Suspension And Wheel Issue

[SargeRX8]

I'm having some annoying problems and I'm weeding them out one by one. I got a new set of wheels for my car in 18x9 +15. They will sit on my 33 gts-t. I've got the fronts wrapped with 225/40/18 tyres and after installation I had issues with the tyres scrubbing that metal part of the body which protrudes quite a fair bit, the seam which joins the panels together(there are pics in this thread). So I did the only reasonable thing I could think of and bash the shit out of them until they were flat. I still have some scrubbing contact when throwing the weight of the car around, even lightly. My main concern was the edges cutting the tyre but now they're folded back so my main concern is why they touch on the left and not the right.

This leads me to the second concern. It APPEARS that my driver side wheel sits too far back in the wheel well. Pics attached. Opinions? I've found quite a shitload of play in the whole hub assembly too, please refer to the video. I am confident this is due to the camber arms I just installed. Everything is tight and again only evident on the RHS of the car. The RHS of the car has never been hit but prior to me owning the car the front left took a beating and it was repaired(over gutter, panel damage, some arms were replaced, it was repairable). The thing is the left feels much more solid than the right. Could adjustable castor arms incorrectly set cause any issues like this? There appears no damage to the crossmember.

Anybody able to shed some light? I really doubt I am the only skyline driver with this wheel configuration at the front. Its quite standard and not that large at all. My car sits 115mm at the lowest point on HSD coilovers.

Any feedback on anything would be good(the play, the wheel touching, wheel being too far back).

I'm uploading the video to youtube at the moment. The video shows play in assembly.

https://youtu.be/0vbFKOsTkEg

Here's a pic from my last alignment report.

Edited September 26, 2015 by SargeRX8

[R31 drift pig]

It's not your wheels.

Reckon RHS has taken the hit as well, think you'll find the control arm bent backwards a bit. Would also explain the movement in the hub assembly, may have elongated the hole for the kingpin.

Look at replacing the lower control arm, but you may have bent or elongated the holes in the crossmember and you may need to repair/replace that. And the upright may also be damaged.

As for the alignment, add some more castor. Id add some more camber too.

[dyl33]

It appears you have fitted rims to a cow..... More pictures of cow

[GTSBoy]

The other problem people cause when severely kerbing/median stripping a Skyline is the front crossmember can get relocated. Slotted holes like mentioned above.

[SargeRX8]

It's not your wheels.

Reckon RHS has taken the hit as well, think you'll find the control arm bent backwards a bit. Would also explain the movement in the hub assembly, may have elongated the hole for the kingpin.

Look at replacing the lower control arm, but you may have bent or elongated the holes in the crossmember and you may need to repair/replace that. And the upright may also be damaged.

As for the alignment, add some more castor. Id add some more camber too.

Can I loosen bolts to check for excess play in the components and parts you specified? What do you mean by the upright? Is that the actual strut tower? It would be a mission for me to try straighten all this up. I hope tomorrow isn't raining, I get one day off a week and would really like to get under it and start doing some measurements. I installed adjustable camber arms to reduce camber, I think I'll plug the factory ones back in then, see if it eliminates play and also add the camber back and see if the wheels tuck in a little better. To add castor, do you shorten or extend the length of the castor rod?

It appears you have fitted rims to a cow..... More pictures of cow

The other problem people cause when severely kerbing/median stripping a Skyline is the front crossmember can get relocated. Slotted holes like mentioned above.

Would a damaged and crossmember give other symptoms such as vibration in the driving train? I don't think there is any vibration, but I would assume there may be some if the engine is sitting a degree out. If I loosen the bolts which hold the whole thing in place is there wiggle room for me to adjust or am I in need of a new subframe. This sounds like a huge job

[GTSBoy]

Can I loosen bolts to check for excess play in the components and parts you specified? What do you mean by the upright? Is that the actual strut tower? It would be a mission for me to try straighten all this up. I hope tomorrow isn't raining, I get one day off a week and would really like to get under it and start doing some measurements. I installed adjustable camber arms to reduce camber, I think I'll plug the factory ones back in then, see if it eliminates play and also add the camber back and see if the wheels tuck in a little better. To add castor, do you shorten or extend the length of the castor rod?

10807937_10152901512312526_1307886894_n.jpg

Would a damaged and crossmember give other symptoms such as vibration in the driving train? I don't think there is any vibration, but I would assume there may be some if the engine is sitting a degree out. If I loosen the bolts which hold the whole thing in place is there wiggle room for me to adjust or am I in need of a new subframe. This sounds like a huge job

I'll try to answer most of the above even though the earlier parts are not directed at my post.

First, the control arm that the 31 pig reckons you have probably bent is the lower CR, not the upper. So don't play with the camber arms you have installed hoping to work that one out. The only real way to check is to get the arm off and compare it to a known straight one, unless it is so badly rooted that you can see creases in it.

