Hello everyone! I've made a few posts, and revived a few ancient threads. Have been lurking and reading for a bit now. Learning a lot! I also combed through at least 10 pages or posts about autocross and alignment, but didn't find exactly what I was looking for.

I ran my very first autocross event on Sunday 4/17 with the Gulf Coast Region SCCA club here in Pensacola, FL. This was my very first ANYTHING related to racing of any kind. It was a life changing event. Absolutely the coolest thing I have ever done in my life. I haven't shut up about it since Sunday... my wife is already sick of me.

My front tires were already bald on the inside edge, so I decided to run them hard one last time before getting two new ones. Back tires were healthy with 7/32 of tread remaining. I had the car at the local Nissan dealership on Tuesday 4/12 to have belts and plugs changed out. Also, had the alignment checked. Everything was perfect heading into race weekend. I say all of this to establish that the alignment issue was not caused by daily driving.

I took the car into today to get the new tires for the front. Attached is a scan of the alignment. I've asked a few friends in person if it is normal to see this much movement on the alignment caused by autox. I've heard a resounding NO three times now. So my question - do you think it is normal to see this much movement on alignment after an autox event?

If yes, thanks! I'll go get the 5 year/unlimited mileage alignment plan at PepBoys for $180, and move on (great tip I found on the forum here).

If no, what is going wrong?

Thanks in advance!

 

Welcome to the addiction of autox haha, you'll enjoy it I promise.

How many miles are on your car and when is the last time you've checked/replaced:
tie-rod ends
ball-joints
wheel bearings
Control-arm bushings
Compression-arm bushings?

Any chance you had "feathering" on the inside of your tires or was it a consistent wear line?

I had feathering issues on the front of my car, my outer tie-rod ends were trashed. Tire looked like this:

 

Good questions...

Mileage = 116,000

Just had a lower control arm replaced about a month and a half ago. As a part of that, Nissan also replaced a "knuckle"... not even sure what that is, but it was expensive.

As far as the rest of those things, I do not know much about cars. I have basically just been telling the Nissan service writer to check EVERYTHING, and to not hold back. I keep asking "is everything good to go?". They keep saying yes.

 

Keep in mind that dealer inspections cover a WIDE range of variables and asking a question like that only means the car is at minimum spec. Otherwise, the dealer cannot cover putting parts in for OPTIMUM performance- that would cost way more than the car itself.

At 116,000 miles, most of your bushings and suspension components have seen better days. Replacing them all is prohibitively expensive, so read your solo rule book and pick out a few major components (shocks, swaybars, etc) and consider replacing them first as you learn about your Z. Replacing one thing at a time allows you to learn, and feel, how it affects your car.

 

Check your front UCA bushings, lower control arm bushings, compression rob bushings, rack bushings, tie rod inner and outer ends for the front.

For the rear, check the sub frame bushings, spring bucket (both ends), camber arm (both ends), traction arm (both ends). also make sure your eccentric washers are very tight and mark them to check for slippage.

 

If any are blown, i recommend taking it to a different shop and getting polyurethane bushings put in. Nissan is going to be much more expensive to fix any of this and a reputable shop will be able to make it better for cheaper.

 

Great advice. Thanks everyone. Off to spend $$$.

 

This is really important because I want to stay in C Street. I'll look around on the forum for ideas on these.

 

Just a heads up. No poly urethane bushings are allowed in Street class with the exception of the bushings on your one sway bar you can replace. I recommend front if you do replace one.