My Alignment specs - Please Help
 

The guys at a local alignment shop put my car on the alignment rack and the tech printed the sheet took it to the owner and they started convincing me I need control arms, he said "damn man since your lowered you have almost 3 degrees camber!!!" I can fix your toe but its going to be useless. I told him that i thought the rear had factory adjustment's to take out a bit of camber and he totally ignored my response and said trust me man we know what we are doing ill call you on Wednesday you need those parts...

My camber is a bit more that what i should have I think 2 degrees would be perfect...and my toe i want 0 front and as little as possible in the rear... Opinions?

ALSO, I plan on getting thicker tires for my next set, I wont screw up my alignment specs if i get a different size tire right?

I'm sub'd... I'm sure you'll get the help you need on this thread.

My rear camber was -2.8 until I got rear camber arms and toe bolts installed. Now I am at -1.2 and 0 toe. The tire wear will be excessive at -2.8 and you should get the rear camber and toe parts sooner rather than later.... :twocents:

The front should be adjustable to about -1.6 each with factory components

EDIT: My apologies. What I meant to say is that the front should be about -1.6 with the drop with the factory settings. You do indeed need front camber arms to adjust. Your alignment specs indicate a serious issue with the front drivers side camber...

So the front is adjustable factory? I think not, maybe im wrong but everyone has told me front isnt and the rear is,,,

Now I'm sub'd

Front is not camber adjustable without camber kit.

The rear is camber adjustable but if you lower it more than about an inch you will not be able to get back to max spec of -2 without camber kit.

First and foremost, the camber on the front is NOT adjustable.

To the OP, yes you need to get some after market adjustable suspension. Your front camber is way off from side to side. Not sure why so much. The toe on the front is adjustable all the way and the guy at the shop should of at least got that corrected for you. It wouldn't of been useless while you were there until you get some control arms.

The rear camber and toe can be adjusted a little but probably not to spec. You really never know. That's why it just best to get a hole kit anytime you lower a car. If you get tires it's always best to get another alignment to make sure everything is correct.

I just noticed you posted your specs... I bet your front struts are bent


I had almost the same issue on my Maxima and they replaced the front struts under warranty and the alignment was perfect

You'll need a camber kit for both front and back Vick. Otherwise you'll keep on balding your tires out. Also, Spohn is right, your toe should have been fixed by your guy.

You won't need a camber kit for the rear, just get a set of adjustable upper control arms for the front. I had even tire wear on my sport. I am a little heavy in the throttle and got 21 out of my rears but my fronts are good for atleast 30k. My front is at what your front left is. -.7 with almost NO TOE. Remember, toe scrubs the tires as you are going down the road. Unless you are tracking your car DAILY you want to minimilize the amount of toe you have. As for the rear, a little toe out is ok due to the amount of acceleration that your car has it will flex your drivetrain in causing the tires to naturally toe in, so a little out is ok. the camber i have at -1.8 and had fairly even tire wear. I have kinetix front arms on my car.

OP, I started a thread regarding my recent drop on Tein in the Nismo section and have received some good feedback as well. http://www.the370z.com/nismo-370z/64...m-spacers.html

hmmmm. I am exactly of the opposite opinion.... You don't need front camber arms, but you will need rear arms to correct abnormal wear and tear on your lowered car's tires. The fronts will sit nice and pretty at -1.6 with a drop which will help with handling immensely. Turn in is much more precise now. The rears will wear excessively with -2.8 camber and i know, mine only lasted 17,000 km's. I went to 305's and the camber was even more pronounced... I had to get rear camber arms and toe bolts immediately. if you get the camber arms, get the toe bolts. They are required to adjust the toe past the stock camber limits.

Some of you have no clue to what your talking about. Look at the OP's specs and he already is lowered on springs.

Front: He needs adjustable upper control arms for the front is not adjustable from the OEM equipment. His camber is at -.07 FL and -2.0 FR. So why would anyone think he doesn't need his camber adjusted up front? Hmmmm! I'm not even sure why is off so bad from side to side but he needs it corrected so it can be the same and the OP can set the proper camber for tire life or handling, which ever he prefers. The toe CAN be adjust as much as needed via inner tie rods which needs to be 0 in the front.


Rear: Once again pending what the OP's wants such as tire life or handling the rear MAY be adjusted back using the OEM adjustments. Toe is not that far off but camber is (unless you want to run that much). The OEM only allows SO MUCH but considering the cost of a after market rear kit you might as well buy one. It will save you in the long run.

I skimmed over the part where it said he was lowered.....lol my bad.

He didn't really say. I just looked in his sig. Plus I figured that's why he was getting an alignment.

Whatever he decides on the rear is his choice. He NEEDS to fix the front camber because that is NOT normal. With the lowering springs on he should be around -1.6 or so with no adjustment.
Why his camber is so far out, I don't know. It shouldn't NEED front camber arms after a drop unless he wants a custom setup or minimal front camber. Maybe a bad tech setup on the alignment rig. Once the issue there is sorted out, he can decide on whether or not he wants to go with a set of front and rear camber arms or not.

