i need to change my suspension.... what struts should i get?

kyb gr-3, koni, tokicos.....

how about springs....

my budget is like 600 bucks

 

your budget kills Koni's + any decent springs.
I'd tokicos and eibachs if I was foolish enough to lower my max.

 

But you don't have a Max...

Besides, lowering it is one of the best things you can do, IMO...just don't go too low...factory wheel gap FTL...

You also may need to budget for new strut mounts if yours are old, cracked, and brittle...

 

mounts should be cheap.... how much do they run?

 

your budget range will not get you much unless you want a crappy ride. best set up i can say would have to be eibach's with koni reds

 

If you can increase your budget to $1000 you can get the best suspension setup available for your car...I have it and trust me, it's worth it...

 

ok, when i had one....

 

strut mounts with bearings go for about $30 each. $600 is just for the koni red's and those are the ones i will be getting since i already have my intrax springs still in the box waiting to be installed. right now i currently have arospeed lowering springs and kyb shocks. i don't recommend that set up cuz its garbage.

 

ouch 600 for all four koni red's. Man that sucks dude. for those that are fortunate can pay less. but not too much less i beleave. I'd advise making friends with a techinican because they can get a hold of a lot of different factory and aftermarket parts at a great price. But like everyone has said koni (red's) with eibach springs best set up money can buy for the 3rd gens.

 

well, im a BMW tech. so i have no problem with getting a deal for them but the thing is that i already went ahead and bought the intrax cuz i like the drop on them and not the eibach's. i just haven't had enough to put aside to be able to buy these damn shocks, i had just bought an S-10 which i have to replace the front end and then school projects that i have to spend money on for the materials that i need in order to build my designs, and then there is the usual bills. luckily my car is still running since im on top of it every 3 days checking up the suspension and mechanical stuff. just last week i found out that i need 2 front tires. all i can do is just be patient and manage with what i have until i have enough to get what i need for my 3rd gen.

 

don't tell people the board you are a BMW tech. There are certain members that will be after you...

If you have intrax, you definitely need Konis. Anything else will probably blow out. If you can install them yourself (or have free help, etc) I suppose you could settle for tokicos and just replace them (lifetime warranty) every time they go out.

 

a little tip for you. I'm all about helping newbies but I've noticed lately that you've been asking MANY questions that have answers allll over in the archives. A simple search would yield many pages with comments about all these questions. I'd advise you do that before asking the next question, and if you don't find an adequate answer that way, then feel free to start a new thread. It's always nice to have new people looking into doing custom work on their cars and trying to take them to a level most don't even consider possible.


Now, to answer your question....I'd REALLY reccomend koni's and B&G springs. It's a little more work, a little more money....but you'll be REALLY happy in the end. If you can't do it right the first time, you should just save untill you can. It's easier than fixing a broken part because you decided to skimp out on quality because of cost. The koni's...set to maximum soft....will still ride VERY stiff, and can take even the lowest drop without a problem. The springs are a progressive rate spring, which is what you want, and lower it enough that you'll get a great look without the lack of functionality that intrax gives. It's still a low drop though...at 1.6" drop, I will drive over a pop can, and drag it along for awhile...just to give you an idea. (granted, I also have a Lower tie bar...but still). That should help you out.

 

as a matter of fact, i haven't been tracked down to answer questions on BMW's for awhile now. but yeah, i am saving for the koni red's and tockico's. i don't want to be replacing struts every 6 months to a year everytime they blow out so i would rather save the money and buy the koni red's instead. just 2 weeks ago i installed B&G springs with tockico blues in my friends '91 GXE and slapped some 17's on there too. the car drive's beautiful and handles great too after the install. his car handles better than mine.

 

would you happen to have any pics of how the car looks on this setup?

 

i was leaning toward tokicos cause it fits my budget.... but in terms of springs how much are the bg's? can i use my stock springs? i heard springs don't do that much in terms of handling

 

im not to sure if this would be too off topic but wat is the plus or minus in buying a coilover kit instead of buying struts and springs seperate

 

o i am not worried either as im a Subaru tech and also get my good discount across the board for all types of cars that are owned under the Bruce Titus dealership like nissan's mitsubishi's chrysler chevy izusu jeep and subaru and whatever else i may have forgotten. i get them probably for around 400 for all four koni reds. not including tax though lol

 

B&G's will run you $140 shipped. They have a GREAT ride, IMO. I can't speak more highly of them. They are red powdercoat, which holds up very well against brake dust and the elements, and help give the car a very nice agressive stance. Springs are really just for the ride height, and length of travel for your struts. All racing applications will actually use LONGER springs than what you normally see, to allow for more travel on the strut. They just tuck them deep into the car. It's an incorrect assumption to think that lowering a car increases performance. Often it is the higher spring rating that will increase performance, but not the lower ride height.

