Opinion on Illumina suspension kit?
06-29-2006, 01:32 PM
#1
Opinion on Illumina suspension kit?
What is your opinion on the Tokico Illumina suspension kit (comes with Illumina struts and tokico springs)? Does anyone know the cheapest place to get em?
Getting the Illumina struts with H&R springs is a possiblilty, too.
Getting the Illumina struts with H&R springs is a possiblilty, too.
06-29-2006, 05:10 PM
#2
I had this setup previous before I swapped to s-techs(wanted to go lower). They are an excellent match with some good bound and rebound on bumps. They arent too stiff but corner very nicely with little to no body roll like you get with a softer spring like s-techs
I highly recommend them..
I highly recommend them..
06-29-2006, 05:56 PM
#3
That said, comparing springs/struts from a 4gen and a 5gen doesn't always work....All the 4Gen guys say that their Eibach springs are "stiff and harsh" while the 5Gen guys who have them (including me) find that they give excellent ride quality....
Not discussing ride, though....just making the point that comparing suspension between generations does not always work...
Not discussing ride, though....just making the point that comparing suspension between generations does not always work...
06-30-2006, 12:07 PM
#5
I don't want Eibachs because I don't want to drop really low. I want a little drop to give the car a better stance, and I want it to have little to no body roll and still ride smoothly.
06-30-2006, 12:21 PM
#7
My freind has the full Tokico (with Illuminas) set up and I have the Eibachs with AGX. The Tokico kit is about the same drop as the Eibachs. I think the rear is lightly lower on the Tokicos, but not much. The ride is much more comfortable. I have side by side pix if you want to see.
They are well worth the money, and you cant go wrong.
They are well worth the money, and you cant go wrong.
07-01-2006, 09:21 AM
#9
2" drops are Tein S-techs, Canuck Motor sports, Spring, Ksport.
You may be thinking of Eibach sportline, which are not made for Maximas. They drop the car more than the Prokit we have.
My car has the sunroof wind deflector. Its a 5spd with Eibachs. The other car is my buddys, its an auto, 2 12" subs in the trunk, with the Tokicos.
The shots arent the best, but you can see the drops are very similar.
You may be thinking of Eibach sportline, which are not made for Maximas. They drop the car more than the Prokit we have.
My car has the sunroof wind deflector. Its a 5spd with Eibachs. The other car is my buddys, its an auto, 2 12" subs in the trunk, with the Tokicos.
The shots arent the best, but you can see the drops are very similar.
07-02-2006, 10:37 AM
#11
I think I can tell that your friends car is a little lower, but It may just be me. I have 2 12"s in my trunk, too (A little over 100 lbs. of stuff back there), so my drop will look closer to your friends, and I am liking the look, too.
07-02-2006, 07:06 PM
#12
Originally Posted by Hexon
I want it to have little to no body roll and still ride smoothly.
Pick one of the following driving styles:
1. Fairly brisk but never approaching the limit of your tires' grip.
2. Screeching tires and running up on peoples' bumpers as soon as the road curves.
Now, pick a definition of "smoothly":
A. Soft enough that big bumps and cracks in the pavement don't hurt me.
B. Like stock.
1 + A = H&R/Illumina, Eibach/Illumina, or Illumina suspension kit
1 + B = H&R/Illumina
2 + A = Illumina suspension kit or Eibach/Illumina
2 + B = You're screwed. Get another car.
07-02-2006, 08:03 PM
#14
404: This thread sucks....i don't see any mention here of advanced performance/advanced suspension. All I see is people talking about which drop looks better, is most even, is lower, etc.
move this crap back to the
general forums where it belongs 
move this crap back to the
general forums where it belongs
07-03-2006, 04:38 PM
#15
404: This thread sucks....i don't see any mention here of advanced performance/advanced suspension. All I see is people talking about which drop looks better, is most even, is lower, etc.
move this crap back to the general forums where it belongs
move this crap back to the general forums where it belongs
07-03-2006, 07:00 PM
#16
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: state of confusion
Posts: 1,341
Discussions that are centered around such attributes as "stance", "wheel gap", and "drop" are skewed heavily toward appearance. Such "performance look" discussions belong elsewhere.
