Stillen A-arms don't fit. What now?
 

About a year ago, I had Eibach springs installed. Today, we installed Stillen A-arms, as well as Koni shocks, Stillen adjustable camber & toe arms, and a rear big brake kit on my 03 G35s. (I know this is a 350Z forum, but I think there are many who frequent this site who can help me.) When the installation was completed, the tires went back on, the car was let down from the lift, and then... trouble. When the car was moved to another lift for the alignment, we found that the tops of the front A-arms were touching the inside/top of the wheel wells! The car isn't safe to drive.

Do you think something with the installation is wrong, or did Stillen supply me the wrong A-arms? The outside of the box indicated the A-arms were for the G35 sedan. I watched my mechanic do the install, which was straightforward. We were both shocked to find the contact inside the front wheel wells. Aside from putting the stock A-arms back on, I don't know what to do... Crap! :icon16:

Any gems to be had here??? Thank you.

I am not sure about the tillen ams but they should be different side to side. (passenger on driver side.)
You can always check out the 350evo front control arms.
;)

Cheers
BJ@350evo.com

Yes, there's a "right" and a "left" arm, which installation you can't really screw up, because they are very well marked "R" & "L". As a matter of fact, I don't think you could mount them on the wrong side, even if you tried. This is so perplexing, because we can't imagine what went wrong. Any help?

Call Stillen and ask them directly whatm they think the problem is...

That's definitely on my schedule for Monday morning. I've never had a problem before with Stillen, or their parts. I'm starting to wonder if the problem is related to the Koni shocks, and not the A-arms...

Thanks.

The shock mount points are fixed with no adjustment features so this wouldn't have any effect. I've heard of another A-arm that also hit the inner wheel wells (sold by Performance Nissan) but that didn't appear to be a consistent issue with all installs.

Good news! I called Stillen this morning, and between Kenny and Marshall, as well as the input here, we were able to work-out the problem in about an hour. Stillen actually put a car up on a lift to help them troubleshoot our installation. As it turns out, there was no problem with the A-arms after all. We had a minor "installation snafu" that, once adjusted, created the required clearance. Now all I have to do is dial-in the Konis. It's a little "floaty" right now... Thanks to all for your helpful input. I transferred all the info I got to my mechanic, who was able to quickly make the needed adjustment. Phew! Dodged another bullet. :icon38:

hey dwnshift...I don't suppose you give discounts to NASA members on those control arms? hehe... :icon44:

The floaty feel is a byproduct of the soft initial spring rates on the Eibachs, you can mess with the rebound control on the Koni's, but you'll only kill it off by going to a different spring, especially one that is linear or one that doesn't have such soft intial spring rates, like oem Z springs as a example. Even Tein H-tech's for the Z would be a better choice.

Give an update once you get a feel for the new suspension. I want to know what the Z is capable of! :)

After driving my car about 100 miles since my Koni installation, I understand my initial perception of floatiness much better. I think what is really different is I no longer have a bone-jarring ride. I used to *feel* every wrinkle on the pavement with the Eibach/stock shock combo. I crave to feel connected to the road, but it was just too much jolting around town.

The new Eibach/Koni combo is different: I only *hear* most minor impacts on the tires, now. I don't feel every one of them as before. The car feels as sure-footed as ever. I just don't get beat up driving around on these poor excuses for [Memphis] roads anymore.

I have not done any adjusting since the installation. We started the car out with all shocks set to least firm all around. Before I left the shop, I decided to adjust the front shocks 1/2-turn toward firm. That's where they remain today. Anyone have a specific recommendation with regard to adjusting my Konis for an optimal ride? Or, of those who have their Konis set to their liking, how have you set your Konis front & back? Please advise. Thanks everybody.

You will only want to stray off of full soft on the rebound control because you have specific reason's to do so. Most owner's that have the Koni's follow Koni's recommended settings which is full soft. Go here and skip to page 13 and 14 and read about, "Adjusting the rebound damping control" It will set the stage on what to look for if you do change the rebound control up from full soft. http://www.koni-na.com/pdfcatalogs/K...ortCatalog.pdf

Thanks.