I own a 2055 350Z with a few mods, including a slightly lower suspension, with Hotchkis TVS Stage I sway bar and springs, 18" wheels and tires, Rotara Big Brake Kits front and rear, SPC upper (A) control arm and GRreddy strut tower bar. After all these items were installed I had an alignment done and everything was perfect. Then someone told me about end points and how I should have upgraded the end points because of the added stress the Hotchkis sway bars placed on the OEM's, so I ordered and install the SPC end points. Things seemed to work well for a while then I started hearing rattling or creeking from the suspension, especially when I turned into my driveway or went over a bump or pot hole. I had it checked several times at several places and they found nothing. Finally I was told the lower control arm bushings were worn out and needed to be replaced. So, I ordered the OEM replacement arms from Nissan and had them installed and the problem went away, only to return about 3 months later.
I haven't taken the car back to the speed shop that did the suspension work and lower control arm replacement, as I wanted to get feedback from the Forum. I don't want to just replace the lower control arm again, I want to know what the problem is and correct that. Then if the control arm has to be replaced than so be it.
Any good advise would be greatly appreciated.
PM me if you have something good to share.

 

Great thread/posts Jason et al
I have had to figured out most on my own and would have save myself some headaches reading this first. My z is a DD and track car in summer and i do all my suspension work myself to convert it from one setup to the other.
My current suspension setup after alot of chopping and changing is almost where i want it but for a few upgrades am about to get. i learnt one thing for sure...you get what you pay for

Car:
- 35th aniversary edition or GT4 edition as its known here across the pond

Engine:
- Various bolt-on mods with UTEC tunning resulting in 270WHP

Transmission:
Japspeed Short shifter(40% throw reduction)

Tyres & wheels:
- 19 x 9.5 ET25 with Michelin pilot sports 2 265/35/19 and 19 x 10.5 ET20 with 295/30/19 MPS2 front and rear respectively

Brakes:
- Ksport 14" BBK all round with 8pot vs 6pot callipers front and rear paired with performance friction 01 race compound pads all round and RBF 660 brake fluid.

Suspension:
- KW variant 3 coilovers OEM setup.
- Ride height 1.8 inches all round
- SPC rear camber arm and toe bolts
- Ichiba front camber arm. Utter rubbish failed with about 6k miles fast road use. no track action even!
- Power end links
- Eibach adjustable swaybars

Upgrades in pipeline:
- Complete whiteline front and rear bushing kit + subframe and diff. (would have liked all SPL but these are pricey
- Tein tie rod and end kit
- SPL front camber arm to take advantage of caster adjustment too. Was going to go for SPC but its to finnicky and not after the read here!
- Cusco etc Toe adjustable radius arm(Not ideal but SPL spring carrier arm too expensive but may not need this if i go for the true coilover setup! But would then need a proper Toe arm most like SPl as it looks top quality)
- SPL lockout kit for both toe and camber
- urethane engine and tranny mounts
- Exedy hypersingle clutch/flywheel combo

Recommendations needed:
- I really like the true rear coilover setup but not sure about the available coilovers for this are near the KW quality? I would appreciate any inputs/reco to convince me otherwise what are Stance GR+ pro like? they look the part but do they walk the walk?

- obviously I have an optimal setup for track work and always willing to try new ideas so I will appreciate some suspension (camber/toe) setup from Jason or any like minded gents here to try out

- i have looked into undercarriage bracing eg GT spec but unsure if they are worth especially with the potential weight penalty. Any any track experiences will be welcome. Might do a half cage at a later stage in lieu to combine safety and rigidity in one go instead.

- Jason do you still make the true rear Toe arm? PM price please

- finally i would like to get upgraded steering rack bushes but can't seem to find a manufactorer for the zed

 

First off, most of them dont even know what the camber specs are and just slam and camber their cars and "say" its better........same with the 350z guys so its no different.......

those quivering on this thread and other like it are mostly daily driven owners that want "in spec" alignments to save tires and dont care about looking cool, fads like hella flush, and all dat jazz.......


