I have searched this website and read thread suspension 101. Everything I have read talks about tire wear after car has been lowered. I have a 03 touring that has not been lowered and my tires are trashed on inside front and rear. I just bought the car and knew there was a problem with suspension before buying. My questions are:

1. Should I buy wicked camber arms for rear and SPC toe bolts?

2. Should I buy anything for front since theres no camber adjustment?

3. Is it ok to run the stock 18" wheels with stock tire size? or should I get different wheels?

This car will not be tracked. Just daily driving and trips. I am looking for good tire wear and little road noise.

Please help!!!!

 

Welcome. Not certain what "trashed" means. Photos helpful.

The 350Z is a sports car and runs negative camber front and rear. That is just the way it is.

 

Thanks for reading my 101 thread and researching.....there is no real major problem so to speak but the 03-04 were known to have tire feathering where the alignment was done wrong from the factory and at that time Nissan was warranting out two new tires and giving a free alignment to owners to aid in solving the issue...

Search "tire feathering".......and you will find many OLD (circa 03-04) threads on the subject....

the best fix is what you have stumbled on researching - buying your own adjustable arms, etc and getting a good alignment done.


YES - you should buy rear camber arms (wicked is a brand and thats up to you to research and purchase).

Yes - purchase the SPC bolts. they are cheap and the only thing you can do with stock spring in the spring bucket.

both of those, with stock car height will "definitely" get you in spec....

now, you really should be able to get in spec with the oem factory eccentric washers, but i would say sag and creep on 03 shocks and springs has set in and its not a bad idea...


you are correct, from the factory there is no camber adjustment UNTIL you purchase front upper control arms... I would suggest re-reading the suspension 101 thread and you can read up more on FRONT upper control arms to adjust your inside tire wear.... I suggest reading post 7 on the Kinetics front uppers as they are 259 shipped! which is cheap in comparison to others out there..

yes of course.

if you purchase front upper control arms,
set the front camber to -.5 to -1.0 and you will be golden.
set the front toe inbetween the factory range.

rear camber set to -1.5....that is mid spec
rear toe set to inbetween the factory range.

again, see my 101 thread for the alignment specs that i show on i beleve post 3 or so..

-J

 

now, i would like to mention, that your car is an 03, and due to the age alone, you may wanna look into factory replacement shocks....the 101 thread talks about simple autoparts store replacements as well..

I would also inspect the "rear differential bushing" its a big rubber bushing in the aluminum subframe rear section that the rear differential cover mounts too..

and check the front translink bushings. search translink bushing and you will find a thread on it that i mention. this is also mentioned in the 101 thread on 2nd page or so..

-J

 

i cannot thank you enough for answering my questions! I will go back and read sections you have mentioned and check other components for wear. I did notice one side sits 1/4" lower than other side. This might be the shock wear you were talking about.

Thanks again for you help!!
Will

 

How many miles are on the car?

 

 

They typically sit kinda off, nothing you can do but get coil overs. The shocks dampen the springs and have nothing to do with ride height.