Eibachs offer the best aftermarket performance because they increase the spring rate but have the least drop out of any other springs on the market. If you're a track driver, and performance is key...thats the one to get. If you're more concerned with the look of the car, then you can get any aftermarket spring out there...they're all the same besides lowering amount. Anything over 1.5-1.6 inches will start to compromise functionality, though. As I stated before, with a 1.6 inch drop on the B&G's, I will drag a solo cup or pop can when I run it over. It's that low.

Just be sure that you are getting a progressive rated spring when you make your purchase. A linear rate spring has a constant spring rating, no matter how much the spring is compressed, for example 600lb/in. This means that for every 600 pounds of pressure, there will be 1 inch of spring compression. A progressive rate spring will have a variable spring rate, for example 425-630lb/in. This means that it may take 425 pounds for 1 inch of compression, but as the spring compresses more it will rise to as much as 630 pounds of pressure. To put it simply, the spring "progressively" gets stiffer as it is compressed. Your stock springs are linear, and you can tell because the height the spring travels is the same for every turn. A progressive spring will have a few compressed turns, increasing gradually, then going back to more compressed.

They don't make real coilovers for our cars. A coilover has the spring and strut combined into one unit. Any "coilover" kits you see offered aren't really what they say. They're just a sleeve that fits over the strut and allows for adjustment. (I just learned this, btw)

 

i used the kby/eibach set-up and i wish i had gotten tokicos instead because. supposedly the kybs have the same lifetime warranty that the tokicos have though but i haven't needed to replace mine yet. that set up made a great difference over stock but im sure that the konis would be even better like every one says. you just have to decide for yourself what level you want to take your max to. i have a mortgage in one of the most expensive cities in the country so that helped sway my decision to go cheaper. the important thing is i was aware of the compromise i was making. so keep doing some research and weighing your options.

 

You're getting better at these, but you still made a lot of erroneous statements.
RALLY cars have longer springs and more suspension travel than street cars. road race cars use very short springs and struts with a high rate. A road race car comparable to ours will run a 6-8" long spring in the range of 800-1200lb/in. They will have a total of about 1.5" suspension travel. That's it. usually they allow about 1" of compression and 1/2" of droop.

A couple other bad comments through yours, but that's the only one I'm going to pick on since it's the only glaring error.

 

I put "Monroe S-T Strut Sensa-Tracs" front&back, 2 years ago. Have been very happy with them. It firmed up the car considerably. I was replacing orig factorys (yep I stretched the origs to 14 years:-). It rides nice as can be, smooth, but if I really want to shove the nose into a hard turn, she'll dig right thru there without swaying. The "91" is actually pretty impressive for "16 year old technology".

It was a big job, but got her done, did it carefully and didn't even need to get it re-aligned with a little reading/pre-planning. You might as well have some extra parts at-the-ready, stuff you know you need and stuff that'll be easy to access while you're in there (ie rear brake pads, brake cylinder kit, suspension bushings, etc..) (The only downside on this whole job was the "hosing" I took from Checker Auto on the rebates, they weaseled me out of right about $100!)

Oh and one last thing, I highly recommend having a air wrench to use on your spring compressors, unless you have forearms like "Popeye"!:-)

Good luck on it. Tw

 

sorry, i shoud have taken pics but i will have to get ahold of Raul (exub) to take pics of his car after i lowered his car.

 

iknow im goin thread digging but i need new suspension parts and im wondering if these parts are any good
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/SPRIN...spagenameZWDVW
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/89-94...spagenameZWDVW
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/89-94...spagenameZWDVW
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/KYB-G...spagenameZWDVW

 

stay away form the no-name stuff.

 

i posted this link somewhere else but can't remember where.

K-Sport Kontrol Pro Coilover kit for the third gen..... $795 shipped....that's about 100 bucks off. And for only $200 more, if you wanted a true coilover system, there you go.

