right on J.

I'm pulling the coilovers off. orginally i had plans to get the aligned and pick up tires tomorrow and be done. Now tomorrow/thrusday i'll be pulling off my coilovers, unless upon inspect i see something off. But i think most things are installed correctly.

I bought a lifetime alignment at firestone. It was $125 for once time or $150 for lifetime. Paired up with a $25 coupon i got. And other shops i've called and talked to wanted $100 + $50 per hour for a "performance alignment " which they say i'm in.

Getting everything back STOCK. minus the toe bolt and camber kit. And seeing if they can align it correctly. I have vacation time next month + school is out so i do have time to play with the car. If they cant get it back to stock specs at stock height something is WRONG. Or maybe my car is a nuts.

That firestone did my friend's TSX which is SLAMMED and somehow they got him good to go, only issue he had was getting the car on the rack. It might of been the tech. Since that firestone had about 6 bays and 1 alignment bay (above ground)

I was googling around for some help at work today and i found this....

http://blog.stillen.com/installation...-installation/

Stillen toe arm. Runs about $250-300, a little different style... what are your thoughts on this...

 

I understand that, i hope that you do figure out what it is.....

I understand that, time is what its about these days.......

odds are its something in the set up....you yourself said it was fine before and if it wasnt then you would have had a drivers side tire all worn out if it was like that before...

See here:
https://my350z.com/forum/8296516-post46.html

-J

 

my defination of fine was that i've owned the car for a year now, 8000 miles on it and no tire wear issues... i define that as fine. if rear toe was out that much then obviously after 8000 the rear tire would look pretty obviously worn to some extent.

 

^ ya, exactly, so it has to be something else off somewhere........im hope'n you find it when you get time to work on it...

-J

 

^ cool because i thought maybe you thought i had an alignment prior to this... The scanned sheet was the first alignment on this car.


I got some time today =)

 

Got home today at 4:30 and started at 5, got to the shop at 6:10, 4 miles from my house. 2 hours later.

ok... here is my new alignment numbers, from what i learned from you guys in the past day. these are a LOT better. I'm happy caster is better and even. i thought there was no adjustments... somehow this guy did it.



This with stock suspension with my SPC rear kit.

I'm running out of bandwidth so i'll just post links, if you want to see it click it if not all good.
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y18...t/P1000407.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y18...t/P1000406.jpg

I had a small amount to trim as i expected.

When i removed the toe bolt.. there was something i didn't expect. He overtighten that bolt, kinda killed and deformed the index groove on the ecetnric . Think i should get a new toe bolt/spacer. Its hard to take picture of the deformation of it but best i can do.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y18...t/P1000405.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y18...t/P1000404.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y18...t/P1000403.jpg

Here is a couple of shots of what they were orginally after the alignment, well better shots. both were kinda even but not at 90*
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y18...t/P1000394.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y18...t/P1000397.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y18...t/P1000395.jpg


lastly the ecentric on the camber arms, does it matter which way they face.. right one is at 45* and left is point down...
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y18...t/P1000401.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y18...t/P1000399.jpg



This time around I somewhat watched them. again cant see the machine due to my car blocking. But he started at the rears. He did toe bolt first then camber arms. Went to the front. adjusted some stuff. started up the car and shook my steering wheel a couple of times, went back and repeated like 10 times in 30 minutes. He was done. This was a younger guy. 20-30 years old. VS the first guy who was a OG at a diffrent shop. This was a 6 month old machine hunter above ground machine.

So what do you guys think, car should be good next month with a 1.5inch drop pending the same guy does it.

Oh J, my inspection. The guy didn't tighten one of the locking nuts on both the cambers arms. Spring was aligned with bucket. Trimmed the slot more closer to template. And the toe bolt looks like crap now... all deformed... should i get a new one..

Not bad i just noticed i pulled all 4 of my coilovers off and enlogated the slot, took pictures in about an hour. I love my compressor plus the fact this is about the 10th time i done this.

 

The ecentric on the camber arm i always set to the middle before the car goes for alignment and make sure the tech knows not to touch it. I really suggest Jasons or SPL's lock outs for the camber arm mounting.

 

That is exactly WHAT i figured! see, those toe bolts have a lot of slop!! when you put the spc toe bolt through that slot in the spc eccentric washer there is a swear bout 5 degrees of float and way too much wiggle room.......

this is why i mentioned that is the front washer pointed the same direction and what not..

