Suspension Overhaul + Alignment.

[elwesso]

So I was going through my records and found that my last alignment has been about 30k miles ago, or about 5 years ago... yes I know I don't drive anywhere!

My goal is by June when the big NICO event is on, I want to have the suspension on my car totally ready to go.

Here is my current setup.

1994 Q45 w/HICASZ32 brakes, Hawk HPS pads over brembo blank rotors18x8 245-45-18 F18x9 275-40-18 R

Front suspensionFSTBSPL front upper arms, tension rodsTokico Blue w/ 2in springs (california custom, progressive springs)Front sway bar- stock bushings

Rear suspensionSPL rear upper arms22mm Q45a sway bar- poly end link bushings, stock frame bushingsSPL subframe spacers

Everything else is stock unless otherwise noted..

Current alignment (or the specs I had last time I had it done)

Front LeftCamber: -1.4°Caster: 7.1°Toe: .01°

Front RightCamber: -1.2°Caster: 7.4°Toe: .00°

Rear LeftCamber: -1.0°Toe: .01°

Rear RightCamber: -.9°Toe: .04°

I am looking for suggestions on everything... Here is what I know I need

1. New tires in the sizes listed (or something close)2. Inspection/replacing various suspension parts3. New alignment. I want my car to be "track ready" but I also want the car to be reasonable for daily driving. In other words, I want an agressive setup but I dont want to adjust my suspension for race events and then adjust it back.

For those not familiar with the Q setup, its basically the same as a skyline or a Z32..

[IanS]

Check all your ball joints.Check your tie rods.Check the condition of bushings, I bet you are due for a new set of steering rack bushings.

Get yourself a set of high quality dampers. Depending on how old the blues are, you may want to replace front and rear. Dampers are generally only good for about 50,000 miles. After that they degrade pretty rapidly, especially with a heavy car like the Q.

Think about doing a fully poly bushing kit. It makes all the difference in the world, without really affect ride quality. Its a lot of work, but well worth it.

[elwesso]

Thanks for the input! I forgot to mention, the biggest thing I noticed when i've auto-X'd the car, the steering seems like it "binds" when you're taking really quick turns..

IN other words, say Im going through the slalom and when I cut back from left to right, it seems like the steering firms up really bad and its hard to control the car smoothly... Any ideas what that might be?

I had thought about a poly bushing set... Does anyone make a set that includes everything for the rear suspension too?

I agree about the shocks, I'll be putting a new set of those on as well as some poly steering rack bushings.. Ive got a bit of PS leak (not real big, just typical nissan) so Im sure the bushings are in bad shape.

[the converted]

That actually sounds like a tired PS pump. The one in my Maxima does that when it is cold, and I can hear it slipping on the belt at the same time.

[AZhitman]

Wes - I think I mentioned the dead spot in your steering at Carlisle.

Bad PS pump or air in the system.

[MaximA32]

I'm with those 2 on the bad PS pump. It sounds like it's not keeping the pressure up during rapid direction change. As far as your suspension set up, I would get a set of dampers and as Ian said, change them all out to poly. You can buy entire kits from Energy Suspension. As for the alignment, if you get dampers, make sure you get adjustable pillowball mounts as they will allow you to make adjustments on the fly if you're noticing too much camber when going hard. There isn't anything available for the rear to make the camber adjustable from the top side unless the make rear pillowballs as well.

For tires, there are a few that I can recommend. It really all starts with budget. As with anything speed related, more speed=more money. How fast do you want to go? If you're looking for a reliable 2 season tire, go with the Hankook Ventus V12 EVO or the Yokohama S.Drive. If you can afford it and want a set of track only tires, get the Bridgestone Potenza RE-11 which is Bridgestone's new UHP tire. It's stickier than most which also means it's soft and you won't see much highway life out of it. If you want a cross between the RE-11 and the S.Drive, pick up a set of the new Sumitomo HTR Z III's. Excellent dry grip and an affordable price (rear is actually cheaper than front, go figure)

