Laser Wheel Aligner

[Beer Baron]

trust me!! have a look at it. it's pulling/pushing the arm forwards/backwards as much as in/out. and 100% there are only bushes in one end of it. the other (rear) end is a fork which bolts to the hub.

consider this. a factory R32 skyline has rear camber adjustment as standard. how do you adjust it? with the upper control arm (eccentric bolt). the traction rod is not adjustable from factory. I'm not saying it doesn't affect camber, because it does. but adjusting it is mainly to adjust the angle of the upright. again, it's called a traction rod as adjusting it affects rear traction. Places like heasmans have spent a lot of time in recent years adjusting the rod to achieve different goals (for drifters they set it for less traction, for circuit use, more traction etc).

[Gts-t]

You make good points bb

firstly i know the traction rod is not adjustable from factory, im saying it becomes adjustable with the whiteline rear camber kit.

Secondly when u say the traction rod affects angle of the upright, well doesnt the angle of the upright determine the camber?

Im pretty sure if i rang heasmans and asked what i should set my rear castor to they would think i was on some shit

But i think i have more to learn and thats a good thing, i just might be able to find some improvement in the rear of my car too. Combine this with an accurate wheel alighnment from one of those ikea kits im gonna get and my car should be like a million times better to drive. Somehow i really doubt this tho as its just so good already

Edited November 21, 2007 by 2630GTS

[Beer Baron]

lol, i never said it sets rear castor. I just said to think of it "like" a rear castor rod as it acts in a similar way/similar plane. obviously it's not castor as you don't steer with the rear wheels (well if you still have hicas you do a little, but that doesn't count). yes it does affect/adjust camber too, but trust me it's main purpose is to set the angle of the upright front to rear.

[Sydneykid]

Wheres the old SK when u need him

I will try and pop in as often as I can, but there is plenty going on in the business right now.

Where are we......rear arms;

There are 2 upper control arms on each side;

one is at 90 degrees to the wheel (I call it the upper control arm)

the other is at 45 degrees to the wheel (I call it the traction rod)

When you buy one Whiteline rear camber kit you are supposed to fit it to the inner bushes on the control and the traction arm. This is an easy job as you can remove the arms (2 bolts each) and they fit into any normal garage sized press.

If you need lots of camber correction, then you might need 2 rear camber kits. The second kit goes in the outer joints which are actually in the upright itself, not in the control or traction arms. This is a tough job as you have to remove the uprights, that means rotors, callipers, drive shafts etc.

If you don't fit the camber kit to the control arm and the traction rod, you will end up with bump steer, the rear toe angles will change as the suspension moves up and down. Ask John Pennlington what effect that has on your car's traction, we fixed the bump steer on his 300ZX and it was 1.5 secs a lap faster at Philip Island.

So using one of those aftermarket Japanese control arms (to adjust camber) on its own, is not only a bad idea from an NVH point of vie, it is a bad idea from a handling (traction) perspective. Keep the need for traction arm adjustment in mind when buying the Noltec rear camber kit as they only come with 2 sets of bushes, so you need to buy 2 kits to match the Whiteline's one kit. Yes that means 4 kits to match the Whitelines 2 kits. Fear not for your wallet, 2 Noltec kits are not much more expensive than 1 Whiteline kit.

Gosh it's good to be back, look out for a thread on Nissans at SEMA, I am nearly finished editing the 300 photos.

Cheers

Gary

[Gts-t]

Thanks for droppin in SK