Is my Car too LOW?

[nani]

judged by the pictures is my car too low for alingment? i cant go past 45 my steerting wheel starts to shake like crazy

[PencilShavings]

in the first pic your camber does kinda look like a lot

btw, I like the wheels and the strech looks sweet

[Bosrudorfer]

Doesnt look SUPER low, in fact I would lower it some more. Whats it measure from the car center to the floor? (see more awesome pic)

[240sxjeff]

Not even close, my car is easily an inch lower than that and I aligned with no problems whatsoever. Just make sure the person aligning it knows what they are doing ie. take it to a reputable shop

[SeVa-S13]

Are those wheels hubcentric? And they're been recently balanced, right?

[naed240sx]

Not even close, my car is easily an inch lower than that and I aligned with no problems whatsoever. Just make sure the person aligning it knows what they are doing ie. take it to a reputable shop

It's not possible to mantain stock alignment settings when going an inch lower.

To the creator of this thread: Everything can be "aligned", it just depends on what specs you want. If you are on coilovers, you will not have any issues with the front. For the rear: You will probably be running a minimum of -1.5 degrees camber, but this is a good setting anway. Rear toe will be ok, but If you want to completely eliminate gap, then it could be an issue.
Modified by naed240sx at 11:38 AM 5/2/2006

[McRussellPants]

What the gay is this mess?

Your car is gappin, its not low at all.

[240sxjeff]

well I assumed he wanted a performance-oriented alignment instead of stocknani: are your wheels balanced? that might be causing your vibration issues

[naed240sx]

well I assumed he wanted a performance-oriented alignment instead of stocknani: are your wheels balanced? that might be causing your vibration issues

Im 99% sure he hasn't even had an alignment yet. Nani- Whenever you mess with suspension stuff, go get your car aligned.

[skydragoness]

in the first pic your camber does kinda look like a lot

btw, I like the wheels and the strech looks sweet

OMG NO! What is with this 'omg stretch is the roxorz' phenomenon?' Just put out the extra cash for stiffer tires and you wouldn't have to compromise wheel safety so much. I like to have *some* sidewall in case I hit a pothole I can't avoid in time. You people are insane. INSANE.

[McRussellPants]

OMG NO! What is with this 'omg stretch is the roxorz' phenomenon?' Just put out the extra cash for stiffer tires and you wouldn't have to compromise wheel safety so much. I like to have *some* sidewall in case I hit a pothole I can't avoid in time. You people are insane. INSANE.

errr... ok

[nani]

well i got the tires for around 60$ all four. they fit nicely. I have TEIN BASICS all around. long time ago i hit a curb and bent my wheel and broke teh control arm i think. everything was replaced exept for the bent rim. i rode with the rim for about a month. but you could only feel shaking when i was going 50 - 60 mph which is why i didnt take the beltway ... anyways i have these wheels now and im having the same problem.... ill measure the hight tomorrow

[glitched]

maybe im seeing things but from the pics, it LOOKS like one front wheel has neg camber and the other front wheel has pos camber....

[McRussellPants]

The wheels are slightly turned.

[Dori Dori]

No, your car is not too low. It's actually sitting at a pretty good height.*

As for your vibration issues, your alignment is NOT causing that vibration. Are those wheels hubcentric? If not, are you using hubcentric rings? You might have an off balance wheel, bad tire, or something else is still fubared from your curbing incident.

*fanboys, please refrain from commenting.

[hannibal]

I not a big fan of stretching tires (225 on a 10" rim), but those rears look pretty darn good to me. What size are they?

[naed240sx]

No, your car is not too low. It's actually sitting at a pretty good height.*

As for your vibration issues, your alignment is NOT causing that vibration. Are those wheels hubcentric? If not, are you using hubcentric rings? You might have an off balance wheel, bad tire, or something else is still fubared from your curbing incident.

*fanboys, please refrain from commenting.

]

hubcentrics aren't causing his problem. I run no hub rings all the time without issues.

[Dori Dori]

]

hubcentrics aren't causing his problem. I run no hub rings all the time without issues.

Which means absolutely nothing. By your logic nobody would ever have to ever do things like balance wheels or get alignments b/c the parts are the same on all cars.

If the wheels are not hubcentric they CAN cause vibration issues.

It's definitely the cheapest item to rule out...