The stock specs are shown on the first page........-1.33 is the MOST negative you can get and be "green" in spec.......

sure specs like -2.0 and such are beneficial when the car is "set up" correctly for the course, event your preparing for........but to call it an all around good number is silly.......

i tweek my settings all the time......depending where im going! where im racing...etc....

ya, i hear ya.......don't get me wrong either.......most buy coilovers arms and "install it" versus "set it up" correctly.....so those kinda things bother me........especially when they talk ish but dont know what the hell they are talking about!!?!??!

as for S chassis and Z33 chassis suspension! they are WORLDS different!

S chassis is cheaper old school Macpherson strut design........the Z uses a much better SLA suspension design (read first post/page again).......main point "utilizing an upper control arm"..........240's don't have upper control arms...the coilovers themselves take "lateral loads"...........ie, once again machperson strut design vs 350z SLA design...

the Z is a great bang for the buck suspension design on a NOW cheap to buy used car.........track car, etc...

-J

 

The spring bucket is the toe adjustment location, the camber arm is the arm forward of it! You will need a rear camber arm "IF" you are low enough that you cant get into rear specs..........see page 1 for the specs and identification of which arms are which....

most do two alignments.....one to see if their drop is too low or not to get in spec with the factory eccentric bolts.........if you cant get into spec, then you will need the eccentric bolt kit mentioned many times in this thread....along with rear camber arm etc........once again......once you know how far out of spec you are....

the spl bucket arm is baller!!

The kinetixs arms are 239 shipped..........

its either that or bad inner tire wear........all dependant on your drop height...

-J

 

I guess I'll help Jason out here because I've raced S30s and Z33s. One of the big reason's we run lots of negative camber on the front of the S30 is that is has very little camber gain in bump. So, as the car rolls in the corner you actually lose negative camber in relation to the ground. It gets even worse when the car is lowered to the point that the front LCA is parallel to the ground.

Increasing caster helps reduce that problem and I've run as much a +9 in my racing 240Z. That tends to slow the car down in the corners because you're dragging the inside wheel but it helps putting power down by loading the inside rear wheel. Its a compromise and you compromise in the direction of faster lap times, not what the books or the Internet says.

The Z33 has an order of magnitude better suspension and gains a lot of camber in bump. You generally don't need as much static camber to begin with. Also, wider tires require less static negative camber. On my 350Z I run -1.9 in front and -1 in back all the time (street, autox, track) just because my adjustment is custom offset bushings in front. Too much trouble to adjust back and forth.

Comparing the alignment settings, spring rates, shock valving, etc. between he two cars is basically useless. There is just too much of a difference.

 

^ thank you Beta...

-J

 

sounds to me as your talking about endlinks and then bushings on the lower control arms............see page 2 where i give part numbers and pics, along with links to whiteline bushing replacements.

-J

 

not bad so far....yes, ichiba front arms bite!

great choices.........see my "Drifting 101" thread for more info on tie rods..

Try looking at more upper end units....see here for more details:
https://my350z.com/forum/brakes-and-...ic-thread.html

I wouldn't know with out knowing the track, etc and style to give advice....i set my car up moreso for drifting than anything else........

-The front LOWER GT spec under brace is moot.....the k-member is steel, the GT spec brace does little to none there..

- The front fender gtspec braces are good and hidden! lol... those help..

- the rear are helpful as the subframe lugs hang down and they do give more support from flexing the "hanging lugs"........the rear tie brace, and rear whatever they call it brace...lol...

- the chassis under braces im sure help, the a correctly built roll cage will do more for you..........maybe try removing the two black large "W-braces" under the car and stich weld those along with added steel would be more beneficial
over GT spec i would say....

I haven't seen any, but im sure you can find something to work as the rack isn't anything special..........Ive often wondered this as well, but so far haven't seen a need........mine and others I have seen have held up and haven't moved to warrant needing after market...

-J

 

Thanks Jason for your reply which addresses most things.

