just as the title says i installed everything and it went without a hitch however the alignment is OFF ! it pulls to the left like a limp d*ck. only snafu i had was the driver axel popping out.. i pushed it back in but im not sure if it was all the way in....car drives ok besides the alignment and no leaks....any ideas why the alignment went so bad ?

 

Sometimes there's some play where the strut attaches to the knuckle. You can try loosening those 2 bolts, repositioning, and tighten again.

Jae

 

cool ill try tomorrow thanks....

UPDATE : i have tried that and no luck so i went to firestone to get it aligned....they tried to do it but said there was no way to adjust the caster in the front and i needed special caster plates do they make them for the 4th gen ?

 

Take it to another shop.

 

been to about 4 shops today alone....same answer.....sorrry its lowered we cant do it.....im pulling my hair out...there are MANY lowered cars here and they have to get aligned somewhere......

 

"Sorry, it's lowered" is unmitigated BS. They tell you that as a cop-out, either because they don't want to put their name on something that might wear out your tires quickly anyway or because they actually don't know anything about cars. If everyone you go to is telling you that, go to a performance shop and ask them who does their alignments.

But while we're talking about this, what in the heck is wrong with your caster anyway? If one side has more caster angle than the other, you probably have an installation issue. It's one thing if a shop automatically writes you off because you're lowered without even looking at your car, but it's something else if there is a real problem that they don't know how to fix.

 

if your caster is off, it's possible that the springs are not seated correctly, and thus are pushing the spring/strut assembly to an off angle. When installed correctly, lowering springs should not change the caster of the front suspension at all. If your caster is off, something else has to be wrong. The only other thing I can think of that would affect caster is a bent lower control arm or shot LCA bushings.....

You are talking about caster, and not camber...right?

If you meant camber, there's nothing you can do unless you have camber plates or camber bolts. The S-techs are pretty low, as Maxima springs go, so it is likely that your camber is a bit more negative than spec. They can still align the car's toe, though.

Just go into the alignment shop and tell them you want the toe zeroed out, and not to worry about camber/caster. Ask them, just for reference's sake, what the camber is....

 

of note: some alignment shops cannot do cars that are lowered as much as the s-techs, if they use the old-style alignment rack, which shoots a laser beam from left to right just forward of the front wheels. If you're too low, the splash guards under the engine will get in the way of the beam. At my local Merchant's they had the old machine and we had to pull all the splash guards off so the laser beam could go from one side to the other.

i suggest going to a shop that has a more modern machine....most "tuner" shops and race shops will, since they deal with lowered cars all the time.

 

pretty sure the guy said caster but he could have been handing me a load of BS. he also said he cant align the rear wheel cause theres no adjustment and i need alot of custom work done, LOL yes i laughed a bit too....however i installed the springs and ive done this quite a few times so i know i set the springs in the right position on mounts one thing i did forget to install on the driver side strut was a circular disc that acted like bearing ? im putting it back in tomorrow. also the driver axel poped out but im sure i pushed hard enough for it to go back in properly....

 

I'm on S-techs, there was no castor change from stock. Camber is right at max allowed (I pulled all the slack out of the lower strut bolts to + during the install) camber is -1.0 left and -1.1 right (max allowed -1.0) I have not had any wear issues. You need to set the toe, it changes alot when lowered.

 

cool i have a fellow orger in jersey willing to do the alignment ! sts in north plainfield thanks !!

 

when i had them on my car i was using camber bolts from H&R.