Right hand Caster out of alignment

clkio

Hi guys, 4 month ago I bought my used 2009 370z, the car was completely stock. I recently did some work to the car including swift springs, koni yellows shocks, spl rear arm and spl upper control arms. At the alignment shop, the tech could not get the right hand side caster to be within spec. the driver side caster was 5.5 but the passenger was 7.5 (WAY TOO HIGH). The 2 degree difference in caster at the front now is noticeable when you try to steer straight or brake over a bump.

I am very pissed about this, I tried looking under the car to see if I notice anything bent like a control arm or the knuckle but it's hard to tell by looking at it when it's only a degree or two off. Should I go to the dealership or a bodywork shop? I did lots of research about this but mix answers came out. any help would be great guys.

Rusty

Who installed the arms?

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clkio

A shop here in my area did it, the guy even called SPL to make sure he is not doing anything wrong.

clkio

Ok guys, so I took the car to nissan, and the tech unbolted all the suspension components (control arms, upper and lower control arms) on both sides and then bolted everything back up and did the alignment, here is the result

[URL="[URL=http://s62.photobucket.com/user/radihamdan/media/scan_Page_1_zpsda68263d.jpg.html][/URL]"]

kenchan

that before is after the first alignmnet?

alignment shop's rack may have been out of calibration...

clkio

Yes the top part is after the first alignment shop did the alignment and bottom after nissan did it. Should I be worried about the degree difference in caster? Although they are both within spec, I don't like the degree difference

kenchan

i would just leave it unless you're going to go track the car for competition.

im a little confused at your first post where you said you feel more bump steer on one side due to the caster...while the caster appears to be about the same both sides. was that because you were still getting use to your new setup?

Rusty

In his first post. He said he had 2 deg differance in caster from side to side. That is enough to feel the car pull to one side.



Looking at the Before and After Specs. Looking like they didn't do anything but adjust the toe alittle.

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kenchan

but the before above (which is after the initial alignment where the readout stated 2 deg) only shows one degree difference.
that is why i asked in my earlier post.

Rusty

Yea, the first set of reading don't match the second set.

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kenchan

yah...

clkio

I dont know why the numbers are so off, the first shop told me the reading of the caster was 7.5 on the right but as soon as nissan checked it was 5.5, I think the first shop machine is way off and needs to be calibrated

clkio

I guess that’s exactly what it is. I got the car and three month in, I did so much mods before I got use to driving her that the car felt completely different. These are the mods I did in matter of few weeks
1. Cross drilled rotors and upgraded brake lines
2. Koni yellow shocks with swift springs
3. Stillen sway bar set
4. Berk CBE, Berk high flow cat and AMS headers
5. Stillen oil cooler kit
6. Stillen g3 intake
7. SPL camber arms rear and front

kenchan

yah, i would drive it as is for a couple more weeks to get familiar with your new setup.
stiffen up the dampness on the koni to minimize bump steer, trial and error a little bit.

clkio

I am going to stiffen it up a little in a week or two (I do feel it's on the softer side). As long as you guys don't think one degree difference is huge, I might leave it the way it is, car drives well now and I don't really feel any pulls.