Hi everyone,

I installed the tokico d-spec shock and spring combo (just to give you an idea of how "low" I am) and I was wondering if swapping out my lower steering knuckle ball joints for the roll center adjuster ball joints, such as those offered by megan racing, would be worth it or necessary, etc.

Opinions from someone with experience with this would be great.

Thanks

 

OK, Rear Camber arms Rear Toe arms and Front UCA Installed. Heres the alignment sheet....LMK what you think I have 18 inch Factory wheels Rear Eibach camber Arms, Custom Toe Arms and Front kinetix Upper Camber Arms and Hotchkis Sway bars front and rear. BC Racing TRUE coilovers. Converted from OEM style. Will post pictures later but heres my alignment sheet finally....



Some are off what or how does it look, anything I should fix or work on?

 

The idea of the roll center adjusters is sound, but I'd have to see a model of the suspension or play with a real setup without the shocks and sway bar to see what the angle improvements look like. I'd love to know if others have used it with improvement to the range.

 

New one looks good, wouldn't worry about anything on that after/correction sheet.

 

What about the rear toe and the rear Camber since I have toe & Camber adjustment shouldn't I be closer? The tail end is kicking out too easy.....that's why I'm concerned....

 

I do see where that rear end would be a little free, slight toe in and slight toe out on the other side. If you feel its not comfortable make sure they get the right rear on the other side by .05-.12. (meaning both tires toe'd in).

 

^ ya, with toe arms and camber arms with lock out washers you can match up both sides perfectly!.. I get my alignment tech to get it on point every time!!

I grab the car from the subframe and pull up and down on it, hang like a monkey and then let it go and then make sure it comes right back to perfect...both sides...

your looking good though, just have them adjust it better...
-J

 

Im going back to see about getting them to get it closer to what I want. They bottomed out on one side when setting the toe and just stopped. I think all I have to do is take the toe bolt on the wheel side and bring it out a little and let them re adjust it once again.

As for the rear tire spinning, I think it was a combo of the everything set to hard on the BC Racing Coilovers and sway bars set to hard. At first I thought it was because of everything set to hard so I set the rear to med ( Middle hole) and turned the coilover settings to 20 clicks from the softest.

Then I went back to re read this thread from the start and noticed that the factory ride height for a "Road Star" was 26.80 front and 27.80for the rear. Then I was looking at my set up and thought I leveled my car up at 26.5 all the way around. Thinking that would be a good place to start, keeping the car level. But looking at it seemed lower in the rear. This is where I was just thinking, SELF...Should my rear be and inch higher than the front ever how low I am? Cause thats the way the factory settings are. So, what I was thinking I kinda like the rear where it is maybe I should just lower the front another inch?

Then I was thinking maybe that why I am getting so much wheel spin on the right rear?( Plus thats the side that has 11 toe IN and the left side is 7 toe OUT)? Then Cause its level and even with the factory height its an inch lower in the front. ( From fender to the ground ). Does this or any of it sound right? Any thoughts would be great. Im learning or trying to!

As far as what I am going for Drag,auto cross etc.....I am wanting just a spirited street car. Something I get aggressive with from time to time .

 

I have a question regarding rear camber and this post a little while back sort of covered what I was asking.

My wheels are 19x8.5 and 19x9.5 with 245/35/and 275/25 tyres. Daily drive 90-95% of time with 5-10% spirted (but within speed limit) mountain squirts. Rear camber is currently around -2.0 left and right.

What would be a recommended camber (ie: how low) could I reduce the rear camber to improve tyre longevity? At this recommended level what, if any, handling differences would I expect?

Tyres are Pilot Super Sports so grip is fantastic at the moment. Would like to not wear them out quicker than needed and I don't need as much grip as I have for 95% of my driving. Looking for the right balance.

 

THe less camber, the less mod corner grip you have. I recomend -1.6 to -1.8 for a non tracked car.

 

Questions like this are more a driver fine tune and balance....try different specs and decide how you like how "your" z handles with each one, if even at all noticeable on "normal" daily driving.

The technical answer would be:
A lower camber would put more tire contact patch to the ground when driving STRAIGHT, so your inner tire wont get so worn out quickly....

I recommended -1.3 for that other guy as quoted above, me personally, knowing my tire selection, driving habits, financial ability to buy more tires, etc, etc and "IF" i were to daily drive a Z i would be at -1.6 to -1.8 like terrasmack mentioned....


TO ALL:
Guys, im not claiming any holy grail to suspension.......im just the guy that took the time to post "a general understanding" to the Z's suspension.

I encourage everyone to read, learn, fine tune and balance to your style.....

*** if i had it my way everyone would be a drifter!

-J

 

Thanks guys - just the balanced response I was hoping for. Cheers.

 

Got the new Kinetix Rod end with the new dust boot.

 

Thats exactly what they needed to do to make their arm the unarguable next best option to the SPL arms.

The boot and adding the Conical Seating sleeve is hat they needed.

 

^ yes...nice...boot and sleeve look great....

I would still say they arent better than spl...spl upper arms let you adjust caster.

but nice to know that they are still investing in their product.

for those out there with the old rod ends with no sleeve, im guessing you can probably buy the rod ends from their site.....wonder if when you do the new ends come? i know they sell them on thier site directly..

-J

 

I went through the thread looking for the answer. Sorry if this has been covered.

Any quick easy tricks to replacing these bushings?

 

^ what shocks? or coilovers are those?? call whomever they are and have them send you more..

if installation callled for you to reuse the factory ones then hit up your local autoparts store- have them bring you the box to factory replacements and pull out the rubber grommets and then from there look for replacements in the autozone "HELP" section of the store or any store. they do sell those grommets in random sizes.

-j

 

They are AMRs which I bought used from the marketplace and Andy sent me new ones free anyway.

I was hoping someone had a quick r&r solution.

Thanks

 

I know this noise but mine was comng from my rear, but mine was from a loose control arm that just needed tightening. It is either your sways or your oem camber arms. I had to get camber kit because of wheel hop on the oem setup is not that good with aftermarket coilovers and you will get feathering overtime.

Also you should replace all other arms in your supension and get new sway bars. Get control arms, camber front and rear, and get traction arm. Traction arms is important because your grip greatly improves under acceleration. These arms are much stronger than oem setup but to answer the question about the noise I think it is you got a loose bolts that need tightening. Now the squeak could be from the coilovers breaking in, but I would get under the car and check for any loose bolts or have your mechanic take a look.

 

^^^ thanks for the input. I've narrowed it down to my UCA. I'll be replacing those next.