Hey all.

As I indicated in previous threads, I’ve been driving lowered for about 2 weeks now (I’ll have photos soon). I know that an alignment is crucial after dropping the car. Or is it? – I ask because I feel no vibrations whatsoever. I go 70, 80, 90, 100, 110, 120+ and everything seems to be perfect. Should I still get an alignment done?

My setup is H&R and illumines (3 front, 3 rear). Thanks

 

I have yet to align mine and I lowered it in March of last year. I do need to toss on some camber bolts though as I noticed that finally my tires are starting to wear ever so slightly more on the inside than the out.

 

i lowered my car the end of last summer and i never did an alignment....car runs fine

 

i feel like i should have an alignment done because the car pulls a little to the right, but other than that, i've have no problems since i've been lowered. i've got eibach springs and kyb gr2 struts. I havent noticed any uneven tire wear either. so far so good.

 

I strongly would suggest that you don't cheap out and not align your car. Just get it..

 

its not that im cheaping out, i just dont have money for it right now. I wish i had unlimited funds, but wishes dont always come true. Not knocking you, cuz i love your car, and what youve done with it, im just letting you know my POV

 

yea just get an alignment - it can only help and is like 60 bucks when i got mine-so its not 2 bad

 

Try and get one of those lifetime wheel alignment from Firestone. I'm thinking of getting another alignment in a month or so. I paid around $200 for lifetime wheel alignment and rotation. Good plan to have with those potholes.

 

ummm.
no you don't have to.
but your an idiot if you don't.

 

Definitely do even if your car tracks perfectly. If you don't then you'll experience premature tire wear as Steve is now noticing. Really you should figure this into the cost of dropping, if you don't then you are cheaping out.

on the lifetime alignment. I got mine from firestone for like $150.

 

Damn thats a good deal, is that for all four or just front?

 

All four. I added wheel rotation and balancing also, that's why it came out to be around $200.

 

You can't really do anything with the rears on the Max. So you only need a front wheel alignment. And YES, you should do it, even if your car does not pull to either side! An alignment is cheaper than new tires if you wear a pair out. Also, if your off enough, you lose traction you need for acceleration and braking.

 

This doesn't automatically mean you need camber bolts. Have it aligned first and see if they can get the car within specs. If you really suspect you'll need the bolts, go ahead and buy them. Bring them to the alignment. If they don't need to use them, you can return them. My car didn't need them, and I don't know of too many that did.

 

wurd

I had to adjust my camber majorly after I got my teins on I almost went through 2 pairs of tires in like a month or little more. Now with my camber bolts its just fine and I rotated my tires.

 

I also had MAJOR adjustment problems after putting on the S-Tech's. I also had to have camber bolts installed. They were then able to bring the camber into specs. Toe can also be a problem ... I was having this problem with the first set of spring I installed (Eibach).

As previously stated, NEVER pay advertized rate for 4 wheel alignment, only 2 wheel. Solid beam rear axle = no adjustment.

 

damn guys, another $200 for alignment?!!

.......HOLY S&#%!!!!!!!!!

 

You can get them alot cheaper. That's a lifetime alignment which is definitely worth it if you can afford it, but if you can't then just get a one timer.

I didn't even think about trying to get them to bring the price down since it's only the fronts. Oh well.

 

I got my camber bolts installed and a alignment for like a little over 100 I believe

 

When you lower the ride height of a 4th gen Maxima, do to the geometry of the suspension the front TOE-IN setting goes to TOE OUT. Thats why guys who don't have their front alignment reset wear the inside edge of the front tires after a drop. Y2KSESteve, you don't need camber bolts, you need an alignment to have the toe set correctly. The front end should be 1mm toe inwards, your running toe outwards. Your car will handle better as well once you have that corrected.

Don't be fooled by a centered steering wheel and straight tracking. Straight tracking only means that camber and caster are equal on both sides. The centered steering wheel means toe is the same on both sides. It does not mean the toe setting is correct by any means.


You absolutely need to have the front end alignment set after you change the ride height of your car. The front end toe setting goes way out. Thats why the inside edge of the tires wear out quickly.

A 4 wheel alignment checks the thrust angle of the vehicle and is the proper way to align just about every car on the road today. No adjustments are made to the rear on vehicles with solid axles or beams like our cars have. But a 4 wheel thrust angle alignment assures a perfectly centered steering wheel right off of the alignment rack. It's the only way to see exactly how the car tracks down the road. A 4 wheel thrust angle alignment should only run you about $50 bucks on a solid rear axle vehicle.

The suspension guru has spoken.

 

OK njmaxseltd, so what you are saying is that when I go to get my alignment done, I'm suppose to ask the guy doing it to only do a "4 wheel thrust alignment" and nothing else? ...and that should run me approx. $50, correct?

I guess I'm confused by what you said because you state to get a 4 wheel alignment, but then you go on to say that "no adjustments are made to the rear on vehicles with solid axles or beams like our cars have". Please elaborate. THank you.

 

A 4 wheel thrust angle alignment assures a perfectly centered steering wheel right off of the alignment rack. It's the only way to see exactly how the car tracks down the road.

Armain, just drop the car off at a good shop for your alignment, you don't need to tell them how to do the alignment, a trained tech will align your car correctly. Just because they are looking at all 4 wheels (thrust angle) doesn't mean they have to adjust all 4 wheels.

 

when you dro pyour car and dont get an alignment, your tires just get eaten away. get the alignment.

 

as your car gets older, you car tends to fold in on itself due to wear. if you lower your car, your just doing to faster. you need to do an alignment.

 

I have to agree... though I just drove 100+ miles from Tom's (njmaxseltd's) shop un-aligned. I would never do it again. It puts really bad wear on your tires. I got the car to an alignment shop that evening.

Tom- they told me the toe was the closest to nominal they had ever seen for a car that had just had suspension work and a new rack-and-pinion. The guys did a great job-thanks.

 

When you drop it off at the shop for alignment, do not tell them you just lowered your car. The shop usually try to get it back to the factory setting, but if you tell them that you lowered your car, they won't take responsibility when they do the adjustment. They use a computer to do the alignment, and they have a standard height for every car.