R32 Gtr Camber/tyre Issue Pls Help

[Deafeyes]

Hi all,

Ok I've bought my first GTR, and its rough but got it for a good price, least I think anyway..

Ok my problems are.. The inside front tyres are fkd, The camber is huge and I have no idea how to fix it.

I tried to search as much as I could regarding this before posting but couldnt find much.

Yes it makes sense to take it into a shop, but after saving to buy this i'm left with little coin to do much.

Could someone point me in the rite direction as to what would be the causes.

Please see attached pics of camber and tyre wear, i'm really hoping I have not bought a mess...

Please help me out.

[breaker1845]

You said you bought it cheap, which is usually a big mistake to begin with. Probably a mess and you will find heaps of things wrong about the car as you explore more.

Anyway you'll need new tyres, something suitable for the rim size and suspension setup it is running.

Best thing is to get it aligned/balanced by a shop so you get an accurate result.

And buying a GTR, did you think it would just be an initial payment and you'd have a nice car like anyone else. Be prepared to empty your wallet or bank account when required if you want the car running right, especially since you bought it cheap, lol.

[Deafeyes]

Yeh I dont mind gradually building it.

I have built cars before, but this is my first awd.

What be nice to have a list so I can start ruling things out, I've replaced the wishbone hoping it would be that, raised the car also but its no where near it should be still. I was thinking it could be the upper control arm bushes but not sure it will have that much of an impact for camber.

[MrStabby]

Upper control arm bushes at the top and ball joints at the bottom. If its lowered then that adds neg camber. Conventional wisdom is that 350mm top of guard to wheel centerline is as low as you can go at the front and still have the suspension work properly. Rear is 340mm minimum. If its lower than that, raise it up to that at least first. However, at that height you will still need either two sets of adjustable bushes each side, or adjustable arms to get enough adjustability to get the camber right.

EDIT: Whiteline do adjustable bushes for the upper arm. IIRC inner and outer bushes are the same, so if you only lower a little one set may do, but if you're at 350 you need two sets.

[Deafeyes]

Mr Stabby, sweet as mate. I appreciate that. Looking at the nolathane set. I did notice that the upper bushes where uneven when jacked up indicating collapse or failure. I put her back to around 350mm from centre, but it seems it made the bush absorbed the adjustment and only made the camber slightly better. Will examine the lower ball joint.

Thanks again,

[KiwiRS4T]

Have you checked to see if there is an adjustable front camber arm? You can roughly measure the camber with a spirit level and ruler if you can do the math. You want no more than 1.5 deg negative for road use.

[Stixbnr32]

Keep it off the limiter when driving..thats all i can say.

[Deafeyes]

I dont understand your comment Stix.. I dont want to drive it when like this, let alone limiter bash it.

Kiwi, the camber arm is what connects onto the wishbone at the top correct? I believe its stock and no adjustment.

[GTSBoy]

I dont understand your comment Stix.

I think the point being made is completely separate to your suspension/alignment issues. GTRs, in particular R32 GTRs, are a fragile thing. At least their oil pumps are. Hitting the limiter just once might cost you your engine. Or alternatively it might never break. You just can't tell until it happens. The warning is related to buying a cheap GTR with unclear history. Do not rely on it as your only car. Buy a Mazda 121 Metro or something to drive when this thing breaks.

[niZmO_Man]

Firstly mate, try taking better photos haha.

Your camber doesn't look that bad. Firstly, check all arms/bushes. If that's all good, get it wheel aligned.

There are aftermarket front upper arms which are shorter than standard to give you about -2° camber. Checked the bushes in them?

[Deafeyes]

Its about 30mm from being straight. 350mm from guard to centre of hub.

I'm hoping it is the bushes..

Yeh if she pops will build another 30 bottom end for her.

I got a HR31 gts-x RB30/26, R32 GTR, and a R33 gts25t daily.

[MrStabby]

FYI there's an inner and outer ball joint. I did mine a while back, got them from Kudos for $88 each (inner and outer are same price).

[Deafeyes]

Could you tell if they have been flogged out?

Yeh Andrew @ Kudos is a good cnt.

[MrStabby]

Hmm I could tell when they were out, one set (cant remember if inners or outers now) were stuffed, other set was probably still ok, but I wanted it to be perfect, and didnt want to have to try to get the old ones out after breaking my remover tool. I was installing the Nismo arm kit at the same time so didnt need to get them out since i wasnt using the original lower arms anymore.

Sloppy ball joints probably wont do that much for the camber anyway, so you may as well focus on the upper arm first if cash is really tight.

[djr81]

How much camber is too much. I mean I run over four degrees so I assume your number is smaller. So how much is it?

Also why do you assume it is camber and not toe?

Lastly, jack it up, pull the wheel off and take a photo of the top arm. Preferably one that is larger than 8k. People then may be able to help out with an adjustment recommendation.

[MrStabby]

How much camber is too much. I mean I run over four degrees so I assume your number is smaller. So how much is it?

They're street tyres in the pics, so 4 deg is definitely too much. Surely he needs to be < 2?

[djr81]

They're street tyres in the pics, so 4 deg is definitely too much. Surely he needs to be < 2?

2 or a little less would be fine and shouldn't cause the sorts of issues seen on that tyre. Which is why I asked about toe settings and also suspect they may have been run underinflated.

[Deafeyes]

Argh.. Ok just going to try n get it aligned again but this time stay with the car and ask wtf is wrong.

I'm guessing it would be the bushes, I will post up a pic tonight of upper control arm.

Hopefully have some direction tomorrow.

[djr81]

What do you mean again? Have you had it done recently?

[Deafeyes]

I took it to a supplier who is a truck trye joint down the road from my work, they got it up on the alignment machine and said its way out and there is something wrong and I need to take it to a mechanic to identify the problem.

But these guys wouldnt be very clued up on the GTR.

They basicly said they dont want to touch it, didnt even adjust toe or anything...

So when I take her in the morning i'm going to witness what they do and find out what the issue is and how to correct the problem.

If its the bushes in the upper control arm etc, I can get the nolathane kit (45448) which has camber correction in it for $90+.

I cant see it being anything too major as the shafts and diff seems smooth under excelleration.