Still waiting on ScraggleRock's advice but I am open to and would like to hear what other knowledgable users here recommend.

 

Alright, so you'll need spc rear camber arms, spc toe bolts, kinetix front upper control arms, springs of your choice, and spacers (depending on your spring/wheel choice), LCA and compression rod bushings (preferably polyurethane) and new front steering knuckle ball joints. All of this should land you around $1k give or take, obviously if you can find used deals, the better off you'll be. Don't buy any used bushings or ball joints.

It would be optimal to do everything at once; collect all the parts and spend a day knocking it all out. You'll be tearing apart all the same components over and over again if you do it one by one. On one hand, you really get to know how your car works (when doing them one by one), but on the other hand, it's annoying.

So, if you decide you wanna do it one by one, I STRONGLY suggest buying a long term alignment (3yr, 5yr, lifetime). Every time you take your suspension apart you'll need an alignment. You can kind of do them in any order, but when springs are installed, you have to at the same time do the toe bolts. Any amount of lowering will keep you from getting your rear toe back in spec.

Also, consider spacers when you put the springs on. Your wheels are gonna sink in like crazy. It looks really dumb. However, as long as you keep your toe in spec, you should get thru this with minimal tire wear. Before your final alignment all spacers and wheel/tire setups must be installed.

 

wow, I'm now overwhelmed haha. I definitely do want to do it all at once. Are the "kinetix front upper control arms" the camber kit for the front?

 

Yes. That's the least expensive quality front camber kit you can buy. Don't go for the kinetix rears tho. Not enough adjustment even for mild drops. For the rears stick with eibach or spc.

Also, if you plan on going really low the kinetix fronts won't work either. The ball joint tends to rub on the tire. If your just doing a mild 1-1.5" drop tho you'll be fine.

 

Another question. I'm getting the vibe that people only lower their car with the addition of larger, aftermarket rims. I definitely didn't plan on doing that as well, because that's another ~1k. I happen to like my stock 18's. I have the nice ones. Do you think that's fine to keep them?

 

I did for a long time.

 

If you think you're overwhelmed now, wait until something doesn't come apart for you. If your car was from MA like mine, there's a decent chance some of those fasteners are seized up and will refuse to come off without some serious persuasion. I ended up buying a 900ft-lb ingersol rand impact wrench after getting stuck several times when my 250lb husky wouldn't take something off. You'll need a spring compressor to swap the springs too.

Scraggle's suggestions are all on the money to do it right. I think you can do it cheaper and still have a reasonable result. I didn't put adjustable camber arms in the front and have no problems getting my car (06x) into alignment spec. I didn't replace any bushings or ball joints when I lowered the car as none of mine were bad at 170k. I haven't even tried to take the compression rod off the car given some of the threads I've read here. The knuckle ball joint is no piece of cake either. The knuckle is only sold with the ball joint pressed in because it's made in such a way that you don't have a very good flat surface to support the part while pressing to remove/install. You can get replacement ball joints but they're about $80 each and you pretty much need to take the knuckle off the car to press it out/in.

So the list of expenses to lower my 06x was:
Springs - Tein S-Techs $170 (wish I went with H-techs, H&R or G/Z now)
Rear camber arms - SPC $100?
Rear toe bolts - SPC
Spacers - forgot who but get good hub centric ones ~$150
5 year alignment - $250 at NTB who now refuses to touch my car with spacers. Not sure if this was included in Scraggle's $1k number.
Tools - good impact wrench $190, spring compressor $20 @harbor freight, need a good press if you do ball joints

Fix anything else that's already broken but don't change stuff just because you don't want to go in there again. For example I replaced my shocks/mounts/boots but wish I didn't because they weren't bad. When you're done, you'll be good enough to go do it again to replace anything that breaks. And it's not just the price of parts that you'll save. The effort to change some of those parts is significant especially if they don't cooperate because they're stuck. Read up on the compression rod bushing change before you decide.

Not saying Scraggle is wrong or looking for an argument. Just saying there's a cheaper and probably easier way to do it and get results that I think are ok. Either way you go you'll learn alot about your car while you're doing it.

 

^you aren't INCORRECT but not correct either. It depends on age and mileage. Problem is, is that with the suspension parts all relying on each other, if you have a car who's suspension geometry has been sitting in one position for a long time. Then all the sudden you change it, then boots start to tear, bushings start to pop, ball joints start to play differently. It has to do with the age/mileage of the car.

That being said, changing the upper control arms is not "necessary", but he wants even tire wear. Getting into spec does not mean it's perfect. If you want complete tire contact patch, you need adjustable upper control arms. Nissan screwed up with their alignment angles from the factory, and lowering it will exacerbate that flaw. The comfort and control you get when all 4 tires are completely on the ground is incredible compared to stock.

 

Good info. I'm curious though, how off is the stock contact patch?

I get an alignment check every oil change and it seems within range (no significant tire wear/cupping yet at 10k miles on off-the-shelf tires). Ride quality is excellent IMO even for daily use, although I try not to abuse the car.

 

Well, the contact patch is really where the significant part of the weight is lying on the tire, it depends on the tire/wheel setup. Based strictly on my stock tires/wheel setup (225/45-18 on 8" coupe 7 spoke), after the life of a set of tires it was obvious that I was really only riding on the inside 3" of my front tires. That's a significant amount of tire that's not being utilized, and after the UCAs were dialed in I could tell right away that I was using the whole tire. First time I went over a speed bump was an absolute pleasure. Haha I know that sounds dumb, but the difference in cushion absorption is amazing. After that my tires lived happily ever after.

 

This is also why I don't "get" the extreme negative camber crazy. It's like you're purposely putting excessive wear and tear on your car, significantly diminishing ride quality and looking stupid at the same time. All in all you want a little bit of negative camber to account for static alignment and for cornering, but anything even in the "moderate" range is harming performance.

 

Same here, I don't get the craze or "Stance Nation" or whatever kids call them these days.

I don't know how this is even legal, forget about safe




those tires are not even on the rim anymore wtf
(sorry for threadjack)

 

[QUOTE=Justice06RR;7053023]Same here, I don't get the craze or "Stance Nation" or whatever kids call them these days.

I don't know how this is even legal, forget about safe




I believe this is from the, "More money than brains" thread.

 

Thank you for the info! Now I am unsure though. I believe Scraggle when he says that failing to change the bushings and ball joints can cause them to fail in the future, however I'm wondering if it almost isn't worth the money and more so, the difficulty of doing so.. Like I said, I want to do this "properly" but not only for the cheapest, but also easiest way possible. If replacing these things is going to be a huge headache, and are the least necessary things on the list, I'm thinking about skipping them.

 

Off topic but scraggle, that's an aftermarket bumper cover and grill, right? If so, where did you get them because I'm looking to upgrade. Also, are those headlights oem? I'd be surprised at how clear they are.