arms could not be adjusted so it was either the camber or toe that would get screwed.



Then they failed, at the dealership we noticed the rear wheels had a 1 inch play on a vertical axis. upon further examination we saw that the steel bushings fell apart thus allowing the wheel to pivot as if they were loose.


Went on a frenzy searching the boards and noticed Concept Z's website had the Kinetix camber/toe kits. Purchased the Kinetix rear end links and Toe kits and UBER FAIL!

btw, Coz is the man!

it's as if i had a stock camber/toe arms in place. you cannot bring it into spec. My best guess is that these kits are NOT designed for the sedan.

So then i decided to call a chassis shop, someone who is dedicated to just suspension work. I've been referred to them MANY times prior but i said nah I'll let the dealership do it as they are the pro's. I gave them many chances are fail!!!

Took the car to Miami Chassis, dealt with Danny Hammer, the prior day i had the car aligned @ 5pm at the dealership and driving in a straight line was more of a challenge then it was in a curve. If i took an off/on-ramp the car would over/under steer all over the place. Danny put the car on the rack and they were unable to fix the front as I still am awaiting the Kinetix fronts, and the rears were unable to fix the camber/toe issue.

It's either you fix the camber and throw the Toe WAYYYY off, or the Toe and the camber about a degree .2 off.


They told me they can do a camber modification which is to grind the hole a bit more so they have more room to pivot the camber/toe kits thus allowing to correct the issues.


Has anyone had these issues?

 

Are you trying to align to sedan specs? If so, give up because it will be very hard to get there. Most people align their lowered sedans to coupe specs.


You have posted your current specs either. Are they wildly off or close? Are you getting weird wear? The H-techs supposedly give about a 1.4" drop in the front which is quite a bit. Camber will be off (probably 1.3 degree) which is out of spec (compared to a coupe), but not alarmingly so. You should be able to get the front toe into spec. Toe is the tire killer up front, not camber.

In the rear, your drop is only suppose to be .7". I can't figure out why these shops can't get the alignment into spec. The correct way to set camber and toe is to set camber first and then set toe because adjusting camber will affect toe. I know of one rear toe kit on the market that requires grinding of the cross member to expand adjustability. I'm assuming your current toe kit didn't require grinding of the cross member.

Your .5" taller than spec tires and large stagger is probably to blame for some your problems too.

Yes, non-OEM parts tend to suck and don't ever expect steel or poly bushings to ride and sound like OEM. There's a reason why the OEM uses softer durometer rubber. Steel and poly bushings are made for racing where NVH or long term reliability is not a consideration. I love how shops/vendors don't tell people this stuff.

You're going to have to accept the fact that your alignment will probably not be perfect and will be pretty aggressive and that you'll go thru tire every 15K miles or so. That's the nature of running a significant drop in the front, overly larger wheels/tires, and a big stagger.

 

Buy SPC, problem solved.

 

The SPC/Kinetix are equally matched as far as adjustments go, only difference is the kinetix use a higher durometer rated poly.

Dave, Yes the fronts are in the 1.3-1.5

rears are in the 1.2-1.3's

 

Additionally Dave, I knew the Steel bushings were going to be a bit more hard, but i did not expect a banging of such... i mean this was beyond normal.

 

Have you tried SPL?

 

I dont take it you have read my other posts, No. I have not. I purchased the kinetix rear and fronts. The fronts have NOT yet been delivered and the rears have.

The rears did not bring it back to Sedan specs. it does bring it to coupe specs but that is two different specs....


I will have a camber modification completed by the chassis shop.


SPL has the same level of adjustments minus the stronger poly's. SPL poly's are more comparible with OEM ratings.

 

I didn't even have alignment issue with my H-techs... and for sure no camber issues.

Are you running aftermarket wheels? If so what?