Sorry for the late reply........those are high cost there they are charging you...have you seen my DIY on replacing those bushings yourself??

at least removing the arms and hand carrying them along with the bushings to a shop will cut your cost down drastically on having a shop install them on the arms and not full car removal/reinstall, etc..

-J

 

FIRST OFF - there is no caster in the rear - that is a Front only term - however the thought process for what were describing is correct in terms that its very similar to adjusting caster in the rear - moreso the correct usage would be rear thrust angle would change with adjustment at the RADIUS ROD (ie, item 23 shown here from post #2):


Literally all alignments done are "thrust angle alignments" - the way shops do alignments is by connecting the sensors to all the tires, but electronically they adjust the fronts based on the rears....SO, when you do ish like turn the passenger side radius rod 3 turns, exposing say 3 threads on the rod end which effectively makes the after market radius rod LONGER, you then have jacked up the rear thrust angle IF you didnt do exaclty the same LENGTH to the drivers side.

adjusting there is not the correct location for doing any alignment adjustments - yes moving them does move toe and camber, but it isnt the correct point to do it from as it moves toe and caster at the 'same time' where as the actual camber adjust point (item 22 - front lower link-aka rear camber arm) and the actual toe adjust point (item 21 - rear lower link - aka spring bucket) do so without affecting one or the other ~ if not ubber slightly...

ie - adjusting #23 radius rod longer in on the drivers side with out doing the same on the passenger side will yeild this:


-J

 

See my pic attached:

1 - SPL - due to this being the mount point of the dynamic (moving) suspension - it needs to articulate freely....whiteline is fine here as its sleeved and friction from bushing contact to the sides of the k-member is minimal and not that great. so whiteline there is fine - see my pic comments on track versus daily.
2 - whiteline - as this point articulates on an arc that is very gradual....no need for anything more really...
3 - rear lower shock to rear knuckle mount should be SPL - he would have this single bushing separetly on his site, not sure if he still does, but if not call him and ask him for that one only.

4 - spring bucket arm - no unless damaged, i doubt it.
- rear spindle ~ rear knuckle, no other than item 3 above.
- Traction arms ~ again item 23 radius rods - no, not for your usage.

- front upper A-arms - whilteline - again, because they are sleeved
- rear upper A-arms - whiteline - again sleeved

-J

 

Can anyone give me their opinion on a setup I plan on running?

550lbs springs front
200lbs rear
^on a true coilover setup of course with dampers valved accordingly

Cusco front swaybar on stiff
motordyne rear swaybar on medium

ride height at 25.75" from ground to center of fender on all four corners

Front
-1.8 camber
.05 toe

rear
-1.6camber
.13 toe

255/40 18 bridgestone re760 all around

This will be on a DD g35 coupe that will see the occasional HPDE and canyon road. Can any of you guys provide constructive criticism or maybe even suggestions? Any word would help, especially with the spring rates and sway bars as im waiting on pulling the trigger with those.

 

The only thing i can offer here is that the Motordyne bar is amazing on medium on my car, it feels very balanced.
Only other thing i would offer is, why not pair it with the front MD bar? also, not sure about putting the front on full stiff, might be too much.

 

I have both front and rear motordyne bars. I feel the front isnt stiff at all. I get a crap load of roll at the front. Maybe i set it wrong? ill double check tomorrow...

 

Yes, definitely check the front setting, if it's still not right, i would highly recommend calling MD in the new year as they stand by their products and will gladly chat about it.

 

I don't doubt tony or his service. I live 20 minutes away from him haha. These sways were great for a while but im changing my setup ever so slightly and now i feel like i need a stiffer bar up front. Although I highly question how such a small bar(25mm if i recall) could be advertised to be so stiff. Its not like the overall design is vastly different from other bars. Whiteline, who has a 32mm solid bar doesnt even advertise such high levels of stiffness.

 

Run your sway bars a lot softer, no need to reduce your cornering grip.

 

softer front? rear? or both? should i even bother with upgrading to a cusco front bar or stick with the questionable 25mm motordyne bar?

