Today I had my car aligned. My car has just over 1700km, but I figured that I better allign it ASAP so that it handles as well as it can before I start changing stuff. Anyway, it was very much out of spec and and I'm very glad to get it 'straightened out'. My original settigns (ie. out if factory/dealership) were (left and right):
- Camber (front) = -0.42 and -0.43
- Caster (front) = 8.7
- Toe (front)= -5.8mm (total) ... that is toe-out and it was not even even from side to side.
- Camber (rear) = -1.54 and -2.52
- Toe (rear) = -2.3mm and +2.5mm (that is pointing to one side)

I have it now set at:
- Camber (front) = -0.5
- Caster (front) = 8.7
- Toe (front)= +1mm (total toe-in)
- Camber (rear) = -2.0
- Toe (rear) = +4mm (total toe-in)

It's now even on both sides, the front has a very slight toe-IN instead of huge toe-out, and the rear also has some toe-IN (that is even on both sides). Not sure what difference, if any, this makes to the feel/handling of the car as I have not had a chance to try it out properly. Will report when I get a chance to put the car through it's paces.

ps. I would love to get at least -1.0deg of camber at the front, but I'll need a camber-kit for that,

 

I've got mine back from the smash repairs as follows.

Before. (left / right)

Front

Camber -0deg46'/-1deg04'
Toe +2.9/-0.8
Castor +7deg51'

Rear

Camber -2deg12'/-1deg36'
Toe 0/+1.2

AFTER

Front

Camber -0deg43'/-1deg04'
Toe +0.6/+0.6
Castor +7deg51'

Rear

Camber -2deg10/-1deg30'
Toe +1.0/+1.1


Something tells me the guy is a friggen idiot. Why leave the camber settings all over the place. Am i reading this wrong? He's left 1 deg of neg camber on the front right and rear left!

??????????????????????

 

Yeah Zuffy, I'm looking at those setting as well and they do appear to be all over the place. Not sure if they can do anything about the front (as the camber there is not adjustable), but they should be able to fix the back. My OE rear alignement had a 1deg difference bewteen the two wheels as well.

 

The moment that the guy gave me the slip with a 300zx crossed out and 350z over it i knew they stuffed up.

I bet he had no idea and just tried to use common sense. Stupid tool, he could have asked me for specs or call Nisshit.

I'll go get a real wheel alignment in the new year.

BTW can't believe I took these wonky settings to Wakefield...LOL

 

Today I got a chance to do a couple of laps (in both direction) around my 'testing' area ... that means I got to push the car hard through a fair few corners. The basic characteristics of the car are still the same (ie. bit too much understeer), but the car does seem better balanced and a bit more eager to push the back out under heavy throttle.

I'm still finding that I have to wait an extra second or so through a corner before I can get on the power. Otherwise it understeers. So I'm still lacking some front-end grip (ie. I want to sustain higher cornering speeds). This is throught corners that you can apex at around 70kph (and in 2nd gear).

Through the fast corner I found myself entering it at at least 125kph (and maybe closer to 130kph) and being able to get on power as soon as the car commited to the cornering line. This saw me exiting it at good 135kph+. The car felt really stable and like it still has a bit to give before it reaches the limits. Seems like I can enter this corner still faster as the Zed seems to be doing really well with the higher speed corners.

Next time I'll get it alligned I'll probably get 1 - 2mm ot total toe-IN in the rear and maybe drop 0.3deg or so of camber there. Maybe this'll help with the lower speed corners.

 

About 5 days ago I've changed my tyre pressures to 40/36psi (front/back). I've been trying to see what difference it makes and today I got a chance to go thorough my 'testing' area (in both directions at diffrent times). All I can say is I'm impressed ... 1st time since I've had the car that I was impressed with the Zed's handling at 9 - 10/10th ... all I can say "wow!".

I actually had to steer the car around the corners and use a fair bit of steering-wheel (and throttle) input to balance the car. Around the round-abouts (ie. 60kph) I found myself applying a touch of opposite lock as my back was stepping out on the exit and my front seemed pretty much stuck to the road.

Around a couple longer 2nd gear corners (ie. 70kph at the apex) I found myself getting just very minor understeer and that is even when enetered at speeds that before saw me sliding the front off line. I'm carrying about 5kph more entry speed and the front is barelly washing off the line. Not only that, but getting on power at the apex results in the back stepping out and a need for some wheel action to keep the car on line. Totally awesome as I can now tighten the line by applying more power instead of needing to unconditionally back off. I had the back out about 5x ... which is about 2x more than in the last 2 months (almost) of my ownership.

I went through the fast sweeper and today I entered it at 127kph and the car was still solid as a rock. I'm getting close to the limit now though ... 130kph (on the entry) is probably all that it will do safely.

I was really thrilled as I actually felt like I'm in control of the car and it is doing what I am telling it to instead of the car being in charge and me just a passanger. I'll keep these pressures and allignment for another couple of weeks at least and see how the car behaves .... though, at the moment I'm pretty damn happy - awesome engine and awesome handling feel, not much more I can ask for (if feels/behaves like it did today).

 

Now it's time for you to take it to the track!

 

Good news David. Will adjust my tyres next time I get out and see how it feels.

 

Im sure everyone knows this, but, just in case.

If you are serious about tyre pressures make sure you have your own gauge. Dont trust the ones at the Servo as they can be out by quite a fair margin, and again apologies to all, but make sure your tyres are cold.

As always

H

 

I'm still running 40/36psi and a week later the car still feel better than it used to as the front does have more grip. Though, it's still not perfect (or as good as I would like). Today I got another chance to go 2x through my 'testing' area. It was a bit warmer than last time and I think that seems to just produce more grip at the back (and hence make the car a touch less balanced). The car seems to handle better when it's a tad colder.

I was entering the corners pretty quickly and the front was pushing a bit. Not as bad as it used as it's a lot more controlable now. I seems to come back in line much quicker when I back off, and also I can balance the car by just giving it more power (which pushes the back out and tightens my line).

I'm am certainly entring the corners quicker than I used to, but it still needs more 'help' at the front. The car still sees to favour understeer above most other attidudes (including 'neautral'), but that is when pushing pretty hard and through 2nd gear corners (ie. slow corners).

I'd like to carry a bit more apex speed, but it could be as simple as getting better (or wider) tyres at the front. Still, I'm not sure how well the Zed can handle through the tight stuff ... it just might have a bit too high center of gravity and a bit too much weight at the front. Then again, if 'they' can balance a 911 with 60% of weight over the rear wheels, then why you'd think 'balancing' the Zed (which has 'only' 53% over the front wheels) will be a breeze. For the moment I'm sticking with 40/36psi as the car feels pretty good, but when I get around to alligning my car again, I'll get less toe-IN in the rear.

 

David you need to do this kind of testing at the race track.

The car has some unusual quirks that you just get to know with experience and those trees on both sides of the road aren't motivating enough to try things out.

It seems that the 350z is steadier around corners with power on than if you take the foot off the gas BUT at what speed does the understeer just completely take over?

I'd much prefer finding that out at a sand trap instead of a tree or cow padock.

Just IMHO of course!

 

David you need to do this kind of testing at the race track.

I don't disagree. The place I do my 'testing' is about as 'safe' as I can think of on the roads. They're wide new roads in an indistrila district with not much around. Also the curbs are angled and there's a lot of grass around. Still, I don't recomend coming off.

I'll be at DECA in about 6 weeks, and hopefully on the track a month later.

It seems that the 350z is steadier around corners with power on than if you take the foot off the gas BUT at what speed does the understeer just completely take over?

To me the car seems incredibly steady no matter what you do (ie. unbalance it). To find a car that is this stable/steady you need to go to 911 C4S ... it's one of the Zed's strong points. Even a 911 C2 does not ahve the stability of the Zeds.

I am finding myself more and more entering corners off throttle as that's how I can ge tmore grip on the front (and have less understeer). Though, I'm talking about 2nd gear corners here (ie. 40 - 80kph). I find that I get the best results by braking all the way onto the apex and then getting back on power ASAP. Getting on power used to tresult in understeer, but the 40/36 setup (and alignment) seemed to have fixed that.

So I'm talking here about understeer pre-apex or at the apex if I have a bit too much speed for the car. And also I'm talking about low speed corners (ie. bellow 70kph at the apex) and the slower the corner, the worse it is. Though the faster corners the car feels awesome (and I'll actually welcome a touch of understeer). For that I need to get to Winton as there is one corner that is entered at around 130 - 135kph and it tightens up to around 100 - 100kph so that will certainly show how Zed's behaves when pushed through corners like that.