Like most any other topic that's based in emotion, such threads do not readily lend themselves to a technical/analytical approach (people who have emotionally decided that 2 + 2 = 5 can be incredibly difficult to convince otherwise).
What we're looking for here is more of a technical discussion
is beginning to go that way, but aside from that and a couple of the first dozen responses there hasn't been much . . .
define "little to no . . ." a little closer as has been suggested and maybe this thread can go someplace.
On another forum, there is a currently running discussion involving a Tokico blues and springs kit, a fair bit of sound gear in the trunk, a slightly smaller and lighter car, at least one bad rear tire, and a reported rear tire rubbing issue. One of my opinions regarding a daily driver is that if you continuously have a heavy trunk load or frequently carry large rear seat passengers that most "lowering springs" won't have enough rate to keep you off the bumpstops (or the tires!) in only fairly moderate driving. If it so happened that somebody's "lowering springs" suited my rate choices, I'd almost certainly be shimming them in some manner to get back some of the bump travel and suspension geometry (aka ride height).
Norm
Like most any other topic that's based in emotion, such threads do not readily lend themselves to a technical/analytical approach (people who have emotionally decided that 2 + 2 = 5 can be incredibly difficult to convince otherwise).
What we're looking for here is more of a technical discussion
little to no body roll and still ride smoothly.
define "little to no . . ." a little closer as has been suggested and maybe this thread can go someplace.
On another forum, there is a currently running discussion involving a Tokico blues and springs kit, a fair bit of sound gear in the trunk, a slightly smaller and lighter car, at least one bad rear tire, and a reported rear tire rubbing issue. One of my opinions regarding a daily driver is that if you continuously have a heavy trunk load or frequently carry large rear seat passengers that most "lowering springs" won't have enough rate to keep you off the bumpstops (or the tires!) in only fairly moderate driving. If it so happened that somebody's "lowering springs" suited my rate choices, I'd almost certainly be shimming them in some manner to get back some of the bump travel and suspension geometry (aka ride height).
Norm
07-03-2006, 07:22 PM
#17
ehhh, that sounds bad. Is there any shocks you can recommed that will work with gear in the trunk better. I am still interested in the Illuminas but I guess I'll take sugestions. I do wan't some comfort, as the roads are bumpy in some areas around my house.
07-03-2006, 07:47 PM
#18
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: state of confusion
Posts: 1,341
Still working on that myself for a car that's a country cousin to the one that the guy is having an issue with. No sound gear here, but I'm shooting for a legitimately dual-duty autocrossing/daily drive end result. I currently have Illuminas waiting on the spring choice. I'm looking at not quite double the OE rates, or about 50% higher than the top OE sport package. And maybe 3/4", but no event more than 1" drop, even if that means that I'll be fabricating shims or coilover spring perches.
You might want a little less spring than I have in mind (I'm pretty tolerant of a stiff ride; not at all happy with an overly soft one), which should be matched to somewhat less drop for best ride comfort under all road conditions normally encountered. There may be a little fine tuning that can be done with the bump stops that would let you get away with either a little less spring or a little more drop (but probably not both)
Norm
You might want a little less spring than I have in mind (I'm pretty tolerant of a stiff ride; not at all happy with an overly soft one), which should be matched to somewhat less drop for best ride comfort under all road conditions normally encountered. There may be a little fine tuning that can be done with the bump stops that would let you get away with either a little less spring or a little more drop (but probably not both)
Norm
07-11-2006, 08:09 AM
#23
Its simple.
The forum is labeled as "advanced" to keep the n00bs from asking simple questions... only the n00bs, being n00bs, don't know what an "advanced" topic is. They don't realize that there is a lot more to a suspension than how it makes the car look and whether it "handles good" without "being too harsh". They don't know that those are simple topics, so they think they're being "advanced" just because they're asking for an informed opinion from experts in a dedicated forum.
We all did it at some point.
The only way to deal with it is to answer the misplaced questions politely by saying, "this is the answer, but that's a basic question... you should ask about this kind of stuff in another forum."
Or just somehow make it impossible to post here without reading the sticky about what kind of content the forum is for...