 

Motordyne is great, no need for different bars. Roll control is done with your springs , swaybars for fine tuning. Start as soft as possible and add rate to eliminate under or over steer.

 

Hi jason,
I'm in the process of putting my true coilover system with camber and toe arm with the lockout washer kit.
I've read on other threads that toe arm ain't the way to go to correct toe because it affects the caster in the rear. If you keep those arms the rear will have problem in corner balancing and the alignement become very hard to do. Is it true ? Did you have this problem ? I really don't want to use those crappy spc bolts but it seems to be the only way to go to really "correct" the toe adjustement. Thanks for answering.

 

The toe arm you want is the version that replaces the spring bucket arm. Some companies sell a traction arm as a toe arm, and are wrong.

 

Everytime i go for alignment check, it's my front right side's toe that's always messed up more than the left side. Could this be caused by some loose parts in the suspension?
I have SPL compression bushings, ES lower control arm bushings.

 

well, if its every single time, then i would suspect something....

get the car in the air and get a flash light on every little bushing, etc...look for signs of movement, look for rub/wear marks, etc...

toe in the front is adjusted by the steering rack TIE RODS.....SOooo, if toe is your only issue on the RH side, then i would inspect the rh steering rack itself, the tie rods and the "knuckle" to tie rod ball joint that mounts at the bottom of the steering knuckle. check everything there.

see this pic:

-J

 

EXACTLY!! read my post #715.

many aftermarket companies haphazardly name the item #23 radius rod as a "toe arm" when it is NOT at all the correct location to adjust TOE on the 350z. Terrasmak referred to it as a "traction arm" , also another name some aftermarket companies uses.........and essentially that's what it does, just not what it is technically called on the 350z service manual....

In the rear end suspension world those fwd facing arms (commonly seen in 4x4 rigs) are what provide traction, keeping the axle straight!.....any who......you dont need those....leave item #23 a dammn alone....

True coilover set up:
If you are going to a true coilover suspension then you need aftermarket adjustable toe arms that replace the spring bucket (Location - Item#21-rear lower link -aka the spring bucket) - pair that with some lock out washers.

Leave your OEM item #23 radius rod ALONE.....(unless they are damaged or bushings bad or something, but highly unlikely)

Then get rear aftermarket adjustable camber arms - and pair those with lock out washers.

done!
-J

 

thanks for response, jason.
How would this steering rack itself have an affect on the toe?
The right side of the steering rack is leaking but i believe the wear issue was already there before it started leaking

 

the tie rods (which is how front toe is adjusted) are attached to the steering rack...look for any signs of steering rack damange....

if the RH side of the steering rack is leaking ( a common issue with the 350z rack by the way) then with out taking it apart and seeing what gives, then you can pin point if the leak damage to the rack is "LOOSE" to where its causing RH toe to go out...

with the car on a lift, tires on track style 4 post lift, grab the rh tie rod and push pull and see if there is any "wiggle" in the rack due to the internal leak damage....

When i say inspect, i mean check everything you can - best of your abilities......

a leaky steering rack can simply be a o-ring leakage -- which in turn will have no affect on your toe being off, OR it can be the rh side of the rack loose, wiggling in turn "causing a leak" that then in fact be the reason why your toe is off..

inspect it all..

-J

 

My house in DFW had a sharp bump up onto, RH 120 degree turn into the driveway that we would have to cut in order to drive into the drive way.....

My Nissan Xterra RH side toe was always out every time i went for alignment (I have NTB 5 year alignment and check my vehicles regularly) and so then i suspected the RH tie rod to be torn or loose....

with the Xterra on the lift, i wiggled the RH tie rod and got a slight movement..the tie rod ball joint boot was NOT busted or anything, but still it wiggled a wee bit....

Nissan toe degree range is sooo dammn small, i knew the wiggle was the culprit...

I ordered a new RH tie rod, installed it myself on the Xterra, went for alignment and got it all set...from there i went back again in 2 months and my RH toe (which had normally been off every time) was still in the green....

it doesnt take much....

-J

 

oh wow.. i will definitely go check out.
Since my car is low and i most of the times have to go at a sharp angle over a bump, i guess these parts will get messed up again after replacing them