WRT to the steering bush there is nothing wrong with it but i would have prefered more steering feel rather than the very soft factory bush which absorbs all road feel for the comfort of Joe Public
I will take the OEM bush out when doing my suspoension bushes and see if i can find or adapt a polyurathane bush to work

 

anytime......anything specific i may have missed, let me know......etc..

ya i hear ya.....i havent cared to much as the steering rack has stayed planted.......u are talking about the steering rack bushings correct?

-J

 

Hey Jason, great thread learned a lot by skimming through it.

My suspension goals are for street and very mild track use. (Probably way overkill but I like things done correctly)

My setup so far:

Zeal Function Xs coilovers (true rear setup)
Cusco Sway Bars
SPL Rear Camber Arms
SPL RearTraction links
SPL Front & Rear Endlinks
Whiteline Rear Traction Subrame Urethane Bushing Kit (Not installed yet, willing to replace with something else if necessary)
Custom 4 Point Roll Cage with B-Pillar Gussets and Rear Point Gussets

Parts planning to purchase:
SPL Rear Toe Rods
SPL Front Camber Arms v3
SPL Eccentric Lockout Kit (Do I need 2 of these kits for the rear? One for Toe, one for Camber?)
SPL Front Compression Rod Bushings
SPL Solid Differential Mounting Bushings


Is it ok to mix whiteline urethane bushings with SPL solid bushings? What other bushings would you recommend I purchase?

Also I didn't see this pointed out but it may be a good idea discussing the differences between urethane and solid bushings. I found this article http://www.suspensionwholesale.com/A...d/Default.aspx

Thanks!

 

Jason,

so i have the SPC camber arms and toe bolts sitting in my room. you are saying if i get some toe arms, the toe bolts wouldn't need to installed at all? ANd doesn't slip out of toe spec for a daily driver?

Besides the SPL and Stance toe arms, what other brands are good for a very low car? Thanks bro.

 

Superblack you don't need toe bolts if you get toe rods for the rear.

 

^^ ah ok, nice. Thanks Dikspiel. Adjustment should be the same or better correct? i'm pretty low.

 

Thanks for the breakdown. I have a full SPL suspension setup for my S14 right now, so once i can finally get rid of this car and get my hands on a Z i will be going the same route. This information really helped me get a head start in the right direction, i appreciate it man.

 

great question, id like to know this as well.

 

Much more range of adjustment with a toe rod. Its also the proper way to do it if your slammed. Get the traction links as well so you can remove the midlink from your suspension.

 

YES! you need two kits! one for tow and one for camber "SO LONG AS" you have an adjustable camber arm "AND" an adjustable toe arm (true set up) "OR" the SPL pro midlink (OEM set up).


-J

 

Your right, i just dont like your wording......

nothing can be removed completely........it can be "REPLACED with an adjustable part" but not "removed and eliminated"

all three rear lower arms must be used.......if they are replaced with aftermarket adjustable arms, then great, but all 3 must be mounted and used......

im sure you knew that......but i try to be as clear as possible....


-J

 

not bad, but i would loose the whiteline subframe bushing kit...go with the sikky manufacturing solid subframe kit....

i say this having read your "planned to purchase" list......

awesome list..........yes, you need two for rear since you are getting rear spl toe rods (spring bucket replacement arms).


yes its okay to do so, but there is a much more proper way to doing it.......

FRONT:
well, since you are purchasing SPL front upper control arms - which mount to the car with solid rod ends, AND your purchasing the SPL compression rod bushing, then your best bet is to get the SPL inner translink bushing:

This one:
http://www.importpartspro.com/splflbbiz33z33.html
Now, if you stop and think about it, that is all the "4" spindle to "car" mounting points.......so since they are all solid, they can move freely with out any friction from any one point being a urethane bushing where the others are solids.....get it??

more on front:
So, that leaves the translink "outter" bushing left.......this is the coilover to translink mount location........that one is MOOT and is prefectly acceptable to purchase whiteline over Solid as it doesnt articulate but a few degrees in motion with the lower shock pivot point..

so that saves u a some cash at least.....


will read it later, nite.

-J