Tien S Tech Lowering Springs & H&R 15mm Spacers
 

Just wanted to post another setup for Nismo fans. I had Tien S Tech and H&R 15mm spacer install on my 2010 Nismo on Dec. 20th. They have settled for nine days and I want to post some pictures for you all.

As far as a review. The springs provide for a better or softer ride than the stock Nismo springs without sacrificing handling in my opinion. In fact I would say its better given the wider and lower stance in combination with the spacers. I am still on stock tires and I really like the look. I have a very steep drive way and I am able to get in and out of it with little scraping.

As far as the drop, its definitely lower than advertised. It's about 1.5" as other have attested too. The wheels will rub all so slightly if you turn them fully, which I seldom do.

I also attach my alignment specs for your review. I do not have toe bolts or a camber kit.

I would like to give Fuct props for providing me with information and support in coming to a decision. You the man! :tup:

I really like the feel with the Tein springs. I just went coilovers for the freedom of lowering or raising when need be.

From the looks of your alignment sheet you are going to need some camber arms.

I just lowered my car with swifts instead and 15mm spacers (very similar setup). No camber arms or bolts or alignment... I am experiencing a vibration when I hit the brakes at around 80 mph... Are u experiencing this?


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I have not driven on the highway yet, but I will let you know when I do.

Okay, help me out...I know little to nothing about this part of the game. I do know toe is the devil one must deal with when you go low. I'm open to advise!!!

Lowering your car
 

I suggest as soon as you drop your car. Get a four wheel alignment A.S.A.P. it will save you later. Also as soon as you lower it. It shouldn't effect your camber to bad yet. In the later stages when it settles down then you have problems in trying to get your alignments back to par. Basically if u get your alignments done right away. It will settle down with the alignment in tact. Will also save your tires to be honest. Think smart especially with a car like a Z. Trust!

Shít... 1.5" drop... I know a lot of people say more than advertised, just didn't assume that much...
I have a set of used ones I bought from my buddy who used them for maybe a year... Looks like they'll be going on sale soon...

Lol, he did get a four wheel alignment but his settings are all out of factory tolerance.

OP, read this and you should be good to go- http://www.the370z.com/brakes-suspen...-handling.html

Here is a link to some front/rear camber arms and toe bolts. You could get them from numerous sites but Z1 is pretty awesome- Suspension1

*And it looks like you can get away with just camber arms but I would get toe bolts too just to be safe. Camber and toe go together and affect each other... so even though your toe is within specs now, once you start messing with camber is might through it out of tolerance and vise versa.

*Honestly after looking at your alignment sheet, its really not too bad. Your front camber on the left side is only .1 out of spec. You really could just leave it, tire should wear close to evenly with the right. I would go front camber arms if you plan on lowering again in the future with coilovers or different springs.

Also, your rear camber is -2.5. That isn't to extreme. Lots of members on here run aggressive camber like that. You'll notice faster tire wear though on the insides of the tire. Stock tolerance is max -2.2. I would at the minimum get rear camber arms.

The car was aligned on the same day as the springs and spacers were installed. They were all done at the same shop!

Sorry MJB I hadn't read your post yet!

Thanks for you advice, rep given.

Sorry I disagree with this. 1st, anything lower than 1 inch your car won't get back to factory spec without the camber kits so there is no hurry to do an alignment right away. 2nd, people wait till spring settled THEN do a 4 wheel alignment with the camber kits and toe bolts otherwise you'd waste money do aligment twice if you want to keep it in spec.

To answer OP's question, yes toe is worse then camber and it will eat up your tires badly. It's really your call if you want to get camber kits/toe bolt or not. Some people love the neg camber stance and don't bother change the tires every so often. If you belong to that group, you don't need to spend money on Camber kits. Just go for an allignment and sacrifice the camber(make it more negative) to save the toe(get it as close to the factory spec as you can) and call it a day. If you do that, remember to swap tires from left to right sometimes to even out the wear. If you do want to bring your alignment to factory spec, then just get the camber kits and toe bolts and do an alignment after the springs are settled. SPC is a popular one for the Z and G. It's affordable and good qulity.

I think teins give the perfect drop, I think with 20-25 spacers it would look sick :)

NICE!:tup: Ironically I also just completed a similar install last week with Swifts,15mm H&R's, SPL camber arms and toe bolts. Did Gmat dampening in the rear also before I got an alignment. Front camber is at -1.5 rears at -1.7. I was shocked at how much smoother the car drove even with lower/stiffer spring:tiphat:

Thanks Forza370z, your advice is right on with MJB and Fuct. Fuct told me he was running -1.7 and -2.0 w/o a camber kit or toe bolts. He gave the same feedback as you guys before I started down this road. It is pretty reassuring to know that I am getting quality advise from you all.

