Hey people whats up? I plan on getting 18 inch wheels and putting some springs (either Eibach or Tein). My question is since I'm gonna need camber ajdustment and whatever else I'll need to get my alignment right will that fix the '03 Z problems with the front tires feathering? My fronts right now are down to the wires on the inside so I got to buy new tires anyway. Do I need to get anything else so my suspension/alignment will be good? Any help is appreciated. Thanks people. Peace.

 

I plan on going with 8.5 wide up front and 9.5 in the rear. What offsets should I look at. I'm looking to get a deep lip.

 

The Z doesn't have a camber adjustment, if you plan on dropping it. I got an alignment from the dealer, I think they just adjusted the toe. I am on my second set of tires bout' half worn, problem seems to be gone. If you do drop the car their are several different control arms to buy, but they are big bux. If you are looking for handling get the Stillen sway bars, that was the best mod I have done to my car for the money.

 

are arms or all that stuff necessary? could i just drop it on eibach or teins, and leave it stock shocks, and just get alignment?

 

The camber arms and alignment questions have been discussed at infinitum here, even on recently opened threads. Look around.

Re: cure for feathering. If there was one, believe me I would pay and get it done. But there isn't one. Nissans latest is "adjust the Toe/alignment". I and many others do NOT believe this fixes it. I have Eibachs for over 20K miles, and mine feather. SO it isn't the springs. 04s have it. 05s have it...

 

so it feathers because you lower the car?

 

No, he's saying it feathers regardless.

 

Right. The Eibachs (or other springs) don't cause the feathering, they don't cure it either.

Nissan's latest is that proper Toe and the new thread on the RE040s resolve it. I think all they do is hide it, you will still get it but you won't hear as much sound. :P

 

So everyone's 350 has this feathering problem?

 

No. But I would guesstimate around 60% of the cars do. Some worse (noticed under 5K miles) some better. Mine at 8500 or so is average.

 

I was pretty sure you could fix the feathering with Camber kit such as cusco and some aftermarket coilovers??

 

I also thought the feathering could be cured with a camber kit?

 

Im pretty sure it can, ive researched this some. Allot of people on the site dont understand that it can be fixed by the owner with aftermarket parts.

But I think he was saying that "Nissan Cant fix the Problem" which is correct, they have no idea how to fix the problem, because it requires aftermarket parts they wont pay for, and requires technitions who know how to work on the Z instead of workers who service the Z like a Spec V Sentra.

 

Guys, the camber kits don't fix "the problem" (if the problem refers to the tire feathering).

Due to suspension geometry, when you drop the car (lets say Eibachs, about 1 inch) the camber of the tire becomes more and more negative. Our 350Z has NO CAMBER ADJUSTMENT up front, and very limited adjustment on the back. So given a certain drop, many cars CAN'T get back to camber specs.

Sooo, the solution to that problem is camber kits (front and or rear).

But even cars that have NOT been dropped or have camber issues show feathering. So if you have a car that has never been dropped the camber kits gets you nothing, since you don't need to adjust anything.

This is why Nissan doesn't say the problem is camber, since it is not adjustable up front. TOE IS adjustable up front and rear (limited), so they claim it is toe that is causing the problem. That and the thread on the RE040s tires.

 

That's very true. If Nissan could have fixed the problem with more camber adjustment, they would have I guess. So dropped cars with camber kits do or don't experience feathering? I'm still unsure about this :|

 

OK... so a camber kit will work then?? I'm kind of lost. Why wouldn't an adjustable camber kit and a good alignment work? If the camber was made more positive, that would take the stress off the inside of the tire, curing the feathering/tire wear (or at lest help out with the issue). Thanks for all the feedback so far people. Keep it coming!!

 

well according to slaponte, they wont work since the front camber isnt adjustable. His theory is that since cars that arent lowered still feather (stock camber) then simply buying camber kits wouldnt help...esp in the front.

But slaponte, I have a question. I know that the front and rear camber kits cost a pretty penny, but why wouldnt they work if you didnt set up the camber (lowered or not) to stock, but to something else? If you found what was causing your tire to wear (abnormal wear attributing to camber, caster, or toe) why couldn't you fix it? Im guessing that most of the tire feathering issues are for those with stock Z's correct? So wouldnt it be wrong to say that it couldn't be fixed? Just not fixed 'back to stock'?

 

Lets use an example :

I get a 350z and front camber comes OEM at -1. Lets asume this for the example, I don't have the precise value at hand.

I install Eibachs. After settle, front camber is now at -1.5, example again.

I get front camber arms. I adjust the camber back to -1.

Did the camber kit work? Yes. It got the camber back to spec.

Did it solve feathering? No. Cars with either setup get feathering. The feathering is NOT due to excesive camber. Excesive camber will wear the inside of the tire EVENLY around the tire. It will damage the tires, but in a different way.

The claim by Nissan is that feathering is due to TOE. They recommend to set TOE up front to the minimum of the spec, so if the spec reads to have it between 0.2 and 0.6, make it as close to 0.2 as possible. This is a little tiny bit of toe, so you might as well shoot for zero I guess.

All the talk about camber is to solve excesive camber due to the drop. It has nothing to do with feathering. If you are trying to solve even wear on the inside due to excesive camber, the camber kits are your tool.

Now, on to a personal opinion, I don't think excesive camber can be good and could make the feathering worse, but that is just my little humble opinion.

We need to be more precise with our statements :

1. Do camber kits work : YES, they solve camber adjustment.

2. Do camber kits work to fix the feathering issue : No. They don't. Cars with perfect camber can still get feathering.

3. Do TOE adjustment fix the feathering issue : THis is what Nissan and many others claim. I still have to see this work.

Clear (as mud)??

 

Unless I mis-read the tsb, toe spec is 0 to 2 and should be set to max.
If this is true, I suspect that the feathering may be caused by suspension changes during heavy braking. Heavy braking and turning cause the toe to move positive.

 

Aiight, that's a "good" thing to know. The inside of my front tires are worn pretty evenly all the way around. So camber seems to be my problem then. I'm not sure, but I think the previous owner of my Z might have lowered the car. It's a base with 17's but it seems to sit pretty low. I don't know how much fender gap there is stock so the only way to tell is to take off the wheels and check unless anyone with stock 17's here (doubt it) is willing to hook me up and get me a measure of their gap. Peace out.

P.S. I don't mean I doubt anyone's willing to help, I doubt that anyone (besides me) still has stock 17's on.