Ok I am new(ish) to the forum but nowhere near new to the breed of nissan/datsun world. I bought my 2003 Z last year with 33,000 miles and a mod list that I mostly wanted. It is lowered 2" on eibach springs and has SPC rear camber and toe adjustments. I recently took it to Firestone to get an alignment because I'm a cheap a$$. They offered me a good deal on my alignment so I went ahead and brought it in. Little did I know that it would be such a pain. They told me that they could not get my camber and toe align without one or the other being off. I could almost believe that but the reason they say they couldn't is that I needed aftermarket adjustments...that I have and they used? Here is my print-out. Any comments good or bad are appreciated but I am mostly looking for a shop in the Charlotte, NC area that could do a better job. I just bought 4 Hankook Ventus V12 Evo's and I LOOOOVE them. I just want them to last.

 

Since you do not have any front upper control arms the camber is not adjustable. Unless you have a really nice set of front adjustable control arms like SPL, neither is caster so they are correct when they said there is nothing they could do up front to get it in spec.

As for the rear, what after market parts exactly do you have? I am assuming you have the SPC camber arm and SPC toe bolts? They should be able to easily get the camber back in with the SPC rear arms. Looks like they didn't have any problem with the rear toe as it is in spec as well.

 

Yes you have it right. I know I need adjustable upper control arms for the front but they are not economical and plainly not as much as an issue as the rear.

The rear does have the SPL (I thought it was c) kit with camber and toe but they told me the camber could not be adjusted to spec while keeping the toe in spec. I know the toe and camber react with each other but I could not agree with them that my kit couldn't get both in spec. I have always heard that the kit could fix almost any drop kit, mine being not uncommon.

A little more info. My Eibachs were probably installed 10 years ago so they may be lower than the advertised 2". I am thinking about going back to stock springs and getting wheels with higher offset and tire height to give me a similar look. Any advocates or anyone against that, your comments are very welcome. Again, the life of my tires is the most important problem I have. I like the lowered look but this is my daily driver.

P.S. I also have a Chargespeed V2 front bumper for sale if anyone is interested.

 

You need to go to a different shop. They obviously don't know what they're doing with aftermarket adjustable arms. Looks to me like they only made adjustments at the toe bolt since that's all they're trained to do.

 

Yea I figured as much. I pretty much knew I was screwed when I walked in and the first thing they say is there lead technician wasn't there.

So any recommendations on a good shop around Charlotte, NC??

 

I don't have a clue on shops out there. Do you have NTB nearby?

 

I think the front control arms are actually pretty economical at $249/pair: http://conceptzperformance.com/Cart/...ion.php?II=827. The Kinetix are very nice for the money and I have been very pleased with mine.

Anything more than -1.7-1.8 degrees in the front is going to wear the inside edges of your tires. Stock spec is -1.3 max so you are -0.8 degrees on the one side. The rear can handle more negative camber before it starts to show wear on the tires hence the stock camber spec in the rear is -2.1 max. So, you are actually out just as bad in the front as you are in the rear.

If you are really worried about tire wear you have a couple options:

1. Get the stock springs back on the car and have it aligned again as that should resolve the large negative camber readings you are having in the front as well as the rear.

2. Get a set of front camber arms installed (very easy to do yourself), and then find a shop that knows how to handle aftermarket suspensions adjustments so you can get your car aligned again.

 

Do you have aftermarket toe bolts? if not that could be a big problem. Front camber from the factory is to induce understeer, running -2 up front is really no big deal and will only take a couple thousand off tire life.

For a street driven daily driver, i would shoot for -1.5 front and rear.

 

Damn. I looked in to getting front upper control arms about a year ago and couldn't find a kit that wasn't closer to $600? I will def look in to getting that set. Thanks for the link!






Yea I am almost certain I have the matching toe bolts with my camber arms but they were both on the car when I bought it. Are there any markings on the toe bolt that would confirm they are aftermarket? I will check it out if there are.

Yea I understand that camber is not as big of a deal as toe when it comes to tire wear but I plan on keeping my car forever to if I can save 2k miles on every set of tires I buy then I will be very pleased.

Thanks for all the help guys!

 

Take a pic please, inner mount of the spring bucket arm and camber arm. I can tell you in a second if it's got aftermarket bolts and they are properly installed.

 

We have some pretty crappy weather here right now but I will post a picture if the sun comes out.

 

J&B Automotive St Petersburg Fl contact mike (727)823-5951 Camber Fix $200
Alignment $130 4 wheel 2006 ZR Michelin Pilot A/S

 

That is nowhere near charlotte?

 

 

That is proper, now the pic of the spring bucket arm!

 

Ehhh I hope this it it.

 

I don't think that's the spring bucket arm

 

Need a pic of the lower arm closest to the back of the car . The pic needs to be of the onboard location

 

Quick question. Do castle nuts even exist on oem parts on the 350z?

 

Thats the stock toe bolt, you need an aftermarket one with more adjustment like http://www.z1motorsports.com/350_g35...oducts_id=4637