I checked Search and a lot of people discuss alignment problems but not general maintenance. Do you have alignment checked as part of your general maintenance program? If yes, how often?

 

if the car starts to pull to either side, or excessive/uneven tire wear, then have it checked. otherwise, should be good.

 

+1 or unless you change out the springs, wheels or add coil overs

 

I have mine checked about every four months. Just paronoid about it. Gives me a peace of mind, instead of waiting for signs of wear. Last time I felt no pull at all and toe was off bad. Wore out the front inner tire in several weeks before I saw it. I don't know how to explain it.

 

depends...
once in year or once in 6 months.

 

At least once a year. If you wait until it shows symptoms of feathering, uneven wear, pulling - it might be too late.

Also, don't assume that just because you haven't changed springs, coilovers, lowering that your alignment is okay. Apparently the Z doesn't hold it's setting very well, especially the Toe. I had mine done and set to factory specs (0.05 toe-in); 18 months later the front was 0.24/0.46 toe OUT. The mechanic doing the alignment told me they are notorious for getting knocked out of alignment.

 

I have this checked semi-annually, and that’s because I swap summer wheels/tires with winter wheels/tires in March/April and November/December.

But, I actually check alignment more frequently because I do this when replacing tires with new ones, when I hit some ice-chunk hard in the winter, or even get worried about a minor “hit” during summer months.

After going through the “feathering problem” a couple of times during the 5 years I have been driving a Z, I am more apt than not to check alignment. Quality tires for the Z are expensive, and a proper alignment protects my investment.

--Spike

 

every 6 months

 

Just get the firestone lifetime alignment, then check it whenever you want.

I feathered my last drivers side front tire at 15kmi on it. I had my alignment checked and the camber was out by -1.3 degrees or so. Could this be caused by sagging coil spings?

 

what was your toe? there is no way -1.3 degrees camber would feather a tire that fast.

I am running -2 degrees camber at all 4 corners.

 

I think he meant -1.3 on top of whatever he was running.. so could have been like -2.7; as I think outer spec is -1.4

 

correct, it was out of spec by -1.3. Rear camber was also out on the drivers side, not as much as the front, but noticeable. Toe was in spec, i think at the lower end.

I apologize for the threadjacking, if anyone can give me some insight, please post here: https://my350z.com/forum/brakes-and-suspension/326471-03-owners-sagging-driver-s-side-springs.html

to stay on topic, check your alignment frequently enough to help isolate incidents and keep track of tire wear, etc.

 

every 6 months unless I'm at the track and testing different settings.

Then its more like every 3 months

 

Does it require to get an re-alignment when switching out my 19inch rims and putting on the stock 18inch rims? Reason being just had my car aligned with my 19inch wheels and the car handles great, also it was very expensive for the alignment because my car is so low I have to bring it to a specialty shop.

 

Do i have to do the alignment again if i get the new wheels and tires?

(Did the alignment 2 months ago, but changed the wheels and tires from 19" to 18" last week)

 

Once a year or whenever I get new suspension parts.

 

Is there any kinda ghetto way to estimate your camber without any fancy machine?

Something like parking on totally level flat ground, puting a 2 foot level against the sidewalls, moving the top end of the level away from the top sidewall, until it's level, then measuring the gap and doing some fancy schmancy math formula?

I would love to know how much negative camber i have but too busy and cheap right now to have it checked. Mostly too busy. I wouldn't be surprised if it was close to -4.0 LOL

Corners pretty damn good though on smooth corners. Like dayam.

 

like 2-3 times a year. got coilovers and like to play around a little.

 

I don't. I check tires. If the tires are wearing evenly no need to mess with alignment.

 

bump