The upright is not the strut tower. The upright is the piece that runs (more or less)) vertically from the lower balljoint up to the upper bearing where the upper control arm attaches at the outer end. It's effectively the hub. Look at an exploded diagram of the Skyline suspension to get a better idea how it all goes together.

To add caster you shorten the rods. Pulls the outer end of the lower control arm forwards. Be aware that you cannot do this shit by eye. If stuff is bent, then you might end up with 2° of caster on one side and 12° on the other in order to get the wheels looking evenly located in the arches.

As to the bent/relocated front subframe causing driveline vibration....I wouldn't expect it. The uni joints in the tailshaft should be able to soak up more angle than is possible from such a tweak. But such a tweak can severely rotate the steering end of the car so that nothing looks straight. And I would not expect you to be able to loosen stuff off and try to relocate it back to where it is supposed to be. You really need to get the car into a chassis/suspension specialist who can measure the car, see how straight it is and work out what can be done, before doing it and measuring the result. You need one of those places that crash repairers use when they are having trouble straightening a car. If you were in Adelaide I could point you at one, but I don't know of any anywhere else.

[SargeRX8]

Thanks for the input. My mate is bringing his 33 around hopefully later today we can do some comparisons with mine and his. I had a look at mine I removed the castor rods and the holes look nice and round. It looks straight but then again as you suggest I need something to compare it to before I give it the tick. Visually there is no paint flaking or creases on it.

These shops you are suggesting, what are they generally called? The only suspension places around me are Pedders and Jax... One of the garages down the road from me has a guy who is quite the genius when it comes to aligning and what not but I don't know if he is capable of doing what you are suggesting.

I've attached 3 images. The holes on the LCA, the length of the LCA(pretty useless) and the area where all the contact is occurring. One thing I did notice was when I disconnected the castor rod, I could very easily wiggle the whole hub left and right. This is probably to be expected though since the castor rod holds everything in place. All the contact occurs when at right full lock with the outer edge of the tyre hitting the firewall.

Edited September 27, 2015 by SargeRX8

[admS15]

The type of shop u need is a suspension/chassis engineer. Where r u located sargerx8?

[SargeRX8]

Parramatta, Sydney. I also need the guards rolled and more camber damn things bit into the tyres when entering drive way.

Edited September 27, 2015 by SargeRX8

[admS15]

If you where in Melbourne I could have recommended a couple of places. Unfortunately not in the know of any shops in Sydney. Hopefully someone else can steer you in the right direction.

[R31 drift pig]

I'll try to answer most of the above even though the earlier parts are not directed at my post.

First, the control arm that the 31 pig reckons you have probably bent is the lower CR, not the upper. So don't play with the camber arms you have installed hoping to work that one out. The only real way to check is to get the arm off and compare it to a known straight one, unless it is so badly rooted that you can see creases in it.

The upright is not the strut tower. The upright is the piece that runs (more or less)) vertically from the lower balljoint up to the upper bearing where the upper control arm attaches at the outer end. It's effectively the hub. Look at an exploded diagram of the Skyline suspension to get a better idea how it all goes together.

To add caster you shorten the rods. Pulls the outer end of the lower control arm forwards. Be aware that you cannot do this shit by eye. If stuff is bent, then you might end up with 2° of caster on one side and 12° on the other in order to get the wheels looking evenly located in the arches.

Exactly as described above.Hard to tell if theres any damage by looking at the pics. I have however been through the exact same scenario in my old 180sx and I ended up replacing both LCA's, the crossmember itself, the castor arms, a tie rod and both rod ends at the end of it all. Plus had to reweld the radiator support etc back on. T'was a moderately big hit.

Check the LCA and the crossmember with known quantities before you do anything else. Then deal with the hub/upright issue. I think that'll either be a rooted kingpin or the hub itself.

I don't think you can fix any of this by adjusting arms.

Comment with your alignment was referring to your alignment sheet.

I would run more camber and castor just as a rule, even on the street.

No point having adjustable arms and then hamstringing it with a shit alignment.

Edited September 27, 2015 by R31 drift pig

[SargeRX8]

How hard was the crossmember to change? Control arms are easy but supporting the engine and doing all this on the ground, under the car seems tricky. Mind you I've changed my clutch on jack stands so I can probably manage this.

Yeah I wasn't too sure what to do with the alignment. I went to the shop and asked them to remove as much camber as possible to increase tyre life. The shop suggested against it but still did it for me.

What should I ask for as ideal settings for a road car?

I'll be back under the car next Sunday. 6 day working week.

[GTSBoy]

Your front camber numbers are fine. They were pretty much the max i would want to run on the street before, now they're support on for a streeter.