Any cons of lowering springs?

Knio

That's my plan, send them off in style before I get the arms and new tires


Does everyone have front+rear arms? I only plan to get the rear, the fronts were able to align to spec.

Zero dark

Im wondering too. Am i able to get away with just the rear arms and bolts?

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Zbrah

It depends, some are able to get the front within oem specs, some can't. Each car will have a diferent result. My guess is it's dependent on how much experienced your alignment guy has working on our platform. You just gotta get it on the alignment rack to find out. For daily driving you should be okay with just rear camber arms and bolts.

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Knio

I found my alignment sheet.

The fronts are a little out of spec, but I'm not having any tire wear problems with them.

Rear toe is fine, so I'm just going to do the arms and no toe bolts.

The Eibach springs arn't quit as low as the swifts, so you might need more with swift?

Zero dark

Was this done at a shop or dealer?

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Knio

Z Car Garage in San Jose, CA

tommyguns

I run 305's and they were able to get it close enough that they didn't feel the additional cost of the toe bolts installation was worth it, you will need the arm's though.

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AdamRacer

With swifts I would at the least spend a little extra and get the SPL rear camber arms. My front alignment came just close into spec so I didn't buy any extra parts for the front.

Memphis370Z

With many thanks to dragonbreath, we (he) installed rear camber arms (SPL), toe bolts, and lock-outs today. We'll finish up the front springs tomorrow morning and I'll get an initial alignment tomorrow afternoon. I'll post results and plan on getting an alignment a week from now, after the springs settle.

Fingers crossed that the front end is in spec.

Zero dark

Is the spl wrench needed for spl camber arms? Or is that just an extra tool that makes it easier to adjust but not 100% required

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Memphis370Z

I think it just makes it easier for the mechanic to perform adjustments for the alignment process, as well as keep them from scratching or rounding off the pieces that turn.

totopo

Other than the well known allignment issues, There are a lot of cons for lowering springs. Spring rate, ride height, and damping are all interrelated. To build a proper suspension, you first decide on bump travel. That determines your spring rate, and that determines your damping.

So with lowering springs only you have a dilemma. You can either go for stiffer springs that support the diminished bump travel (and properly stiff springs will have really high spring rates to go from bump travel of like 5 to 3 inches) which will the be woefully underdamped and cause the car to feel like crap.

Or you can go the route most aftermarket springs go for and just have similar spring rates, which won't be enough spring for the lowered bump travel. This causes the suspension to constantly bottom out, killing the shocks and doing damage to your frame.

In addition, lowering the car changes the suspension geometry and the roll center. It usually puts the roll center underground which is suck.

All in all, why do you want to lower your car? Looks? Performance? Lowering for performance isn't straight forward. You want matched damping for your spring rates. There are calculators online to figure out what spring rate you want to run for a given bump travel. Then after that you should probably get roll angle adjusters, and then probably weaker anti roll bars.

Zipper 104

It's just another thing to get you to buy while you're there getting the rest of the SPL stuff. Not necessary at all. The camber adjuster is in the middle of the arm where there's nothing in the way of it. The jam nut is just as accessible and the 'sleeve' on the other end uses a 3/16 allen key.
Don't bother and save your money. Let the alignment guy deal with it.

104

jameeljoker

I've dropped my Z on swifts, excellent ride btw! However without a camber kit, the rears wear slightly on the inside on mine, nothing too crazy but still not perfect. The fronts on mine were brought back to factory camber spec however. I would definitely suggest a rear camber kit for peace of mind.

Zero dark

Keep calling shops and they are all about $600 for the install of rear arms and springs and alignment

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