I have a 2006 350z touring, i recently lowered my car on Tein S-Tech springs. I was very happy with the look with a nice 1 finger gap on all 4 tires. On my alignment check after about a month of driving i was told my rear camber is off so i bought SPC rear camber arms and got them installed, got my alignment sone again and they told me that the camber is now back in spec so i was happy about the build quality of the SPC arms. but after the install my rear tires have a 2 finger gap instead of 1 as it was prior to SPC install. After driving around some, the gap sometimes does decrease to one finger gap but if i park it over night and in the morning the gap gets back up to 2 fingers width.. I don't know what would cause this. Did any body else have issues like this? what can i check as far as the installation?

EDIT- I inserted my post alignment specs below if that helps!

 

Did you park your Z on a flat surface when you checked the gap?

 

a lot of guys say adding positive camber from negative camber does not raise the car according to a discussion on another forum. for me though, it seemed to have. my philosophy is that once you add more positive camber from the previous negative camber, you have more tire patch to the road surface, thus, a slightly higher ride height. where as before, your tire was more focused on the inner wall of the tire causing more "flex". that is just my dumb theory and experience though.

however, your problem could be that your spring did not seat properly after they did your alignment.

is your toe within spec as well?

 

Yes, I did park it on a flat surface to check the finger gaps, then again looks can be deceiving so i try to check it on any flat surface i happen to be parked at and its always consistent. As i said after driving 10-20 miles on bumpy roads the gap seems to be back to 1 finger gap sometimes but when i park it over night and in the morning the gap seem to increase on its own.. Very confusing isn't it? I am thinking of doing the spring mount cut mod to make it even on all 4 tires. I really didn't want to do that cuz i was fine with 1 finger gap on all 4 and i really didn't want to out more stress on the shocks by doing the mount cut mod..

on a side note before the kit install my camber on the rears was -2.xx and after the kit install the camber was -.8xx

 

I never installed the toe cam bolts that came with the kit cuz i read the you don't need it with Tein s-techs as the drop is merely .6 inches. And the Toe is in spec according to my post alignment paper. I'll look at the rear springs physically to spot any problems. I doubt that the springs actually moved from its place while alignment was being done.

 

Optical illusion, actually height can change and look will change with you camber setting.

 

I thought that too but when pam physically measuring the gap between the top of the tire and the fender its not an illusion anymore, i think.

 

When you lower your car your car gets natural negitive camber and looks lower, when you added more positive camber by adjusting back into spec it more tire is coming into contact with the road making it higher. / \ then || Did you check the alignment read out maybe they added to much positive camber...this is the only thing i can think of why it would be higher after camber arm install.

 

I am attatching my post alignment specs if that can help you guys answer my question.

 

The one finger theory with tein S tech sounds questionable. It does not drop that much from what I know

 

I kid you not, before the SPC rear camber install there was a 1 finger gap on all 4 tires. there is still one finger gap on the fronts but the rear increases. I measure it by inserting he finger above the tires parallel to the ground.

 

Considering i just changed my front camber from -2.5 to -1.5 for a trip to AZ, yes that camber change makes it look different and affects the finger measurement. Height is still within a couple mm if you were to have measured.

 

When you correct the camber by shortening the front lower link (camber arm), the hub and tire pivot about the ball joint on the outer end of the upper suspension arm. The hub moves closer to the center of the car. The rear lower link will be moved toward the center of the car when the toe-in is set during the alignment.

That's going to change the gap between the fender and tire, but I don't think it will raise the car a noticeable amount.

 

Angle of the tire in relation to the top of the fender. The outside edge of the tire sits higher int he fender with more camber vs being flattened out with less camber.

 

To really know if the car is higher, you need to measure from the fender lip to the ground.

Negative camber like you had before causes the wheel to tilt in more and the outside edge of the tire come up higher. Once you installed the camber arms and took out some negative camber the wheel tillts out a little more bringing the outside edge of the tire down more; allowing you to fit more fingers in.

 

I was waiting for someone to chime in with the correct response. SSNOSS is correct on this..bust out the yardstick and measure. Do it on all four corners, toss it in the back of the car, drive around, do it again. Granted one or more corners might be compressed more if you are on uneven ground, this should answer your inquiry.

 

Reading through all of the responses I was about to say this as well, lol.

 

I guess i'll be doing the spring mount cut mod this coming weekend. Thank you everybody for your input.