I got an alignemnt done today and the shop told me that they got the toe in within spec but the caster and camber is not adjustable on the car yet my caster on one side is way out of spec, 2 dergees. The guy told me that I need to get camber plates in order to compensate but the thing is I can't seem to find them online, the ones that I saw only describe that they allow camber adjustment and not caster adjustment. What would I need to get to make the adjustment possible?


The car is on stock spring/struts so I am not sure what allows it to be so out of spec, I bought it 8 months ago and it was in an accident previously so that might have something to do with it. It doesn't pull and drives fine but I want my tires to last as long as possible.

 

Where was it hit? The struts & control arms on these things are butter, hell I swear I've even seen a bent spindle

My .02c : find where it was hit and see what has & hasnt been replaced, that's your starting point. Move on to band-aids, dumping it, or professional services for checking the measuring points in the FSM once you have replaced at least the lca & strut on that side and still have a problem.

I don't think you will find plates w/caster without going to a high end coil-over, but I'm not sure.

Oh and do not get the aftermarket control arms (ones that come with balljoints.)

 

The car was hit 2 owners ago, there is no way for me to find out what was replaced and what wasnt.

The shop that did the alignment didn't see anything wrong with the front end, also there is no guarantee that the accident is to blame for the alignment being out of whack.

 

http://forums.maxima.org/advanced-su...-wants-em.html

5th gen camber/caster plates should be very similar to the 4th gen camber/caster plates.

Caster is the angle the strut sits relative to the wheel hub. If the car was in a offset front end crash the frame or suspension was probally pushed back adding positive caster.

If all the suspension components look ok then it might be a frame issue. In that case you could notch the upper strut towers to get some caster adjustment but the easiest short term solution would be to get the plates.

The plates are a racing part and as such need regular maintenance and care. They use a spherical bearing that needs to be cleaned and regreased a couple times a year on a daily driven car. They will also add some road noise and be harsher over bumps than the stock rubber mounts.

 

I still think there is something bent there especially since your vehicle is not lowered. Got the print-out of the allignment?

 

I left the printout at the place since they were going to see if they can find a caster/camber kit and call me with a quote for the part.

Basically the toe is withing spec, the camber is within spec on one side and .1 degrees off on the other. The caster is off by 2 degrees on one side and a little less off on the other.


I also think there is something bent , but nothing stood out to the shop so I do not really know how to go about finding out besides changing out parts one by one which I am not willing to do.

 

When diagnosing an alignment that is off a couple degrees, its gonna be hard to give a quality inspection for the problem in a quick fasion. I doubt the shop looked for even more than 5 minutes into the front end.

+1

 

So what you are saying is that a visual inspection should reveal a bent part? The reason I say visual is because I do not expect the shop to measure lengths and width of potential parts with a a ruler.

 

Yes it should, and I also agree. In other words make sure you know the "shop" your going to well enough to trust thier visual inspection.

 

IC, I'll talk to them to find out if they would know where to look.

 

I have to slightly disagree here, with all the weird twists & turns they take it can be very hard or downright impossible to spot a slightly tweaked LCA. I've seen side by side while replacing ones so bad that you could look at it with the wheel on and say "holy crap, the wheel is sitting about 2-inches further back towards the door" and yet side by side the other didn't look bent, and that's side by side against a horrible one.

 

I talked to the shop again, they couldn't find anything to adjust caster(pillow mounts) but he told me to buy some camber bolts so they can dial that in and if the car pulls then we will go from there but if not then to just drive like that since caster doesn't affect tire wear.


So what camber bolts should I buy, does it matter? I should not need more then 1 degree of adjustment.

Which one of these 2 would I need, why does the second one have a detachable lobe?

2002 NISSAN MAXIMA 3.5L 3498cc V6 FI [VQ35DE] DOHC : Suspension : Caster/Camber Cam Bolt KitPriceCoreTotalMOOG Part # K90474 {Cam Bolt}
Frt Susp; Lower Strut Mount; Fast Cam/Bolt Kit; adjustment range from -1 to +1 Deg.

MOOG Part # K5330 {Cam Bolt}
Frt Susp; Lower Strut Mount; Problem Solver; Magna Cam/Bolt Kit; adjustment range from -1-1/4 to +1-1/4 Deg.

 

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