The Nissan Path

OK guys, so I've had my lift setup (it's in my sig) for about 14 months now and put about 10k miles on the suspension and tires so far. I happened to be looking at my tires yesterday and noticed that the inside 3 inches of the rear drivers side tire was nearly bald. the right rear was wearing slightly on the inside, but barely noticeable. I figured it was time to rotate the tires anyway.

I knew that camber was off a hair in the rear, my tire guy told me that it was, but I had no idea that this was going to be so drastic. i guess i'll have to order the new rear alignment camber bolts and have my buddy cut the rusted old ones off and install them. these are the ones, right?
http://www.4x4parts.com/i-18981248-path ... t-kit.html

also, here's a pic of the alignment readout. do you guys think something else could be wrong that would make the tire wear this drastically?

I've had good luck with hitting the bolts with penetration oil, usually daily for a week or so before taking it in for the alignment.

First time I took it in without doing that I was told they were seized, but my alignment was fine so no biggie.

However, next time I knew it was out, so did the penetrating oil thing, and they had no issues.

thanks. i can try that. i'm just shocked that the tire was that bad with the numbers only being off a little

It's not the camber that is wearing your tires, but the rear toe adjustment. Anything in green is within specs and anything in red is out of spec. Installing a camber/caster kit will have an affect on the toe as you tweek the camber adjustment, especially on the right side, but hopefully there will still be enough adjustment in the toe setting to get you into spec.

smj999smj wrote:It's not the camber that is wearing your tires, but the rear toe adjustment. Anything in green is within specs and anything in red is out of spec. Installing a camber/caster kit will have an affect on the toe as you tweek the camber adjustment, especially on the right side, but hopefully there will still be enough adjustment in the toe setting to get you into spec.

thanks for getting what I was saying. I meant to say toe.

so hopefully the new bolts will get it closer. I can't afford a new tire every 10k miles. i'm taking it to my buddy's shop next week to throw on the lift and have a look at it. fortunately I have a spare that i'll swap on to the good rim and i'll just throw this one on the steel rim and keep it as a spare. any other advice or suggestions?

Nothing more I can advise you on at this point. The independent rear suspension is nice for highway driving and stock suspensions, but it's not the ideal setup when it comes to suspension lifts.

So long story short, I replaced the 2 rear tires. The adjustment bolts in the rear were fine. The camber and toe were off In the front and rear. The lift had apparently settled quite a bit. The rear toe was off over 1 degree. I took it to sts and they refused to touch it because they couldn't guarantee they could get it in spec and they didn't want to be responsible for any prematurely worn tires. I told the guy I'd sign a waiver, I just wanted it close. They refused. So I took it to a local guy's and he did it. Took less than an hour. he got everything in spec and he was a super nice guy. I bullshi**ed with him in the garage as he did it, so I saw everything was done properly and legit. I should be good to go now

How has your rear setup been working for you not on the rug? I started a thread (http://www.thenissanpath.com/viewtopic. ... 881e76d30d) because I want to get the RS9000XL struts with rear lift springs, but am worried that the struts may limit down travel since they're apparently not designed specifically for lift applications. Have you had any problems with your rear spacer and RS9000XL setup so far as wheel travel goes? Also, I'm planning on doing the loaded quick lift fronts like you did, so I'd appreciate any feedback as to how you like how your lift drives over stock. Thanks.

The lift is fine other than the alignment issue caused by the settling. But that is fixed now. I haven't had any issues otherwise and it rides like a dream. No issues with any sort of limited down travel that I would call noteworthy. I haven't done any serious offroading with this setup, but everything I've put it through has been tackled with relative ease

The limiting factor on limited down travel in the front is the UCA since it will make contact with the upper spring perch. As far as the rear is concerned, that is limited by the springs and the shocks, or in this case, the spring and spacer with respect to the shock. But, in the end, honestly, the sway bars probably have the most effect on wheel travel so modifying this particular suspension for travel gets pricey with only small returns. Take a look at this video before and after sway bar deletion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b865rr4PsFg

4x4 parts also sells replacement bushings that are off center and can make alignment easier... I also have NO sway bars in my R51 and will never put them back...

This is no sway bars....