I'm going to see how the tires wear for now. I live in a small town, so knowing the shop owner has some dividends. He has promised me a free alignment adjustment later if needed. I may go with camber arms and toe bolts at that time. Thanks again and Rep given.

bb370z, sound like we are heading down similar paths. Even though I have only had the setup for two weeks, my experience is the same. It rides better and even the noise doesn't sound as obnoxious.

You are welcome buddy. Your car looks nice lowered on those Tein s-tech.:tup:

Did you do 15mm all 4 corners? Im planning on getting swifts soon and your setup looks sweet!

Must be the 2010 silver paint:icon17:
The GMat sound deadening in the back helped a lot! I covered up those vents in the rear of the car with 2 layers of GMat and some foam. That killed a lot of the road wind noise heard from the rear of the car. Doin the doors right now!:tup:

Thanks!

Yes, 15's on all 4 corners. You can probably go to 20's, but with the Nismo finders you might rub a little if you upsize your tires and drop it 1.5" or more.

Sweet, that is also on my to do list, but I need to get an oil cooler installed before the summer, I mean mid spring when temps start to rise. Did you install the GMat yourself and if so, on scale 1 to 10 how hard would the install be for a novice?

Ive Installed deadening in many other Vehicles. It's pretty easy to do, it's just really time consuming and the back of the Z isn't the easiest to get into... Oil cooler is on my list also;)

I took my Nis for a ride yesterday...no problem with vibration at any speeds or during braking! I hope you get your problem figured out. I hate having stuff go wrong with my vehicles. :mad:

No issues with mine either. I did stud replacements front and rear. Sounds like something didnt bolt back on straight...:confused:

Rodger that...mine are stud replacements as well.

teins on, 1 word....GREAT :tup:

Sweet!:tup: Now open a new thread and post loads of pix!:pics:

What he said :icon18:

Pics up in album!! :tiphat:

I'll be installing my TEINS with Eibach sways when I get back from an LA road trip I'm taking at the end of next week. I don't have time to install and get aligned prior.

I also have 20mm front & 25mm rear spacers ;)

:happydance:

glad i could help, but im curious about the items i highlighted above. the teins are a much higher spring rate. im shocked you find them softer than the factory springs.

and you rub? where? ive never experienced this.

Nick

very niceee should look great. :tup:

Hi Nick, been waiting to hear from you. +1 for your assistance :tup:. Okay, I guess what I mean by a softer ride is that the ride is not harsh or rigid IMO. Yeah, you will feel bumps such as potholes, deep ruts and ridges, but the over all ride seem smoother. I doesn't swim or float by any means. As far as the rub I have only heard\felt it on a couple of occasions. It was not much of anything and maybe not worth mentioning, but I hit the send button. It has not done it since I posted the thread.

I love the look...the drop is just right and with my new AAM exhaust, its mo sexy!

I was pretty cool...my wife had not really paid much attention to the car since the spring install and just before we left to go shopping this weekend she got in the car and then got out right away and said what did you do to the car...its really low...aren't your tires going to rub. I laughed said and said nope, its all good. When got to Sam's Club she did another inspection and said I think your tires might be rubbing! I just shock my head and laughed. :rofl2:

only way i can see it rubbing is with some crazy toe in the rear or going over large speed bumps with the wheel locked left or right.

im glad you like them!

Yep, it could have been a fluke or something else I heard. I haven't been able to make it happen since. But it's all good...I'm very happy with them.

I thought I would update and bump this thread after purchasing SPC rear camber bar and toe bolts Z_bro here on the forum. The deal worked out great for both of us.

Here my results for my setup on Bridgestone S-04s, 265/35/19 front and 305/30/19 rears. The alignment is totally within the OEM specs.

nice
 

that's how i want my car to look. Stock height the back looks ok but the front has to much of a gap to the tire

IMO 20mm all around or

15mm front and 20mm rear is $$$. 20mm won't rub no matter how low you go, tucks right in.

Gotta disagree on that. Have Swift springs and 15mm spacers on all four corners (stock wheels and tires). My rear sidewalls extend beyond the wheel wells, and would most surely rub if I dropped much lower. Glad I went with 15's vice 20's.

Agreed. 20mm is good for non-nismo. Nismo wheels have more aggressive offset so 15mm will be ideal.

Yup...I asked question and read through lot of post before pulling the trigger on my setup and the consistent answer was 15s all around. IMO from reading what other say that know a lot more than me, is that you would probably be okay with 15s in the rear an 20s up front, but you definitely will need camber arms all around if you don't want to replace tires every other time you change your oil! LOL

ive been a firm believer in 15mm all around. but im toying with the idea of doing 20mm up front, and leaving the 15mm in the rear.