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Subject My Recent Suspension Refresh
     
Posted by Karl (MD) on September 21, 2010 at 9:55 AM
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Message At ZCon I noticed that my tires were rubbing a bit up front, and by the end of the convention they had rubbed through the upper fender liners in a couple places. While stopped for gas with the group on the way home, Spencer pointed out that my caster seemed a bit off up front. I agreed - it seemed as if my front wheels were sitting a bit too far forward within the wheel wells.

I decided that if an alignment was in my near future, I might as well take the opportunity to do a bit of a suspension refresh all around. As these things always go, I found my SPL shopping cart filling up quickly.

I ended up ordering new front tension rods, brake air deflectors, rear camber arms, rear toe rods, rear traction rods, and Kuah's eccentric bolt lockout kit. It's pretty nice to have so much awesomeness arriving at once.

Kuah was back ordered for a few weeks on the traction rods, but I decided to proceed with the installation and alignment regardless. I wasn't planning to do anything too adventurous with the alignment, so I didn't expect to need that extra degree of adjustment anyway.

One afternoon after work I put the car up and got started, stripping out the necessary liners.

I'd be replacing a set of Stillen adjustable tension rods, installed with the old-style (taller with a bit of scoop) OEM brake air deflectors.

I'd never seen any of SPL's new suspension arms in person until I opened the box of tension rods. These things are beefy.

The hybrid adjuster that Kuah uses in all of these components is quite nice.

For better or for worse, I dropped the front tension rod brackets so that I'd have clearance to get the front tension rod bolts out - otherwise they'd run right into the adjacent intercooler piping. Unfortunately the threaded holes for the sway bar on the driver's side started to strip out upon reinstall.

I left the new brake air deflectors off for the time being, since I didn't want to unnecessarily expose the alignment technician to sharp metal edges.

In the rear, I was starting with Powertrix adjustable camber arms and toe rods.

Eccentric bolts are, well, eccentric. They seem to enjoy doing odd things.

It was much easier to complete the installation with the rear brakes undone.

I much prefer the shape of the SPL rear camber arms, since I don't have to slip them over the end of the coilovers to install them.

SPL's eccentric bolt lockout kit is simple but great. Using these hardware bits made me feel really good about the whole operation.

One side, all buttoned up.

Rinse, repeat.

Goodbye, stock eccentric bolts. I never liked you anyway.

After all that, it was definitely time for an alignment. I knew the front was way out of spec, especially since the car would screech around even the slightest turn.

My thanks go out to Mike Hastings (member 300MPH) for helping me get my alignment sorted out. Mike works on the sales floor of the Nissan dealership up the street from me. He pointed me in the direction of the dealership's GTR-certified technician, who turned out to be a phenomenal guy. I had the chance to explain to the technician exactly what he was looking at, and he even knew enough to inquire about my NA rear subframe. My car was back to spec in no time, and the drive home felt much better.

All things considered, this was a very enjoyable little project. I look forward to my installation of the rear traction rods and brake air deflectors, after which I should be set in terms of suspension upgrades for the time being.

     
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