Fact:front camber is non adjustable. That is why just about everyone tuat owns a Z has adjustable FRONT upper control arms. Spc, kinetix, spl.

After I added the swifts I had an alignment and maxed the factory rear camber out at -2.8. I later added rear camber arms and got it back to within spec at -1.6

We have already determined that it is non-adjustable with stock components... what is your point?

My comment is that with normal stock components, a car with drop sits about -1.6 which IMHO is perfect for street use. No need for adjustable fronts unless you want a specific front camber.

Read your post is my point. I was addressing his front tires mainly.

Hence the EDIT:....

I think we are both trying to say basically the same thing. Let's not get all :drama:

:tup:

Or bad install. Maybe the spring isn't in the right position.

I chased camber gain for 2yrs when I lowered my stang. Apples and oranges but same concept. Thays why I prefer coilovers..

If I were him I would take the Z and get a second opinion from another shop:tup:

Coilovers are definitely preferred. I went with the Swifts as an interim measure and found they did all I needed for now. I love the Swifts!

Go to Valley Suspension for a 2nd opinion. Also, you still need a front camber kit. It will be good when you go through the canyons :)

Update
 

Happy New Year guys and gals, I appreciate all your helpful responses. My apologies I haven't responded to this thread since Ive been so busy. Some of us have more experience than others and I completely understand that.

So, I haven't had time to go to a shop to get aligned until today. I am going to go to a better*shop later today at lunch time that should be able to help me get to specs I want. Talk to the guy over the phone and he said I can try my best to get everything close to factory spec and I stated that I don't mind having a little more camber at this point since I need tires in about 6 months anyhow (not happy with the tire sizes).

What I plan on telling him:

FRONT
0 Toe
As little camber as possible.

I know the camber is not* adjustable factory but if the machine didn't screw up (probably did) he will need to work on the front to get them properly aligned.

REAR
0 toe (maybe a little toe in)
-2 camber rear
(from what I have read the camber in the rear should adjust about another half degree)

Honestly is -2 degrees really that bad?
(I can just have my tires flip in 4 or 5 k miles during balance)

2 degrees will shred the inside of the tire. You want to shoot for -.7 or so if you can so that you have somewhat even tire wear. If you mic your tires you can actually track your tire wear and will find out if your driving characteristics calls for more (some people dive into corners harder or others drive slower which equals to different tire settings). IN THE REAR YOU SHOULD TRY TO SHOOT FOR A LITTLE BIT OF TOE OUT, so that when you accellerate it flexes in. You only need a little bit, and i mean a little bit!!! I don't remember you saying you have a adjustable front camber kit, if so which do you have?

OKAYYYYYYY!

Got it done today, don't have a sheet because they did it "the old school way". This is unfortunate because what they told me is pretty shocking. They got my front to about 1.5 camber which is "within factory specs". The rear went down to "about 2 degrees" , toe got "fully aligned to 0, not issue doing that".

TOMORROW, my buddy is gonna help me calculate my camber so I can actually have real numbers.

I wouldn't trust anybody that doesnt have a print out...IMHO. That way you can track your allignments for future concerns with tire wear.

Yeah i know what you mean, maybe you guys with a little more experience should chime in. What id he mean by they "had to do it manually, the old school way since its so low"???

Overall from driving, feels the way it should, huge difference...

Old school way would be using string and a bubble machine. If they had a computer then I wouldn't reccomend going back to this garage that you are going to. IMHO find another garage to get a alligment at that will give you a print out.

Dealer should do a free one, lol

All the cars in our club are lowered and we had no issues with the alignment rack or computers. I call buIIshit...

take it to a goodyear shop. they do good work. Most of the time when I have mine done at my shop i literally watch the guy allign my car the whole time.

No problem running camber.. ur biggest tire shredder is bad TOE alignment....... Camber u can dismount and remount tires opposite way to get more tire life out of them
More camber upfront will help u with initial high speed turn in... so if you like to run canyons etc, run more camber up front... (need camber arms).

You can run the rs3 backwards but not for the rain!

it would help if op would post if he wants a dd or a track car setup.

Martin, you dont run any parts for your camber or toe right?

roy'sz, I am a beginner on the track, I'm planing on going at least twice in the next six month...I am an aggressive driver in general and I like hitting up the canyons at least once or twice a month. Once I test out these specs ill know if I'm happy with it or not...So far so good.

not much is stock on my car anymore, I run front and rear camber arms, but no aftermaket TOE adjustment (which I should get eventually). I was still able to get my toe corrected..

Okay guys,

I finally feel good about the alignment. We measured camber and toe last night at my buddies shop. Those guys really did do a great job.

-1.5 front camber with 1/16 toe-in

-2.0 rear camber with 1/16 (toe-out I think)

So I could use some arms in the rear but with 2 degrees in less than half a degree from factory so It should be fine. Within factory spec up front with a 1.5 inch drop on Megan springs. :tiphat: