PS: I had this question posted in one of my other threads, but I keep getting responses for the original question in that thread. Hence the new thread

I have stock wheels and Potenza RE-11's mounted on them. I have about 2000 street miles and 7 track days (550-600 track miles) on the tires. However, the outer patch of the front tires are wearing faster than the inners.

One of the experienced folks at a recent autox that I went to had a look at my tires and said I have a feathering issue and that I might need more negative camber or positive castor. But then he doesn't know about Z and felt I need to get it checked. I have stock alignment and nothing has been changed.

What the steps I need to take?

* I am thinking about getting my alignment checked at one of the chain tire shops and buying a 2-3 yr alignment package and getting my alignment done to stock specs
* Get an aftermarket camber arm + top adjustible camber plate (?? is that what its called) so that I can adjust the camber at track and change it back before I leave the track
* I am not sure if the shops will allow me to buy alignment package with the above option
* I have an extended warranty that I have purchased for the car when I bought it. It's a 6 yr / 72K mile warranty. Will the above camber adjustments void my warranty?




Following are some pictures of the tires
Front Left - 1


Front Left - 2


Front Right - 1


Front Right - 2


Rear Left



Rear Right - 1


Rear Right - 2

 

you just need upper camber arms...
350evo or SPL... aren't cheap but are quite the best you can buy.

don't go for the stock angles... with that kind of tires and stock suspension I'll guesstimate a decent angle setup would be:

front camber -2 degrees, toe out 0.1 degrees
rear camber -1.5 degrees, toe in 0.05 degrees

I have a nismo too.. but mine hasn't too much of the stock suspension left on...

 

Good to see you asking about alignment instead of relying on some generic specs. Camber will be a compromise between street and autocross. Ataru074 is on target. -1.5 degrees all around.

A chain like Pep Boys will not want to tweak the suspension to your needs. Take it to a performance shop.

 

Deepu I also want to comment though that the RE-11's tread pattern is pretty deceiving.

Brand new I thought the outside looks to have less tread depth than inside due to the zig-zag pattern. I didn't get a chance to see your tires this past wekeend, but I'm curious to see really how bad the outside is compared to the inside.

I'll check it out next time.

Here's a comment I got from one of my friends who has autocrossed his Z for the past 4 years:

"For autocross, you usually want toe-out on front and neutral toe on rear, however this toe-out alignment is hard on tire wear. Your stock settings should already have close to -1deg camber on front and -1.5 to 2 on rear, so lowering springs will likely put you at -2 front which I think is a good number to keep it street-able. To be honest, the best alignment setting for a driver depends on driving style, suspension components, tires etc. so you might have to do a couple to get it the way you like it. "

 

Just to throw my $0.02 in, I'm running -2.7 front and -2.0 rear on street tires with camber arms up front.

Primarily an autocross setup, though it also sees about 7k miles of street use per year. No problems so far, though the camber addition is pretty new (about a month on the car).

I'm running Kumho XSs and I'm seeing pretty even tread wear, using the full width of the tire as well. Of course the numbers you end up with will probably be somewhat dependent on your suspension setup. I'm running Koni yellows with stock springs right now.

edited to add toe:

0.1 out up front, 0.05 or so toe in rear (can't remember exactly, but it's just barely in). Have had toe out up front for about 6k miles now without issues as to tire wear, but I expect to go through tires quicker than most - I'm running soft compounds and autocrossing them, after all.

 

I forgot to mention that I personally run -3.2 front -2.2 rear and toe 0.15 out front and 0.02 in rear...

on the road is quite "interesting" especially when it does rain... but I run also my diff a 1.5 way 80% lock and suspension on the "quite stiff" side (hypermax 3 sport have T2 nismo spring rates)

 

Street tires , -1.5 to -2 front , and same for the rear. I have -1.7 front now and am dropping to -1.8 rear to get a little more traction on corner exit. My tire wear is a little bit more on the inside and i don't suggest going over -2 unless your on R comps.

 

Thank you for all the replies. I am trying to learn the things as fast as I can, so please do bear with my questions

I have read on some of the threads where people used their cars at the track, had front camber arms installed and still had an alignment package at the chain stores.

* I know each wheel/tire has Camber & Toe adjustment.
* Camber arms allow for Camber adjustment (duh!! )
* I am guessing suspension/alignment settings will allow to change Toe

If I keep stock suspension/alignment settings and just dial the required negative camber in the front for the track usage and then dial it back before I go home (Street usage) shouldn't I be set to take advantage of the run of the mill shop's alignment? If not, I am missing something here, please explain.

 

I have read enough about the front camber arms and it looks like these come out at the top. Following is what I gathered on the forums

350EVO
+ Sliding Design, Easier
+ No problems compared to other camber kits; everyone swears by it
- more expensive
+ Allows for positive camber unlike other kits which will be helpful when the car is dropped
+ Single aluminum piece like the Stock part, also can take much more stress because of being a single piece

SPL

+ Has more camber adjustment range
+ Cheaper
+ Threaded Design, Safer ??
* anyone who did not want to spend 850 ends up buying SPL
- Not a single piece OR has been constructed using multiple pieces

Does someone have the stock suspension settings for 350Z Nismo? I just want to compare them. I remember reading somewhere that Nismo has about -1 camber in the front.

 

Check out Front Left - 2, you will see that on the right side of the photo the beginning of the grooves appear to have been bent backwards. The guy who looked at my tires said that it was feathering. Again this was not as pronounced on the left front but it was still there.

Waterford is a clockwise track and has a lot of strain on the front left tire.

 

you must be looking at the v1 arms, they're not in production anymore. new design is better imo:

http://www.splparts.com/main4/index.htm

more info here:

https://my350z.com/forum/brakes-and-...pl-a-arms.html

 

Stock numbers here.

https://my350z.com/forum/nismo-350z/...s-checked.html

 

if you're really concerned about saving your tires and tracking the car I would recommend a performance alignment shop as well.

Even hitting the "candies" or even worse, going off track will mess your alignment specs up and will have to be realigned.

Toe goes out often. Hence the term "set your toe and go"

 

Get the SPL A arms, take out 1' of +caster in front, camber should be between -2.5' and -3.0' F / between -1.5 and -2.0 R, toe 0' F / .11' ~ .14' total toe in R. Give it a shot, the rear feels very planted and you can get on the gas a bit earlier that the alignments with less rear toe in. Turn in is vastly improved over factory with these settings as well.

Another thing to consider is that the SPL arms allow for front caster adjustment =] No other arm has this adjustability. Also, once you get your car set up like this, you will realize just how much of a P.O.S. the VLSD is... That is next on my list to replace =]

 

Zero rear toe isn't practiced on these car's for a reason. Geometrical changes under load are behind that. Unless you've done a sperical bushing swap, toe in for the rear suspension is advised, be it for performance or track. Not talking about the front of course.

 

Just ordered SPL Pro Front Camber Arms v2 from their site.
I did not know earlier and found out just now that camber on 350Z cannot be changed without taking the wheels off.
I had called SPL and they say these are the easiest way to adjust the camber where you take off the wheels and change the appropriate sized shins.

 

Doh! never saw all the images for the product on their website. It clearly shows the shims in picture 4 and 5

 

You can definitely change camber with the wheels on. It's not super easy (especially if you're lowered) - taking the wheel off isn't hard, and makes the adjustment quicker. But you can do it.

Just jack the car up, loosen the bolts that go through the shim stack, loosen the little hex-head lock screws, pop out (or add) the shim(s) you need to adjust camber, and tighten it all back up.

 

I did a lot of reading and talked to a few folks and all I get back is that you cannot have the car for track and street. I have bought

* a separate set of track wheels for the car (Enkei RPF1 17x9.5 +18).
* SPL front camber arms V2

I want to do the following

* Get Camber arms installed and keep the car aligned at stock specs
* At the track, dial in some negative camber (maybe 1 - 1.5, suggestions appreciated), put on track wheels
* Before leaving track, remove the extra negative camber to bring it back to normal and put back the street wheels on
* I do not want to get the car aligned after each track day

- What is the problem with above process?
- I was told that changing camber affects toe

If I am not gaining anything with the camber adjustment I simply want to return them. Please note that my car is not lowered at the moment.


Thanks

 

The car already has about 0.7-1 degree of negative camber. I assume you mean you want an additional 1-1.5 degrees on top of that (which is in the ballpark of what you'll probably be able to use being otherwise stock).

One problem you'll face is that adjusting camber with the control arm will also result in a toe change -- you'll get more toe out due to pulling the tops of the tire in. Unless you can somehow adjust toe (or at least know how much toe you're adding) at the track, this might result in unpredictable handling and unfavorable tire wear, especially at higher speeds.

You're going to have to get comfortable with paying for alignments more than a typical driver if you want to run your car on the track. It's cheap, can make a huge difference to your performance, and not paying attention to alignment can even make a car unsafe at speed. That said, you shouldn't need them after every track day.

If you can, go to a good race shop with alignment gear and tell them what you want to do. They'll probably be able to come up with a compromise alignment that lets you end up with decent toe out on track when you add camber without going too much toward toe-in on the street. If you're only making small (1-1.5 degree) changes, it should be within the realm of possibility.

The shimmed camber arm adjustment of the SPL v2 arms is very precise and repeatable (as measured across three different occasions and two different alignment machines on my car), so as long as you aren't changing other things on the suspension, you should be able to make those adjustments on the fly with confidence.

One thing you might need to check out is the aggressive offset you're running and its clearance of the front fender when in stock alignment. The extra camber at the track should tuck the tops in a bit, but at near-stock measurements your wide rim + 15mm wider offset could mean some rubbing. Not sure about that though. Just an area I'd be sure to check out before driving it much.