Suspension and Tire help needed
 

I have a 2013 Base/Sport. Im in a bit of a predicament and need help. I will list my mods that I just installed and explain.

Nismo struts all around
H&R Springs
15mm H&R spacers front
20mm H&R spacers rear


I have 14k miles and needed new tires. With this suspension installed, I loved the car on my stock Bridgestones and thought it was great. However, my rear tires were already on their way out, so I had to replace them.

After some reasearch and a good ebay deal, I chose a pair of 285/35/19 Hankook Ventus Evo2's. The tires grip well, but now I have this unsettling crabwalk. Its as if im on slicks. I understand these are softer and have a softer sidewall then the OEM Bridgestones and could be the issue.

So heres where I am.
Do I find hankook evo2's for the front and hope that matching all 4 will make the car happy again or cut my losses and buy all 4 of something different?

New tires need to break in, don't drive hard for 500 miles or so. Also, get your alignment checked.

I did do an alignment. My toe was brought back to spec as was caster. The front is dropped and the camber is about 2.1, which is just out and the rear is 1.7 which should be just in spec.

you really shouldnt mix tires. the hankook's are directional, and the potenza's are non-directional. it doesnt make that big of a difference, but coupled with the fact that our cars are RWD, makes things really unsettling when you mix the tires that way. suck it up and buy new front tires.

also, yes, tires need to be worn in. give it a few hundred miles and see if it improves. if not, then you will definitely need new front tires that match

I do need new front tires anyhow, so im not upset about having to buy some. Just asking if I should stay with the hankooks I guess.

hankooks are cheap and get the job done. if you are just DD'ing your car they're more than enough! theyre grippy, relatively quiet, and last relatively long. so i hear anyway

I have BStone S04s on the front and Hankook Evo1s on the rear. The car feels planted and stable, rain or shine. If your alignment truly is close to spec, then something else is off. Have you, or anyone else messed with the sway bars?

You know, its funny you say that, cause I wondered the same. I havent touched the rear sway bar at all and crawled under my car today to check. The rear bar and endlinks seem to be fine. The front endlinks are part of the strut and were a pain to get off when I installed the suspension. Everything went back together fine though and the front sounds and feels great.

The reason I mention that, is that I blame improper sway bar installation for my accident. I had no rear traction, the car felt like I was sliding around, and I burnt through a set of rear tires in a month or so. Eventually, the car let go in the rain and I crashed.

When I installed my sways, I did it with the car in the air, which was recommended against in the guide. I didn't think it would matter. I was wrong. I have since adjusted my sways at ride height and all is well.

My issues didnt happen till I put on the hankooks, but I will certainly keep that in mind when I do eventually get sway bars.

What's your toe setting on the rear?

Get your toe settings to zero front with a touch toe in out back (1/16" total toe in is what worked for me). The OEM toe specs don't work too well when your lowered. OEM specs are toed out in the rear. I had the same issue after switching tires.

Front left to right

front toe. .07 and .09
rear toe. .12 and .16

all in spec per oem standard

Pretty sure you're toed out front and back. They should be able to get your numbers the same side to side too. Most racks read positive numbers as toe out. Toe out in the back had my car all over the place. The rear end would kinda snap out when cornering if I hit any change in road surface. Don't let the alignment guy use OEM specs to go by. They tend to center you up in the middle of spec numbers. Which puts you with way too much toe out. I went through this several times before I figured out what was happening. I was going to a regular auto service place for alignment, they don't get it. Find a race shop or someone that can think outside the box...
I'm running .0 toe in front and a touch toe in, in the back, -1/32 ea side. If you do some reading here you'll see most lowered cars run similar toe numbers.
Good luck:driving:

You can't adjust caster. You mean camber? Cause you can't adjust that either on the front.


What machine? Positive on a hunter is toe-in.