It appears that the rear tires on my ZR (if looking from directly behind the vehicle) look like they're off-angle / \
It seems that this is causing the inside of the tires to wear faster than the outside. I bought the ZR used with about 19k miles and it looks as if it may have been lowered. How would I be able to tell if it has been lowered and if it was, could this be the problem or is there an adjustment and this is a normal/common problem? (.....or did I pull a dukes of hazzard a little too hard) j/k

(And for the "go do a search" people... I searched and searched, there is nothing regarding the rear tires being off, they're all about the front tires and the tire feathering issues.)

Any help is appreciated.
Thanks

 

you are suffering from rear negative camber. some camber arms will allow you to adjust them and make the degree 0. do a search on camber

 

Check the springs and describe what they look like and see if there are any distinguishing marks on them. Your ZR sounds like it has been dropped.

 

You need to buy camber arms and more adjustable toe bolts in order to get your alignment back to spec. it does sound like your car is lowered, just not done properly.........need those parts.

-j

 

The Z comes with a slight negative camber in the rear from factory (I had mine checked when I bought it) but it is nowhere near high enough to be visually identifiable. I agree with the posters above; the previous owner may have dropped it too low. Anything greater than 1" or so will need a camber kit.

 

Thanks for your help everyone, I'm going to look into it as soon as I get home.

 

Factory camber specs for the rear are -1.5 to -2.1 (off the top of my head) and easily noticable if you look at it. Rear camber doesnt change much between alignments, but F&R toe seems to. Toe eats tires faster than camber.

 

Your car may very well be at stock height. You can easily see the negative camber on a stock Z. Go to a nissan dealership and look at the z's on the lot and see if they look about the same.

 

Why is it that most 2003 Z's with stock suspensions have / \ negative camber in the rear?

 

I need additional information to assist you such as:

(1) Has the car been lowered??
You need to confirm if your Z has been lowered. This will determine your course of action.
(2) Do you have aftermarket wheels??
This is important because if you do as stated above you may need to have elongated toe bolts and radius arms in the rear such as SPL ( the standard in the Z world). Adjustable a-arms would be useful up front. These will allow you camber to be adjusted in order to retain stock specs.
(3) What is the state of your suspension??
Have dealer check suspension to see if it is ok. You could have weak springs or bad shocks. Have end links checked.
Just a few suggestions to help you along the way.

 

What you are looking at is static alignment. Often deceiving. What you are interested in is dynamic alignment: alignment when the car is moving.

I might be able to tell you more about the alignment if you posted a photos of the tires.

 

Neg camber= better handling when tuned properly

 

@_@ - OMG ur car is about to explode.. purchase toyota camry. so you can have wheels that are | |

\o/ -woot

 

Just found out the Z has been lowered 1.2 inches. It has the Tanabe NF210 set-up with stock rims. I was wondering why I couldn't even get my floor jack under it!

Is there something I am able to adjust or does it have to be professionally done?

Thanks for your help

 

You should be able to install the arms yourself but you'll need to have it aligned by a shop.

 

i dunno about all the other advice, but just take your car to an alignment shop and they will tell you if your alignment is off or not and if it is uncureably off, then you might be correct to assume it's lowered

obviously posting pictures would give us all a better idea of whether it's lowered or not

keep in mind, our Z's OEM spec DO have neg camber all around, and it's normal, its the toe and caster that you have to concern yourself about in terms of OEM spec tire wear issues

 

its pretty much gonna always be that height. if you wanna adjust them youd need coilovers.

 

negative camber ftw say bye bye to tires =) im on my 5th set of tires and ive only owned my car for 4.5months

 

deliberate burn outs dont count..

 

5 set of tires on a 4.5 month Z? That's crazy.

Im pretty sure the OP is gonna need a camber/toe kit, especially on the ZR which is already lower than the coupe(stock), and heavier. The NF is like a 1.2" drop, and he probably got close to 2" with the ZR. THmotorsports has a special on the SPC camber/toe kits. Go check out the vendor thread.

I wanna see some pics of that big drop.