# Ran into a unique problem today



## rogoman (Dec 16, 2004)

Harris said:


> First off, I replaced the ball joints with Moog pieces. When I was pressing them in, I noticed that the ball joint wouldn't sit right on the driver side control arm. It would fall off. So I had to hold the ball joint and bolt up the hub to it. Also, the driver side always need an alignment correction, but never the passenger side. I've had two sets of tires wear on the outside part on the driver side, but never in the other areas.


You need to correct the driver's side ball joint problem; the ball joint is probably still loose in the lower control arm which is why an alignment correction is always needed and also why you're having all that trouble installing the wheels. 

You can always get a new lower control arm from a Nissan dealer; the OEM part comes with the ball joint already installed.


----------



## Harris (Nov 11, 2002)

The car's been handling just fine. The issue at hand didn't come up until I went with bigger wheels. I've been to racecourses and dragstrips a total of four times using 15-in. and 14-in. wheels with no issues of this sort at all. As far as the control arm is concerned, I will be receiving one off a parts car sometime soon, probably by the end of the week. I'm hoping that the control arm resolves this, as warmer season is at hand and so is the time to lap the car around the local tracks. 


Again, I would appreciate any good insight on this matter.


----------



## Harris (Nov 11, 2002)

Well, I finally got around to getting a nice set of wheels for my 240. I purchased a set of 17" Motegi FF6s from a friend who had them on his 240. I got around to installing them today. Boy, did it turn out to be a *DAY*!


I do the rears first. No problems there at all. But when I get to the front end is where I get the problem. I first do the passenger side, which goes up fine, and looks like this:













As you can see, clearence is good, and the tire's hitting nothing at all.


When I get to the driver's side, I can't believe my eyes. The tire and the spring perch are battling for the same space! Look:












Now I've called around a lot of forum guys to see what is on their mind with this situation, but no one can say for certain why the driver side tire is hitting the strut. Mind you that the tires and wheels are the same size and offset. I tried on the other wheels just to make sure of this, and they all hit the strut on the driver side only. 


The only guesses that have been put forward are that the control arm may be bent, the strut may be blown and maybe the hub is gone to crap. But to me they all seem fine. 

I have a few clues on this though. First off, I replaced the ball joints with Moog pieces. When I was pressing them in, I noticed that the ball joint wouldn't sit right on the driver side control arm. It would fall off. So I had to hold the ball joint and bolt up the hub to it. Also, the driver side always need an alignment correction, but never the passenger side. I've had two sets of tires wear on the outside part on the driver side, but never in the other areas. 


I'm running out of ideas and need to make sure what I should get as part of a process of elimination to resolve this. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.


----------



## xs04298 (Oct 28, 2005)

Judging by the wear on the strut boots, there is a good chance its blown out....has it been handling poorly ?


----------



## Trippen (Feb 21, 2006)

Your tire should never hit your spring perch unless its too big. If you look at these pictures you will see that the lower part of the strut is solid. It being blown will not make it hit the tire.. It may make the car bottom out or handle like Crap. But it wont rub the tire. unless a your hub is toast bent or the bracket that the strut is bent. All would make the strut tube looked crushed since it is a solid tube.









This thread might help you as to what the whole assembly looks like normally and compare it to yours
http://nissanforums.com/showthread.php?t=119019


----------



## 90JDM240sx (May 8, 2006)

*same wheel/tire problem*

i have an 18*7.5 +43 and the tires are 225/40/18 and the same exact thing is happening the passenger side has clearance and the driver side doesnt. what causes that?


----------



## rogoman (Dec 16, 2004)

90JDM240sx said:


> i have an 18*7.5 +43 and the tires are 225/40/18 and the same exact thing is happening the passenger side has clearance and the driver side doesnt. what causes that?


Well, first of all the offset is wrong. OEM offset is +40. Your wheels are +43 which brings it in closer to the strut. The offset should be the other way; if you increase the wheel width to 7", the offset should be around +38 mm; to a 7.5", offset +35 mm; this is just an
estimate.


----------



## rogoman (Dec 16, 2004)

Harris said:


> Well, I finally got around to getting a nice set of wheels for my 240. I purchased a set of 17" Motegi FF6s from a friend who had them on his 240. I got around to installing them today. Boy, did it turn out to be a *DAY*!


Just like I replied to 90JDM, if the offset is wrong, it'll cause problems like you're having.

I check my '91 which has OEM suspension but has 7" wheels. There's about 3/4" clearance on the driver's side while on the passenger's side it's 1", so I guess even on some OEM setups there seems to be less clearance on the driver's side.


----------



## 90JDM240sx (May 8, 2006)

i checked my suspension and alignment at work today and nothing seems bent or really out of spec. I had the other tech look at it to and he said it might be a bent strut/spindle/lower control arm, and we checked all of those and we cant see nothing. the car doesnt pull or have any wierd tire wear. so after that i went to the place that i bought the rims and tires at and they said they couldnt see anything wrong. they wouldnt listen to me about the rim offset is to positive. or the tires being to big for then wheel at that offset. so then they said the other cars they have done a bigger set up and we went to go look at it they had a different coilover and the offset was less. so im pretty sure that my offset is wrong. they ordered some longer nismo studs and spacers to clear the strut. and they said it just needs it on both fronts. the studs are 50mm.n they sais all it needs is a very small spacer. what do u think about the spacers n studs?


----------



## rogoman (Dec 16, 2004)

It'll work as long as the studs are long enough so that the nuts thread on fully. Also if the wheels use hub-centric inserts, make sure they fit around the hub correctly or else the wheels won't stay in balance and you'll end with wheel shake.


----------

