Adjustable Upper Arms - Problem R32 Gtr

[Ronin 09]

My R32GTR runs with coilovers (around 355mm front guard height).

I have adjustable front upper arms, and have around 1 deg neg set up.

This means that the upper arms are quite extended (to reduce the neg camber when it is lowered).

The problem is that the outers of the arms are fouling the inner guard, and actually have bent the lip of the inner guards a bit...

How does one fix this problem, without running a lot of front camber?

The pics should make it clearer...

[salad]

May sound stupid, but are the in the right way?

I had this problem when I got my upper arms, turns out I put them in upside down, gave me lots of castor and not much camber.

Flipped the arms around and can easily run 1deg camber at 350mm ride height with no issues of fouling.

Edited June 10, 2007 by salad

[Ronin 09]

interesting... can you do me a favour and see if the fat part (i.e. the female side) is on the outside like we have on mine, or the skinny part (ie. the male side) is on the the outside of yours?

cheers Showza!

[Ronin 09]

it looks like the fitting guide is the way this has been done...

[Roy]

I spy with my little eye, something sexy behind that arm

[salad]

Ah bugger, mine are different to yours though, mine are a turnbuckle style arm. But would only fit in one way anyway, one end is slightly wider than the other.

Only thing I can think of is are the arms staggered the right way? As they look like ---> I they should be staggered so the upright is pulled foward as far as possible. The body end looks right, but cant really tell for the upright end. But seems a bit odd that the arms themselves would be around the wrong way...

Edited June 10, 2007 by salad

[Ronin 09]

nah the arms are around the right way.

maybe they're wound out too far...

anway it's off to the tuner on tuesday so hopefully they can sort it out!!

[B0oStEr]

Now you've got me worried.

I fitted adjustable bushes to my upper arms yesterday and I'm waiting to have a wheel alignment on tuesday to set my camber at neg 1 deg with 345mm ride height.

The arm looked like it might go close but I thought it would be ok because I had never heard anyone say they had a problem... until now.

Come to think of it I thought the suspension felt rock hard when I tried to bounce it.

I thought it was the new bushes being really tight but now I'm thinking I may have your problem.

[blind_elk]

Are you sure you have NEGATIVE camber. I would have expected the adjustment to be compressed to give negative, ie shortening the arms will pull the upright, and thus the top of the wheel, in towards the centre of the car.

[Ronin 09]

yep, it's just on 1 deg neg (tops turned into the inner guards...)

[djr81]

This may sound stupid - but the stock ones are handed.

Did you put the right one on the right hand side & the left one on the left hand side?

Also what is your ride height & how much castor are you running?

[gts4diehard]

something about those arms looks odd, do they have any offset like the std arms? almost like the upper arm is swinging in the wrong area under guard...

Edited June 11, 2007 by gts4diehard

[blind_elk]

The shock mount simply holds the shock absorber - it has absolutely no bearing on camber.

Ronin - did that 1 deg neg come from a wheel alignment machine?

[Ronin 09]

This may sound stupid - but the stock ones are handed.

Did you put the right one on the right hand side & the left one on the left hand side?

Also what is your ride height & how much castor are you running?

Yep i checked the fitting guide and there is only one way they can fit with the adjusters on the top.

Ride height is 355ish and the castor rods are standard.

something about those arms looks odd, do they have any offset like the std arms? almost like the upper arm is swinging in the wrong area under guard...

They are offset like the standard arms, you can see that the top pic is the RHS and the second pic is the LHS. In the LHS pic you can see the offset bit in the top right of the pic

The shock mount simply holds the shock absorber - it has absolutely no bearing on camber.

Ronin - did that 1 deg neg come from a wheel alignment machine?

Yep it was done on an alignment machine. It may have slipped though if they weren't done up tight enough - It's getting towed to the workshop tomorrow so hopefully can sort it out.

Many thanks everyone for the replies, keep them coming!

[MrStabby]

I have the same adjustable arms - if mine were extended as far as yours are they would foul the guard as well. I have 1 deg neg camber but the arm is only about half way extended, and i have about 10mm clearance. IIRC my car is around 345mm hight, which should mean i need to extend the arm more, not less, so NFI whats going on with your setup... If you're in Sydney and want to check out my install, let me know.

[GTRsean]

Mine did that when I asked them to wheel align my car at -.5 deg camber. It made a knocking sound every time I hit a bump. Had to knock bit of metal straight and prime, paint exposed metal.

I triple checked that I installed them correctly.

I think They don't like anything less than -1.2deg or so depending on alignment of vehicle.

[Ronin 09]

ok thanks, looks like 1.5 deg or more neg it is!!

at least it's not my car being a retard or something

will have to get that bit straightened out and primed/painted

[blind_elk]

It should be almost obvious when you look at the wheels while standing in front of the car if you have +ve or -ve camber.

[Ronin 09]

yeah it looks like they may have slipped a bit and look closer to zero camber.

don't really want to run excessive camber as I don't want to wear the inside edges too quickly if I'm not on the track

[Beer Baron]

the arms are definately installed properly, and it looks like it's the upright hitting the gaurd not the arms. the only way out here is run more neg. so hardnen up boyo and run more neg.