New Alignment and Height Adjustment
02-25-10, 11:52 PM
#1
New Alignment and Height Adjustment
Right before the President's Day Meet, I hastily got a set of spacers installed to improve the fitment of my wheels. It sure did improve the fitment of the wheels but it made my raked stance (higher in the back) much more apparent so that called for alignment and height adjustment job.
So I did some research around the internet for a shop that is competent at aligning lowered cars and doing height adjustments accurately. The first shops that came into mind were DriftSpeed and West End Alignment. Both are supposedly very competent as the former has a Formula Drift team and works on the suspension of other teams' cars and Darrin at West End Alignment is very well known among the import community here in Southern California. However, Driftspeed isn't cheap and West End Alignment has a 2 week long waiting list.
Given that my car is underpowered and not driven hard, not daily driven, lacks a camber kit for a full range of adjustments, and has a quite a few worn suspension components waiting to be replaced (bushings etc), I sought for a more affordable and more convenient shop to do the work. There was simply no need for a race shop to dial in my suspension.
So after a quick search on the 350z, G35 and EVO forums, I found a suspension/alignment shop that specialized in modified Japanese imports that didn't break the bank nor had a long waiting list and was highly recommended by everyone:
JC Auto House
9237 Lower Azusa Rd
Unit O
Temple City, CA 91780
(626) 287-7781
http://www.yelp.com/biz/jc-auto-house-temple-city
My car at the President's Day Meet. Upon a closer look, the back is noticably a bit higher
Before: The frame was measured 1/2 inch higher in the rear:
Adjusting the coilovers:
Front ride height remains the same for practical reasons
Getting aligned. Back looks sufficiently flush
Finally level!
He explained everything and his attention to detail was great. He actually went of his way to make the specs on both sides match precisely! -2.5 Negative camber, maxed out as positive as it could be without a rear camber kit. In the future, I might cut the fenders and get a rear camber kit to push it back closer to the factory specs which is -1.6 max and make it more flush
Negative 2.5 doesn't look too bad
So I did some research around the internet for a shop that is competent at aligning lowered cars and doing height adjustments accurately. The first shops that came into mind were DriftSpeed and West End Alignment. Both are supposedly very competent as the former has a Formula Drift team and works on the suspension of other teams' cars and Darrin at West End Alignment is very well known among the import community here in Southern California. However, Driftspeed isn't cheap and West End Alignment has a 2 week long waiting list.
Given that my car is underpowered and not driven hard, not daily driven, lacks a camber kit for a full range of adjustments, and has a quite a few worn suspension components waiting to be replaced (bushings etc), I sought for a more affordable and more convenient shop to do the work. There was simply no need for a race shop to dial in my suspension.
So after a quick search on the 350z, G35 and EVO forums, I found a suspension/alignment shop that specialized in modified Japanese imports that didn't break the bank nor had a long waiting list and was highly recommended by everyone:
JC Auto House
9237 Lower Azusa Rd
Unit O
Temple City, CA 91780
(626) 287-7781
http://www.yelp.com/biz/jc-auto-house-temple-city
My car at the President's Day Meet. Upon a closer look, the back is noticably a bit higher
Before: The frame was measured 1/2 inch higher in the rear:
Adjusting the coilovers:
Front ride height remains the same for practical reasons
Getting aligned. Back looks sufficiently flush
Finally level!
He explained everything and his attention to detail was great. He actually went of his way to make the specs on both sides match precisely! -2.5 Negative camber, maxed out as positive as it could be without a rear camber kit. In the future, I might cut the fenders and get a rear camber kit to push it back closer to the factory specs which is -1.6 max and make it more flush
Negative 2.5 doesn't look too bad
Last edited by xknowonex; 02-25-10 at 11:57 PM.
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02-26-10, 10:30 AM
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Looks good. No wheel gap up front would look even better, but the SC has such a long front overhang which is even longer w/ the AC/Shine kit, making it a pain to drive around w/o air suspension. I think that height is pretty much the best compromise between looks and drivability w/ the AC/Shine kit... 1 1/2 finger gap up front and flush in the rear.