The forum is labeled as "advanced" to keep the n00bs from asking simple questions... only the n00bs, being n00bs, don't know what an "advanced" topic is. They don't realize that there is a lot more to a suspension than how it makes the car look and whether it "handles good" without "being too harsh". They don't know that those are simple topics, so they think they're being "advanced" just because they're asking for an informed opinion from experts in a dedicated forum.
We all did it at some point.
The only way to deal with it is to answer the misplaced questions politely by saying, "this is the answer, but that's a basic question... you should ask about this kind of stuff in another forum."
Or just somehow make it impossible to post here without reading the sticky about what kind of content the forum is for...
07-11-2006, 06:24 PM
#25
Originally Posted by Hexon
I have already seen people's oppinions on the performance of Illuminas. I want to know about the drop + performace, problems and issues, and other things that have to do with the Illumina suspension kit. A big part of getting new suspension is the drop since it alters the physics of how the car handles curves and other things. Although, the drop is also a cosmetic thing, too. However, since you are so keen on talking, what is your oppinion?
1. personal experience driving with them (I have none)
2. spring rates
People who base their opinions on "well, my buddy liked them" or "well, it's a nice even drop" have worthless opinions....The spring is the primary suspension component of the car, and whether it's "good" or not has everything to do with how the spring PERFORMS.....it's not a cosmetic piece!
The "drop" amount has little to nothing to do with performance. For instance, my Eibachs (which are not a low drop at all) crush my former H-Techs in terms of performance (even though the H-Techs are lower and "more even/better looking drop"). The only time drop distance is relevant is when it is related to one of the following two factors:
1. amount of available spring travel
2. bump steer concerns (really only a concern if you're "slammed") and/or interrelated concerns/calculations of roll center, to some degree.
I suggested that this is the wrong forum because:
1. this forum is for technical discussion of advanced suspension topics, not basic topics like springs/struts...and
2. you would be likely to get more responses posting it in the 4th gen forum. 3rd or 5th genners who have used these springs are of NO use to you - the spring rates are bound to differ between generations, and the suspension setups/weight of the cars also differs. It's not apples and oranges quite, but it's comaring a Tangerine and an Orange...both are citrus and look similar, but they are quite different!
07-11-2006, 06:26 PM
#26
Originally Posted by d00df00d
Its simple.
The forum is labeled as "advanced" to keep the n00bs from asking simple questions... only the n00bs, being n00bs, don't know what an "advanced" topic is. They don't realize that there is a lot more to a suspension than how it makes the car look and whether it "handles good" without "being too harsh". They don't know that those are simple topics, so they think they're being "advanced" just because they're asking for an informed opinion from experts in a dedicated forum.
We all did it at some point.
The only way to deal with it is to answer the misplaced questions politely by saying, "this is the answer, but that's a basic question... you should ask about this kind of stuff in another forum."
Or just somehow make it impossible to post here without reading the sticky about what kind of content the forum is for...
The forum is labeled as "advanced" to keep the n00bs from asking simple questions... only the n00bs, being n00bs, don't know what an "advanced" topic is. They don't realize that there is a lot more to a suspension than how it makes the car look and whether it "handles good" without "being too harsh". They don't know that those are simple topics, so they think they're being "advanced" just because they're asking for an informed opinion from experts in a dedicated forum.
We all did it at some point.
The only way to deal with it is to answer the misplaced questions politely by saying, "this is the answer, but that's a basic question... you should ask about this kind of stuff in another forum."
Or just somehow make it impossible to post here without reading the sticky about what kind of content the forum is for...
You know...the sticky that says "PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING IN THIS FORUM"....
07-12-2006, 04:00 PM
#29
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: state of confusion
Posts: 1,341
Originally Posted by d00df00d
Did you see the last line of my post that you quoted?
That'd be the only way to do it...
That'd be the only way to do it...
I really think that this forum can be self-policing for the most part, as long as the "regulars" don't overstep the sometimes fine line between sarcastic commentary and flame. It's a new forum, and it's just going to take a little time for its "personality" to come together and for word to get around about what does and does not fit here.
I think if an off-topic or marginally relevant thread is challenged with a query for related technical information that (1) people will get the intended message, and (2) we might pick up a different perspective here and there. Or the topic will wither and die.
Norm
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