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=430568

 

the thread was locked because the link is bogus.

try finding a REAL, TRUE coilover system for the 89-94 Maxima.

 

the thread is locked? looks like it's on page 23 and still going.......people seem satisfied to me.

 

This thread..

http://forums.maxima.org/oldthread.php?t=535330

When are you guys going to get it through your thick skulls...

THERE ARE NO TRUE COILOVERS MADE FOR THE 3RD GEN MAXIMA!!!

 

.......my apologies then. tell jinsu to get HIS mind right then, not only me, as i'm just going on what people advertise.......he says they are available for the 3rd gen.....ultrarev says the K-sport GT Pro Damper's are available for the 3rd gen.......autozconcepts says their D2 racing RS's are for the 3rd gen. and they're not just sleeves or whatever.....they are the full assembly.

( http://www.ultrarev.com/product.php?productid=59041 )
( http://www.autozconcept.com/showprod...productid=1596 )

don't take this as me being ignorant....as i know there are sleeve setups on ebay and elsewhere, but these are advertised as applicable full coilovers.

 

1. If you are so concerned about jinsu's products,then you pm him about it.also,look through jinsu's coilover link you posted,do you see all the 3rd gen guys in that thread chomping at the bit to buy them? Nope,because most of us that have been here more than a year or two know that these coilovers will not fit 3rd gen maximas(btw,how long have you been here?)

2.You do have the search function right? If you would have used it,you would have found out that the A31 cefiro(aka maxima) is not a usdm 3rd gen maxima,but you either didn't use search,or you did not you read the numerous other threads posted in the past on this issue..I highly suggest using search more often in the future.

Examples of using the search function when you type in "coilovers"


http://forums.maxima.org/oldthread.php?t=428718

http://forums.maxima.org/oldthread.php?t=330427


And this little gem..(be sure to read post #3 carefully)

http://forums.maxima.org/oldthread.php?t=399273



3.Use the search feature you paid for,it can save you from looking like an idiot.

 

using search more often in the future doesn't seem like it will be possible.....as it hasn't worked for me for weeks or more. I get "page cannot be displayed." no matter which search function i use.

I was just showing someone that there are some advertised on the .org an other sites as well. And I really didn't feel like browsing the 23 pages of that particular thread.

I have looked for coilovers before and never found them, and never doubted you when you said that there aren't any.....just keep seeing them advertised for the 3g, and it just didn't make sense.

I really have no desire for coilovers......$700+ is a little much to spend on suspension, when i have so much other stuff to fix first. so i'm not 'hoping' this is true or anything, just don't understand why all the false advertisement.


relax buddy. i'm not being ignorant or arrogant, just dont understand.

 

That's pretty much the definition of ignorant there, Bubba.

Definitions of ignorant:

* uneducated in general; lacking knowledge or sophistication; "an ignorant man"; "nescient of contemporary literature"; "an unlearned group incapable of understanding complex issues"; "exhibiting contempt for his unlettered companions"
* uneducated in the fundamentals of a given art or branch of learning; lacking knowledge of a specific field; "she is ignorant of quantum mechanics"; "he is musically illiterate"
* unaware because of a lack of relevant information or knowledge; "he was completely ignorant of the circumstances"; "an unknowledgeable assistant"; "his rudeness was unwitting"
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

 

ok, so you win. my point was, that if i don't understand something, i'm going to try to figure it out. i was never saying "BUT BUT YES THERE ARE COILOVERS! I SWEAR!" i was simply throwing the links out there, and stating that they were advertising them. jesus. a little lightening of the spirits around here is in order, methinks.

edit: at first, yes, i was thinking maybe there really are coilovers, but after the responses, yeah i was beginning to understand what was going on....although your post about the thread being locked confused me a bit, as the thread didn't seem locked to me.

 

keep reading again and again and again. you'll eventually figure it out.


Just like these stupid coilover threads...

edit.. here's the one that was locked..
http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=408088

 

i gotcha man, was just confused. forget it. i'm such a bad personnnn for not understanding!


greenie -> /thread.

 

I have koni's and intrax's springs ,but I find myself wanting to change the springs to eibach's.

 

I have a 91'. I pulled Tokico's off ebay cheap!! I have them on stock springs for a year now with no complaints with a great handle'n.