Is there any other front camber arm options for the PV36's other than the SPCs? I'd like some SPL or Ichiba, but they're not available at the moment. Any other manufacturer out there? Anyone?

 

Great thread

 

thanks for bumping this thread, OMG. i have a short update and needed reminding.

i have about 6K on the new tires (Kumhos) and am having very little noticeable wear at this point. i normally run with about 20-30 lbs of everyday gear in the trunk (tools, first aid kit, foul weather gear, etc.) also running with two car seats in the back all the time, often filled with 60 pounds of baby human. usually it's just me in the front seat. all four of us ride to church in it on sunday and we take it when the family needs a nice ride but not a lot of stuff.

i can get close to 26 mpg consistently on the hiway. have hit 28 once. around town averages 20-22.

car rides and drives very nicely. rock solid in heavy rain. the kumhos have large, circumferential grooves.

a little skittish on some road surfaces and in the wind, but most cars are at 70+ mph.

if i was driving a LOT on curvy, hilly roads all the time, i would dial in a bit more negative camber in the rear. but that would up inside wear and not help at all on straight, flat roads/interstates.

i will note that i wasn't thrilled with the alignment initially. i think that was from having the old, worn tires still on. then, when i changed to the new kumho tires, the first 1000 miles or so i wasn't thrilled, either. but, now, it feels like everything has come together better. i'm guessing the break in on the tires and getting the suspension bushings to wear into a slightly new position have helped it all gel.

overall, very happy with the way the car handles and drives. just washed and waxed it and ready for fall!

 

was driving and realized something this past weekend.

based on the alignment info with the trunk empty vs. having weight in the trunk, it seems infinity gave us a vehicle with easy to adjust rear camber. at least from a shadetree mechanic/redneck perspective!

using my alignment printouts, if approximately 100 lbs in the trunk equals 27% increase in negative camber, it should be easy to dial in a little more sportiness while giving the rear a little more "stickiness" in the curves.

pick something safe and simple to use for weight. dog food bags (40 lbs each), sand bags, kitty litter, luggage, etc. i doubt the relationship is linear. ie: 200 lbs probably doesn't equal 54% increase in negative camber..... but, you should be able to "dial in" the best set up for your car and tires with a little experimentation.

similarly, if you are having inside wear problems, make sure you ask your alignment shop to be sure and align the vehicle to the low end of the negative camber range and MAKE SURE THE TRUNK HAS WHAT YOU NORMALLY CARRY IN IT. if you normally have a lot in the back seat, on alignment day, be sure to include this weight, too. this will all but assure you will eliminate any inner rear tire wear but you can always add more weight to the trunk when necessary for greater handling performance!

obviously, this isn't going to help your zero to sixty times, but for me it's all about tuning the car to drive great on a wide variety of different road surfaces. this is another tool to add to the box.

anybody who tries this, please post back your results.

oh, and i got 29 mpg for about 50 miles on the highway last weekend. heheh.

 

So I don't post over here very much but I'm in need of the alignment specifications for my wife's 2008 G35x. We're in Germany and the auto tech here told me he wasn't able to pull them up as evidently the x isn't sold in Europe. So if you have them I would be much appreciated--and yes I did a search but I couldn't locate any. Thanks for the help.

 

Look at the print out in this thread and copy down the specified normal ranges:

https://g35driver.com/forums/v36-bra...rong-here.html

 

mishmosh,

thanks for the help it's greatly appreciated.

cheers

 

Got an alignment today at a shop that only does alignments. Have coilovers with front and rear spc camber kits installed, but did not install rear bolts. Front turned out within spec. Rear camber is out of spec however toe is very close. Tech said he couldn't get rear camber within spec without compromising toe so he got toe close to 0 and camber at -1.6 and -1.7. How does this look to you guys? How will my tires do with this amount of neg camber? Thanks in advance.

 

update: i am going in for another alignment check this summer. at 25K miles, the rears are showing inside wear. gonna have them reduce the negative camber value a bit to make the rears run flatter, then replace the rear tires with new kumhos.

car is running and driving nicely but just a little jumpy on the flat straight sections of road. i think this is due to the negative camber which is perfect on curvy, hilly roads but just a bit much on the straight flat sections which is mostly what i am driving on these days.

fronts are dead on and wearing perfectly even. baring any surprise road hazards, i think the fronts wil be good for 40-45K miles. the rears probably done in at 30K due to the inside wear.

just got 29 mpg on a 200 mile trip!

 

Thanks for the update. I may copy your alignment. I need to get the SPC front camber arms though. Anything wrong if I keep the front camber stuck at around the -1.5 I'm limited with while going with -2.0 camber in the back? It's a family car but we like sporty feel and curvy roads.

 

on the fronts, i would go lower camber as soon as you can.

on the rears, you will get some serious inside tire wear up around -2.0 (see my BEFORE scan below). excessive negative rear camber will also hurt your straight line stability. the tires will ride up somewhat on the inside edge and are more easily thrown by grooves in the roadbed and crosswinds.

i am replacing my rear Kumho's this week at 25K miles due to a small area of tread damage (what little there is left on the inside edge) and what appears to be internal belt displacement or migration away from the inside edge. i was having the tire shop flip them left to right when they found the damage.

so, i would steer clear (pun intended) of negative rear camber levels higher than -1.3 or so and -1.1 would likely be much better for tire life and straight line driving needs. of course, on the curviest of roads, if that is where you drive most, might as well go crazy. it's only money and rubber ;-)

 

Thanks for the info. I will add adjustable front camber arms to my list of things to purchase tomorrow!

 

man, i am loving this alignment. the car is tracking straight and smooth with no tramlining or any other noticeable twitchiness. i can drive with one finger now instead of needing to make constant little corrections to nudge the car back on course. i found myself looking more at stuff on the side of the road because i am confident the car will track straight without my input. the ride on the kumhos is supple and muted but with excellent steering feel. the road surface is noticeable but not intrusive.

i believe this is how the car was meant to be setup.

basically, get front toe to the middle of the front range and equal left to right, and rear toe into the lower third of rear toe range and equal left to right and have the negative camber set as close to zero while still keeping them equal left to right (around -1.0). do all this with the trunk and backseat full of what you normally carry in the car.

this may not perform the best on a super curvy and banked road, but it will definitely be a joy to drive on the interstate and around town and should help maximize tire life and minimize wear. also, i am getting 27-30 mpg numbers on the highway with this setup.

 

You should get your fronts at -0.8 and rears around -1.4. Tires wear completely even and you have just enough negative cam to account for static alignment. Polyurethane compression rod bushings tighten the steering and fix caster problems too.

 

thanks for the feedback. i do have a few questions for you, though.

how many miles on your tires that are wearing "completely even"? which tires? what size?

why would one need "just enough negative cam to account for static alignment"?

why would one need to "tighten steering" and "fix caster problems in the front"?

your post without details about your specific setup is not very helpful to the rest of us since we don't know what your setup is like. also, there is a lot of anecdotal evidence circulating about alignments that just isn't fact based.

the alignment i posted up last is for a bone stock suspension with kumho platinum LX stock tire sizes. this is the best alignment i have had with the car and wanted to share that with the community so others would know what to ask for when they go in. if you are sharing something different, we need to know the details for it to be meaningful information.

thanks,
amp