more than anything else, road conditions, lower profile tires, stiffer suspension - all these work hand in hand in hand, and introduce more overal load on the endlinks (and any other suspension component). The weakest link tends to fail first.

 

it very well may be none of those things. In fact the first thing I'd check is your tires, followed by alignment. I've spent over $1000 in alignments to date on my Z. Primarily because each shop I brought it to swore up and down it was "in spec" only to find out that, in fact, their machines were out of spec and as a result, so were my settings. On a car at stock height with stock size wheels and tires, you've got much more wiggle room. As you lower the car, and push the boundries of suspension geometry with bigger wheels/tires, lower offsets, a perfect alignment becomes far more critical. I now only bring my car to one shop/dealer, in CT (a 2 hour drive for me, though shorter when I take the ferry). My good friend is one of the top techs there (it's a Ferrari/Bugatti/Aston dealer), and their machines are absolutely in perfect spec. After wasting all that money, in 2 hours he dialed the car in perfectly and as a result, he's the only place I use now

 

This is true - if you have swaybar preload present. I know on my own Z, there is none, and you can't get much lower than my car sits. That's why we're using my car for the testing, since it sits lower than most people's.


true to a point, but you can really minimize this to the point of it not being an issue by using the right compound of material, the right carrier for the bushing you use, and the right bushing design.

 

I don't quite think it's an alignment issue because the issue got progressively worse overtime (I actually got an alignment last week from a REALLY good mechanic). I've seen Z's that have been slammed without alignments driving for months even years without having the issues i've been having. The Loose End feeling actually started when I first put my Hotchkis sway bars in (the day after basically) my stock sways and OEM shocks held up fine before this. However, when those Hotchkis went on, (this was 2 months ago) I figured this feeling might be because of the added stiffness, but I knew something was up. Now fast-forward to today with upgraded coilovers, GT Spec bars, End Links n such, the problem that was only seen on the highway introduced itself to daily straight line driving and wobbles all the time now.

I talked to my mechanic about it and he suggested to put back in the OEM swaybar to see if that solved any issues since that was the cause of it in the first place. However, I don't see what could get "worse" with a swaybar, it's pretty much solid unless the bushings go bad or bolts run loose.

Worse comes to worse, I'm going to tear apart the entire rear end, re-torque all the bolts, and move on from there.

 

This is why I have my car aligned with good old fashioned strings (or lazers). Unitech racing and TC have aligned my car without expensive hunter racks and my car never felt better.

Abui01, if your car is swaying and moving as bad as you say it is, it sounds like you've got issues beyond your end links. In fact I'm running no sways right now (since tony has my end links) and the car feels fine. Have you checked your wheel bearings? They have been known to be weak points on a tracked car. I am replacing mine this winter as preventative maintenance.

 

all mine were done on Hunter equipment as well - still does not amount to much because its all down to the person using the machine and whether or not the machine is calibrated to begin with. Garbage in = garbage out

 

Any recommendations as to what I should do? is there a shop/place i can take my car in to have them look at the endlinks and tell me if i need new ones, of it something in the suspension is loose?

 

The weather is clear and dry today and the car magically fixed itself. Yesterday it was rainy and nasty and the car wobbled like crazy. This seems to be... as odd as it sounds.. weather related.

Okay, So I go back under the car and checked the end links, somehow the driver's side got loosened up within a day of driving. I take out the Hotchkis sway bar and replace it with a Cusco piece, tightened down all the bolts EXTRA EXTRA tight, and the ride has once again magically been restored.... *very stumped at the moment*

POSSIBLE PROBLEM:
I narrowed it down to a few factors. Since the Hotchkis bar provided that extra stiffness to the rear and my tires back there are fairly BALD, any bump in rainy weather may have caused the tires to skid from left to right ever so slightly. It would've caused enough vibration throughout the car to sway the chasis without actually making any "tire skip" noises.

Plans:
I'm gonna drive it around for a few days on the Cusco rear bar to see if there are any changes or if it gets worse again. I'm waiting for the next rainy day to test this theory out, but in the meantime, I'm purchasing new tires since I'll need them anyways.

 

Okay, after having someone else drive my car, i have deduced that it is no longer my imagination and it is NOT how the car would naturally behave when modded with extra stiff merchandise. I have concluded that it is *bump steer,* and the toe settings need to be adjusted. I googled up definitions on bump steer and the symptoms seem to be what I am exhibiting. Conclusion: Camber Arms. After I installed the SPC camber arms and toe bolts + got an alignment, my mechanic said he couldnt get the rear right wheel to align back to specs, it's currently at -2.1 instead of -1.5 and it points inward. When I drive straight, I notice the car turns ever so slightly to the left. Everytime I hit a bump, it seems to *self steer* itself into a random location. I'm going to get it aligned at the Ferrari dealership since they have tools to dial out bump steer and correct the steering rack and toe angles.

 

any updates? also what are the syn tomes of wheel bearing failure?

 

subscribing

 

Bump . . . looking for updates on prototypes.

 

Still in the design phase at the moment. Remember, ours are going to be a CNC'd piece, not just rod ends and bearings that we can assemble from readily available parts, so it will be a little while till we have working prototypes to test out.

 

About how long is a little while? I currently stripped my Z's interior to wire up my new sound system and gauges so it will be parked for the next couple of weeks. I would have wanted to have this problem resolved by then but from the looks of it this product wont be available for sale anytime soon. I have one completely busted front end link and now the other one is giving away as well. All the things mentioned above that could cause this failure I have: lowered & stiffer suspension, larger heavier rims and bumpy roads. So if you really want to test those new end links on an actual daily driven vehicle that takes some abuse let me know if not ill buy a set whenever you have them available. Keep me informed. Thanks!

 

At this point I cannot say how long it will be, nor will I guess - while we want to release them ASAP at the same time, I don't want to rush things for the sake of having "a" product to offer. I'd rather wait until we have something to offer that passes my own standards.

As far as testing, we own 2 heavily modded Z's in house, both which are daily driven, as well as have around 50 local customers, so testing won't be an issue at all.

 

ill pay for shipping j/k Thanks for the response. I completely understand and I know these things take time. This just seem perfect for me the daily driver and I really don't wanna mess with the adjustables. Guess I will have to leave the Z parked a while longer since its really not drivable at the moment due to the busted end link, it really sounds bad Good Luck with the project and let me know when they are ready for sale. Thanks again!

 

The last update I got from TC is that he should have something for me by the middle of this week. I'll post back as soon as I hear from him.

 

have you tried replacing the tires? i had the same issues as you, but once i got new tires it all went away. it's worth a try since you've exhausted all your options basically.

 

End of this week! =D

 

I just replaced all 4 of my endlinks on my '04 G35 sedan with the supposed oem beefier links for an '05+ model. The old endlinks were definitely shot and the balljoints moved around too freely. Probably a combo of 4 track days, numerous canyon runs and crappy cali roads. After the install I could immediately tell the car felt much more solid and the slop had gone away. But the question is how long will these new oem end links last? Would be nice to go with a solid aftermarket end link that can take abuse.