For brakes, the HPS pads will work fine but you may want to consider going to a slotted Brembo. It'll help keep the brake temps down by giving the hot air and such a place to go while braking. Also, I'd switch over to an ATE fully synthetic high temp brake fluid. You don't want that fluid to boil under heavy track use *cough Greg cough ps fluid cough*

[RED_DET]

If you could add some adjustable sway bars in the mix, I think that would give you quite a bit more area of adjustment especially when dealing with "understeer" or "oversteer". You will need to go a bit more aggressive with the camber front & rear and decide if you want toe in or out? You will have to decide which suits your driving and how the car handles now. Toe in is going make the car more stable & diminish turn in, the opposite occurs if you add toe out. This relates to either front or rear. Softer sways in the front than the rear equals less understeer. The same happens when the rear springs are stiffer than the front. Obviously changing the rear to soft & front hard, less oversteer & more understeer. You will just have to experiment with settings & see what you like. I myself wasn't quite sure how much the sway bar settings affects handling, but after I experimented around one day, I was quite impressed.

[elwesso]

Wouldn't you think that a PS pump would start to make noise? I definitely dont have air in the system (fluid is never frothy), fluid stays topped off all the time, and it doesnt make any funny noises... Nor does it make funny noises when i'm making quick turns... I guess the only way to tell would be to test the pressure and see what i can come up with..

BTW whenever a nissan PS pump gets air in it, it squeals like a baby pig... Mine is nice and quiet...

Since its a HICAS car, might be better to try and rebuild it, you can buy the vanes and what not from infiniti... Looks like i could get a "rebuild kit" for under $200, not bad... Would include 2 new "cam ring and vane" kits (for the PS and HICAS), as well as an entire seal kit...

Do you think that maybe the fact that I'm running a bigger wheel and tire setup could have something to do with it? Might not be on an issue on many other cars, but remember the Q weighs 1000lbs more than any of its other nissan counterparts..

Anyway, I know that ES makes poly bushing kits.. What i dont know is if they make them for the ENTIRE rear suspension. Theres all kinds of links back there, and I know they make poly for the diff and subframe, but I dont know if they make ones for the multi-link...

The hyperflex kit includes: Includes: Front Control Arm Bushings (hopefully for the lower control arm), Front Strut Arm Bushings (Radius Rod Bushings, tension rod) [dont need], Front Sway Bar Bushings [dont need], Rear Sway Bar Bushings [dont need], Steering Rack Bushings, Rear Subframe Bushings, Rear Differential Carrier Bushings...

Kenny.. The adjustable pillow ball mounts are only good for Mcpherson strut setup like a maxima/240, etc... The Q45 has a multi-link setup like the 300ZX and R32/33/34... Regardless, I have a full range of caster, camber, and toe adjustments for all 4 corners of the car... The feasibility of "adjusting on the fly" on a Q is slim to none, so I need to choose a compromise when it comes to my alignment specs...

Fortunately, the Q has pretty high camber gain in corners compared with its other nissan counterparts, which means that I can run less static camber and toe than most people and still get pretty good performance..

I also have a set of drilled/slotted brembo rotors in my basement, just need turned (rusty from sitting), so maybe I'll toss those guys on!! My current rotors have about 35k on them, having been turned once...

Regarding tires, I want a good UHP tire that is still streetable.. If I can get 20k from the set thats fine with me, thats about 2 years of driving for me... Main thing they need to do is hold up well on the track, the Q is not nice to tires! Dry grip is most important to me.. I currently have dunlop sport 9000 and theyre surprisingly nice.. Grip could have been a little better but they were quiet and held up really good!

Unfortunately I cant get adjustable sway bars, Im pretty much stuck with the one I have..

My current setup is a 20mm hollow rear bar, 28mm solid front bar.. The front sway bar is more than enough, if anything I would just need to add adjustment (how?) to the rear bar, so I could tweak the rear bar to the front...

[Q45tech]

Try 1.0 ounces of Lubeguard Black or red added to ATF- PS fluid, after that if no improvement adjust rack pinion preload.How much more than stock do front tires and wheels weigh?

[elwesso]

I would say the front wheels/tires weigh about 10lbs more, they are not very heavy for 18s... The wheels themselves weigh similar, but the tires will be heavier..

What do you think about alignment specs.