Alignment is obviously off and no one seems to know why
 

So a backstory first. I have a 370z touring non sport. Previous owner added the 19" rays wheels. Since ive owned the car, ive added H&R sport springs and got an alignment right after. Few months after that, I added H&R wheel spacers, 20mm in back and 15mm in front. Didnt get an alignment because i thought spacers didnt affect that. Wrong, my rear tires were balding very badly on the inside so i got another alignment. The problem kept happening, so i took off only my rear spacers and left on the front ones.

Currently, now i only have front spacers and the lowering springs, and i noticed my front tires are balding like crazy once again. I dont want to have to remove my lowering springs or spacers. I dont even know if thats the problem. But its like the alignments arent really doing anything. Help! What do i do now?

Pic of my front tire attached.
http://i61.tinypic.com/107kq9w.jpg[/IMG]

What were the numbers on the alignments? Were they able to get back into factory specs?

i wouldnt know, how would i find that out? Im wondering if theyre getting it to the specs of my z with its stock 18" wheels rather than my replacement 19s

Because they should have given you a sheet with all of the numbers on it. I'll go ahead and tell you your camber is off. You most likely need front and rear camber arms. The factory arms have almost no adjustment in them. Might as well do toe bolts too. If you lower these cars, you'll need camber arms 99% of the time.

your alignment is off. because you have H&R Springs.

H&R is a nice low look, but crappy ride, bad for your OEM shocks and doesnt help your tires. I had a friend with H&R and he went through his rear tires in under 5k miles

You will need to:
1. Remove Springs
2. Add front/rear camber arms

suggestion:
1. Remove springs and go to coilovers or swift springs and add front/rear camber arms.

Is there a reason he won't be able to get the alignment back in spec with camber arms and toe bolts if he keeps the springs?

Ugh, another money pit. Thanks for your help though. I definitely know its the camber but i thought the alignment shops would have told me something if i needed the camber arms... guess theyre fine with just taking my money and telling me to have a nice day.

curious as well. why get coilovers and arms/bolts if i would just need arms/bolts

On the upside, camber arms aren't that expensive compared to tires. :rofl2:

sorry for the confusion.

option 1 and 2 are exclusive.

meaning he can remove them OR get camber arms

with the camber arms , he can get back in spec no problem.
But i would still worry about the bouncy ride / shocks

Ah. Cool, that's what I thought.

yeah, but now im looking at close to a grand just to get my car at a normal alignment. The tires need replacing anyway. i now have to get tires, camber arms, and an alignment. UGH just UGHHHH

to hell with these springs. thanks all...

It's very well known here that you have to do camber arms when you lower the car. It's part of the deal. It's not that big of a deal. They're fairly easy to install.

Always have to consider things when changing something.

somethings are harder learned, and I think everyone here has gone through that lol.

Keep the spacers, remove the springs.

look in the for sale section, you can find camber arms and coil overs constantly at times. take your time buying and then when you have the right sets, put it on together.

more likely your toe is off in the back. your going to get more wear on the inside regardless with negative camber in the back but if your toe is off it will eat them up even more.

thanks, i should do that eventually. i want to cry because this is my DD and i am putting a lot of highway miles on it every day.

It's not the worst thing in the world to do the arms and toe bolts. That way you've got adjustibility in the suspension regarless of whatever spring or coil setup you go with in the future.

yo thats a good point. i plan on keeping my z til i run it into the ground :tiphat:

So out of my options, let me see.
-Reinstall stock springs, get alignment and tires
-Install camber arms and toe bolts, get alignment and tires.
-Install asymmetrical tires and (camber/toe bolts???), get alignment

I think I'm going to order some camber arms and get a shop to install and align them, and then get tires. Can someone recommend whether I should just get front arms or if I should get them for front and rear? and if so are there any brands i should be looking at? perhaps any cheap-ish parts? Id like to get moving on this as soon as possible, Im going to be driving a lot on bald tires if i dont. Thanks everyone for the help so far.

Asymetrical tires won't magically fix your camber if you put them on and get an alignment. Your option is to go back to stock or replace the arms. Without seeing the printout from the alignment sheet, you have no way of telling if you need to do all four corners, but you probably do.

The options for arms are SPC or SPL. SPC is fine for street use, even though there have been some failures. There have been a ton more SPCs sold than any other option, and there's just a few reports of failures. SPL is by far the best you can buy and will hold up to tracking the car, but it comes at a price.

SPC worked for me front / rear.
SPL is really nice but for most people completely unnecessary.

There are supposed to be some good install shops in orlando area. let me show this thread to a friend who lives around there.

oh im actually down in boca raton now, i forgot to update that, before you start contacting people. i just dont get on here much anymore.

looks like its spc. im gonna see if i can find anything that i got from the shop that did my alignment.

if you need the SPC fast, I am pretty sure Z1 motorsports has the full set in stock.

give em a call anda sk for Jon Parham

I was there saturday and like I said I think they have em.

I like z1, gotten many parts from them before. oh and i found my receipt from my alignment at tire kingdom. it doesnt tell me squat about the alignment specs. I called the guy there and they dont keep it on file, and told me that 99.9% of their customers dont take home a copy of the specs of their alignment. idk why. useless....

thats crap. all alignment places are supposed to give you a print out...

But I put this thread int he central florida group on facebook. Someone should hopefully chime in.

orlando fiebre......?

the info isnt on your receipt :p

and thats BS. ive never walked out of an alignment shop with out a print out and full explanation of the numbers.

find a new alignment shop, which you might need to anyways. ive known some alignment shops that wont touch aftermarket camber arms and toe parts. alot do but some dont.

also installing the rear camber arms is SUPER easy. the fronts are guna cost you alot more to install.

I have a 5 year alignment plan at NTB. I have a sportscar, I get an alignment at the same shop practically every three months, I go into the bay and chat the guy up while he does it (and keep an eye on things ;)), and I still have to ask for the damn printout almost every time :shakes head:

They're probably right when they say most people don't care... at least they don't sell me $hit I don't need or give me crap when I come in with tires that aren't stock sizes that they think won't fit when I know they will.