[Apexi]

$10 bucks say its the tires. If you got all 4 for $60 bucks there has to be something wrong with them. Maybe a bubble?

[naed240sx]

Which means absolutely nothing. By your logic nobody would ever have to ever do things like balance wheels or get alignments b/c the parts are the same on all cars.

If the wheels are not hubcentric they CAN cause vibration issues.

It's definitely the cheapest item to rule out...

His wheel is shaking "like crazy" past 45. I know tons of people including me who have not used hub rings, and never had ANY issues. All that hub rings are gonna do is possibly make the ride a little smoother, if at all. He has some other problem.

NANI: Have you even had the car aligned yet? Im guessing not. If this is true, everybody needs to STFU untill you have that done. Alignment is first order of business after a suspension install.

[SeVa-S13]

His wheel is shaking "like crazy" past 45. I know tons of people including me who have not used hub rings, and never had ANY issues. All that hub rings are gonna do is possibly make the ride a little smoother, if at all. He has some other problem.

I can tell you from working in a shop specializing in wheels and suspension that for most all cars I've worked on, non hubcentric wheels will cause the steering wheel to shake violently, starting at around 45 for smaller-wheeled vehicles. Hub rings fixed the problem every time for us.

[naed240sx]

I can tell you from working in a shop specializing in wheels and suspension that for most all cars I've worked on, non hubcentric wheels will cause the steering wheel to shake violently, starting at around 45 for smaller-wheeled vehicles. Hub rings fixed the problem every time for us.

Were you tightening the lug nuts down before putting weight on the wheels? If you tighten the lugs properly, it shouldn't be a problem, because modern wheels are lug centric.

Don't get me wrong though, I do suggest running hub rings, and I run them on my car now. I'm only saying that first order of business is getting the car aligned properly. He can get by with no hub rings.

[nani]

Ok guys im goig to do the alinegement tomorrow. ill update. I tried balancing the wheels but when i put the weight it was hiting my spring. it did feel a little better tho. but i could not take the bumping sound so i took them out.

[youngmanvr4]

You what?

[SeVa-S13]

Yeah you can usually get pretty close by tightening before you drop the car, but once it hits a decent pothole or something, it will jar the wheel and it will shift. That's what usually happened to us.

[naed240sx]

Yeah you can usually get pretty close by tightening before you drop the car, but once it hits a decent pothole or something, it will jar the wheel and it will shift. That's what usually happened to us.

Thats odd. I ran some 8mm spacers(when using spacers, hubrings are impossible) on my front wheels for like 4 months, and never had a single vibration issue. I also took off and replaced my front wheels like 6 times during that period. I always just tightened em down decently well before allowing the tire to touch the ground. Im on coilovers too, so it hits bumps hard.

[SeVa-S13]

For the month I used some cheap non-hubcentric wheels on my last S13 I couldn't cruise at just around 50mph I think; under or over was fun but with those wheels it just shook at that speed. Weird and kinda annoying but livable.

[Dori Dori]

NANI: Have you even had the car aligned yet? Im guessing not. If this is true, everybody needs to STFU untill you have that done. Alignment is first order of business after a suspension install.

ALIGNMENT DOES NOT CAUSE/CURE VIBRATIONS.

[Dori Dori]

Ok guys im goig to do the alinegement tomorrow. ill update. I tried balancing the wheels but when i put the weight it was hiting my spring. it did feel a little better tho. but i could not take the bumping sound so i took them out.

So you're driving around on unbalanced wheels because you think the weight was hitting the spring? WFT? Dude, get some stick on weights and balance your wheels. Your vibration issues are coming from:

a: your wheels being unbalancedb: your wheels not being hubcentric

An alignment is definitely something you need but is NOT the cause of your vibration issues.

[Dori Dori]

Were you tightening the lug nuts down before putting weight on the wheels? If you tighten the lugs properly, it shouldn't be a problem, because modern wheels are lug centric.

Don't get me wrong though, I do suggest running hub rings, and I run them on my car now. I'm only saying that first order of business is getting the car aligned properly. He can get by with no hub rings.

Tightening the lugs does not necessarily mean that a lugcentric wheel will align with the hub. Most tire manufactures and wheel manufactures will recommend using a hubcentric ring to ensure proper alignment with the hub.

And for the last time, alignment does NOT fix vibrations.