I have a 2003 6MT on progress springs and illuminasin the rear(set to 5) and kyb gr2's in the front, with a progress rear sway bar. Once i lowered it, it handled great, but that was on my crappy tires that i didnt care about the tire wear. Now I have Michelin Pilot Sport A/S Plus's and i have strted noticing tire wear on the outside of the front tires. I do drive very agressively around corners, and the way it is set up now, it understeers, and im assuming that is where the tire wear is coming from. I have camberbolts coming in the mail, and this wekend i am repalcing the inner and outer tie rods, and then getting it alligned. My question is, what should i tell the tech to allign the camber to? I know im going to get the toe set to zero. And i do plan on AutoX, but i mainly drive road course type roads around here for fun. I know this has probably been beat to death, but i honestly cant figure out how to get usable results out of the search feature(maybe it shoudl be set up that it doesnt read peoples signatures)

 

Matt may post on here at some point, but here is something he already posted.

http://forums.maxima.org/4725109-post2.html

 

Pretty much that. For a street-driven car where you're concerned with tire wear, -1 camber and zero toe is where to go. Since you can't [cheaply] do anything to the rear, there's no point in worrying about it, other than to recenter your rear beam. that's mentioned in the 4th or 5th gen forum and should be done on a lowered car.

then just set the camber to -1, toe to zero, and go to town. That's about the best compromise between fun handling and tire wear.

air pressures also play a key role in tire wear. if you're driving hard on low air pressures, you're going to eat the corners off the tires. If you're driving the car too hard into a corner (which is most often the case when people complain about understeer), then it will eat the shoulders off as well.

 

awesome thanks! thats exactly what i was looking for! what exactly is the stock unadjustable setting for camber in the front? i tried measuring it with a digital angle finder and i got somewhere around -1.8* how on earth did you camber the rear? ive been trying to figure that out and searching for it for a while now

 

I have a 3 gen. it has independent rear suspension and I can adjust everything back there.

the 4th and 5th gens can only be adjust by bending the rear beam. not something the average Joe needs to be dealing with.

 

Sorry to thread jack. Matt, my car is lowered and sits straight from left to right and my rear tires are the same distance from the fenders. Is there any need to recenter the rear beam?

 

I'm no expert on the rear beam, but I would say if you've lowered the car, then you need to readjust the linkage even if the beam is centered. The problem is you've put the bushings in the scott-russel linkage in a bind because of it being lower than originally designed. that will cause more wear and eventual failure of the bushing.


Then again, people have been lowering 4th gens for 15 years and many never had a problem....

but it couln't hurt to readjust all that stuff right before you go in for your next alignment.

 

The rear camber is not offically adjustable, but if the camber link is replaced a rear toe adjustable link then the both camber and toe will be adjustable. Need to remove the two bolts that hold them on I have a -0.7 camber (L) and the inside of the tire wear out fast. I think a -0.2 camber will slow down the wear. I noticed the spec for camber on the Maxima is more positive than my other cars. On of my R. rear is at -1.0 and the inside is causing the R tires to wearing out fast. I just installed an Axis camber bolt to the front rear and was consider bending the linkage but didn't feel that I was strong to craw under the car and use 2 pipe wrenches. I think a lift will make it a 30 minute job.

 

uhhhh.. not really. adjusting the rear toe on a 4 or 5 gen is a 1 hr job with the proper tools- which involves a huge chunk of I-beam, bigass hydraulic jack, some chain, and a frame machine.
It's not something you can adjust at home with a pipe wrench.

 

Opps, was thinking about 3rd generation. Would shims work on the 4th and 5th generation?

 

Ditto, are shims a possibility on a 5th gen for the rear?

 

Was thinking of shims between the rear bearing assemble and plate a with a Stempf 49-1500A kit. Don't know if it will work on a Maxima 4th and 5th generation but the folks at Stempf can tell you. I have no expert knowledge of Stempf -- only purchased from them.

 

How did you find that part number? What vehicle is it for? I'm looking in the catalog, and it doesn't seem to pop up when i search for it.

 

do you mean the 46-1500A? won't work.
the rear hubs/spindles are welded onto the ends of the rear beam assembly and it's all one big heavy glob of steel. no way to adjust that. For the kit you're talking about to work, you would need to be able to unbolt the rear wheel bearing as an assembly from the rear axle housing. not so for Nissans.

 

Thats what i thought. thanks for the pick, i was about to go put her up on jackstands and look at it again

 

My max got hit in the right rear quarter. I got it lowered 2" or so. My right rear camber looks way off now and I know with the asymmetry of the beam I had excessive left rear camber issues before. The other car contacted my right rear wheel. I wonder if the collision shop will end up bending my frame or beam to correct these issues to stock specs and what that would mean towards my lowered camber status.

 

My bad. I thought that the bearing hub could unbolted. What happens when the bearing give out? As one welded piece that will be a very expensive bearing! $$$$

I don't have a 4 adn 5th generation maxima or the manual.
On my E150 Ford 1980, the dealer bent the front I beam to adjust the camber. Ford doesn't like that, but that was the bigest dealer in the region, Ford corporate gave them a wink on their fix.

 

If it's more than a degree or so, I'd say you need to replace the rear beam. a shock load like that is likely to do more damage than a "structured bend" like what you'd get on a frame machine.


As for changing the wheel bearings, they're a slide-on hub + bearing assembly that you replace as a whole. usually the bearings and the hub go out and don't hurt the axle stub. so you just unbolt, clean, re-grease, and reinstall a new hub.

 

Its a noticeable camber. I put a level on it and a level on the other wheels and it is definitely tilted. Hopefully they don't just slap a camber bolt in my strut and call it a day.

 

you can't adjust the camber in the rear. if it's bent that far, then they will need to replace the entire rear beam assembly.