I have dealt with this countless times on many Z's and what i have done when i see the washer not spinning while at alignment on my car and other Z owners cars - I have the alignment tech stop, I remove the washer and that is exactly what you find............then i get a shop hammer and bang the deformed part back to flat and have them try it again!!

see, this is what was wrong to begin with. so when you do get your coilovers back installed this is what you need to watch......

next time you install them with your coilovers.

1. get a heavy duty dead blow hammer and smash the deformed/raised lip section back flat

OR

get new ones..

2. ensure that the alignment tech loosens the nut side of the spc bolt before trying to adjust toe from the head side.......

3. once he does you stand under the car and watch the eccentric washer on the nut side while he turns it on the head side of the bolt...

4. ensure that both sides follow and are both pointed the same......

5. if one stops and he keeps turning.......tell his azz to stop and go back a bit and see if it catches and does it again, while hes doing this push on the tire at the same time to help this!! push to get toe on the tire!

6. if it doesnt follow, remove the nut and that chasing washer and hammer it back flat!

I hate those spc toe bolts!

-J

 

are there better toe bolts out there...

the metal used on this washer/bolt feels A LOT cheaper then OEM. i might just go buy new ones for $20-35.


I wish i can crawl under there with the tech but i can't, they told me i can watch from the parking lot but thats about it. the guy was being a butt wipe at first but we started talking about cars and he had a lowered car so i guess he and i knew what was going on.

This shop/tech was A LOT better then the first one. And well the alignment numbers looks a lot better as well.

i didn't think about smashing it, what i did was flip the spacers around. when i took it off the worst of the 2 was on the nut side, so i put the worst on the bolt side. It was hard to me to tighten it flat to go to the shop.

 

nope, that that i know of......there are no other options......on those bolts...

I would think the best thing to do would be to have a machine shop make eccentric washers that are offset as much as the spc and have the hole cut with the V point and use the OEM Bolt! get it?

your only option out there to purchase is the SPL rear midlink to use with your spring in the spring bucket..

-J

 

that stinks... $30 bolts that are prone to doing what it did. VS $550 mid-links...

 

what is the difference between the SPC bolt/spacer and the OEM that gives it more range in toe... is it the more EGG shaped ecentric...

My father MIGHT be able to make me this. I gave him the OEM spacer and told him to get me a little thicker version of this.

The metal for the OEM feels a LOT better/stronger then the SPC one.

some one have measures of the SPC ecentric so i can have it made up?

J, how would i use the OEM bolt... if it has a FIX ecentric on one side... would that side not be able to shift towards the car as much as the SPC spacer?

 

Okay, great questions, and i have considered this, but then said screw it all and went with lockout washers and toe arms since i have true coilovers - which by far is the best and solid method!

but for you....read on....


get the two in your hands, lay them on top of each other! they are identical in physical shape.

The difference is - that the bolt itself is MORE off-centered in the spc eccentric washer!
SEEeee, notice that there is a thinner wall section from the punch side versus the oem bolt side??

the bolt goes through the washer closer to one edge??? get it??

awesome....

I agree, the spc toe bolt eccentric washer is some weak/soft steel punched out part........you can see the shear lines on the edges of it....

I dont know the exact measurements, but if i remember right its about 1.30 inch at the long side! Remember, it needs to fit between the flats of the aluminum subframe........hint, hint...


Easy make a more off centered eccentric washer that is about .125 thick and put it on the oem bolt - sliding it all the way down to the head side up against the welded existing oem eccentric washer. Drill a countersink in "Your" eccenric washer and put a screw through it INTO the oem washer, which already has a hole for it!! -- about dead center.....then use a lock washer and nut...done!

Ensure the head of the countersink is flush to YOUR washer 000/-.005.
as in - make sure its flush and not sticking up past your washers surface as that will be the subframe mating side.

Then now, you lost some length on the bolt, but I believe you will be fine, and if need be source a shorter nut!

I highly recommend prevailing torque lock nuts. the nut needs to be M12x1.25.

ALL of this is all based on if your father can make an eccentric washer with the V notch in it....and of course the other one on the head side just needs at least a 15/32 hole (wiggle it a little) in it to fit the M12 bolt.........maybe even 31/64ths..


-J

 

i'm having a issue with the right rear now. It is vibrating like the wheel is out of balance and is making noise. Metal squeek or something close to it...

think its the TOE bolt flexing and giving play making the wheel WOBBLE?

I might just put in the STOCK toe bolt since they are good..