What is needed to setup my suspension

2016 370z

Thank you for all your input. I learned a lot in the past hour lol. I should have turned to this forum to learn sooner. I've been asking my friends who are mostly Subaru guys and they have been telling me different things.

Rusty

Subi's need a different set-up because they are all wheel drive. What works on them, for the most part will not work on the Z. But the basic's are the same.

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MaysEffect

Have you tried a set of extremes on this car, or any car yet? Before you install any suspension piece, its best you explore the limits of grip in factory settings first.

There are several benefits to doing this even with the standard size tires, before going crazy with alignment changes and larger wheel/tire sizes.

For one. Most of the extremes have larger tread blocks, which not only establish a higher level of contact patch for the same size, but wear in a much more uniform fashion. With this you can clearly gauge how much and where the tires are wearing most. There is no point of adding additional camber if you can't accurately use all of the available rubber on standard sizes.

In motorcycle terms, you've probably heard this banter called "chicken strips" on the tires. Similar lack of wear lines can be established on normal car tires. gauging these wear lines give you an idea of how the camber is effecting tire contact patch and also how much steering input you are putting in and where in relations to corner loads and throttle modulation.

Another form of measurement you'd should start implementing immediately if you don't already, is measuring tire pressures and heat margins across the tires. A cheap harbor freight of homedepot infrared gun can gauge heat across the tire accurate enough to tell you how much heat you are balancing across the tread. In these summer conditions you may find it easy to go from a cold 35psi to hot 41 psi in a relatively short spirited run, but getting temps up in colder conditions is equally important.

For the sake of understanding what you are feeling, its good to also randomly test different tire pressures so you know what overinflated tires feel like compared to under inflated. The gas station air pump should be your new best friend.

You have several back roads i'm sure you take advantage of already. But instead of trying to go outright fast or pushing the limits. Push the limits in different ways. Form a solid pace and intentionally try to induce understeer and oversteer by playing around with your steering input speeds as well how early or how late you enter a corner with modulation of braking a acceleration. Measure the tires accordingly after each run. You may say this is stupid or unsafe, but this is the point of establishing a slower overall speed.

Practice makes perfect, build up the aggression gradually

Rusty

I started with a stock Z for the most part, and changed things as I got more experienced. Nothing beats face time behind the windshield.

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2016 370z

Very well said, good sir. Reason why I am looking to increase negative camber is because I've noticed that the outer edges of all 4 of my tires have been wearing out considerably faster than the rest of the tire.

Rusty

The Z has a steep camber curve in the rear. If you are wearing the outside edge. You are wearing the inside edge too. Measure your tread depth across the tires and write it down. Do you know what your alignment is at now?

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2016 370z

That's too late now as I already put on a new set

But my outer edge was almost bald compared to the inner edge after 16k on the stock RE050A. Alignment should be oem spec unless something is not right. Haven't gotten the alignment checked but will do after I install coils and whatever else need be near the end of the month.

Rusty

Keep a notebook. Write down everything you do. Date, mileage, alignment settings, oil changes, mods, tire measurements, parts replaced, etc.

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MaysEffect

Were you measuring tire pressure consistently?. Given the natural weight balance of the car, its possible the rears are just moderately scrubbing during turns. This is not unusual with front weight biased vehicles.

As a cheat/penalty, carry an extra 40-70ibs in the rear. Of course strap whatever it is down as best as possible. as far rearward as possible as well.

You don't have to burden yourself with this practice indefinitely, but just enough times to gauge how the tires react to a slightly rearward bias change. The GVWR accounts for a load range of up to about 200ibs. Additional loads on the rear can keep the tires from sliding and scrubbing the surface. Downforce

2016 370z

Something interesting to experiment with.

But I do check my tire pressure every week.