I've been dealing with a bump steer issue on my Z. I understand these cars bump steer more than most but it's a problem with these horrible Chicago roads.

I just took a look at my rods and they seems raised slightly. I'm guessing due to my bilstien B6 shocks raising the car slightly.

On to the question: with these adjustable tie rod ends be able to fix the tie rods to level on a slightly RAISED, not lowered, car? If so I will definitely pick some up

 

I just installed a set but still need to install an additional spacer to correct angle a little further. Bumpsteer has calmed quite a bit already.

 

I have the Nismo version and also live in Chicago. They worked out great! I was under the impression these have a spacer, any input? These were installed by Justin over at RCA in Mundelein.

 

The SPL ones do come with spacers. Anybody know if these naturally start out a bit higher? As that would help out my raised situation.

The spacers are there to make it sit lower. But if they naturally sit slightly higher than OEM tie rods that would be perfect

As an aside, I lowered my front tire pressure by 3 psi and that was a MAJOR help.

 

Dude shocks can NOT raise a car

 

Duuuuuuuuuuude, yes they can

 

Nah.... springs control most of that, but if your shocks were blown out and sagging, I can see how you would get the impression it raised the car, but in reality its prob just cloaer to the normal ride height

 

The tie rod is pretty close to even so I'm not thinking that's actually the problem. Yesterday I took it out to a bunch of highway on/off ramps to see how it would be when it is warm. Was about 50 degrees. I had lowered tire pressure to 32 front and 34 rear. It handled much much better. The chassis was much less upset by bumps.

My conclusion is either those tires need much less inflation than what was on when it came stock or the dampers and rubber bushings work a lot better when it's warm out.

I'm changing out all front bushings with new rubber this weekend and the sway bars and end links so I'll find out if maybe some of those bushings are shot or those end links are toast.

 

Springs set height, shocks control bounce. Not like I haven't been a mechanic for 11 years lol. When I switched to the S-tune stuff I didn't feel like my car lowered at all, probably due to sagging suspension and bushings. These cars are old after all.

 

Shocks affect ride height. I don't care how long you have been wrong for.

Take a lowering spring with an adjustable spring perch. Lower the perch 1". Then set the car back on the ground. The car will not be lowered exactly 1". The reason is the shocks. This is a known thing in the tuner car scene. Go to a cars and coffee and ask some people. I really don't know what to tell you. But like I said, being wrong for a long time does not make you right. People thought for a long time that the universe revolved around the sun, that did not make it so. That also did not make the unintelligent. Just uninformed. At this point it's your choice of which to be.

 

Then go drive the car for a bit then measure again....they always sit higher when you put them on back on the ground.... but whatever, believe what you want.

 

It takes time for it to settle but it will end up at that inch. I'm not going to take the word of a bunch of amateurs over what I paid to learn, plain and simple. You are the one asking here, not me, keep that in mind!

 

I did not used to believe it either. I know the addage is that springs support the shocks. But one afternoon years ago a buddy of mine and I put some Bilstiens on a pretty new M3. The ride height seemed way higher. And much higher in the rear. At 18k miles the shocks couldn't be worn we didn't think so we went to a delearship and measured. A brand new M3 (167 miles TOTAL) sat lower than our with the Bilstiens. We installed the shocks on the same mounts. Not new OEM mounts. The same mounts the "old" ones were mounted on.

After that day I gave up the notion that shocks do not affect ride height at all. And no, the ride height never settled back down to the way it used to sit. It did, however, handle amazingly.

 

change the spring perch 1 inch and it will change, but you have to factor in motion ratio to know how much if a change.

Can a shock effect ride height, yes, but it's minimal. A blown shock with no air charge wil let the spring do all the work. 100 psi charge or even a 200 psi charge , that's why they extend without a spring but it's a minimal difference in height

 

Back to the topic at hand, I just swapped out my sway bars, end links, and compression arm bushings (OEM). My compression arm bushings were shot. Way shot, almost torn all the way around. My steering wheel is actually off center now since they were so bad. Drove the car home and hit all the normal bumps. No more bad bump steer.

I'm feeling like those torn bushings were changing my caster all crazy as it hit bumps in the road theoughout the suspension travel. Had to be that. The end links were still pretty OK but I'm sure that helped some.