Has anyone actually done this? The closest thing I remember reading is a long time member (I will not say names) saying he heated his springs and had no problems. Stock struts are Tokico, and considering virtually every single Maxima I have ever seen in the junk yard still has their OEM struts installed at 250k miles, I'm lead to believe that they are capable of supporting a drop.

Fact of the matter is, after years of custom work, my car is nearing the point where I can focus on the basics, and I'm left with a ****ty selection of suspension parts because the two most popular brands supposedly feel that being #1 isn't good enough.

I'm seriously considering dropping my car on the stock Tokicos. Of course there are people who are going to say they would blow out in 100 miles, but speculation isn't what I'm after. If anyone has first hand experience or knows of someone's past experience, please share.

 

Originally lowered my '89 on Eibachs with new struts from autozone. In my personal experience, the rate of travel and feel was consistent with stock. Even I would argue Autozone (cannot recall brand) is not the quality of stock or oem replacement Tokico.

Experience, after less than a year, my driver side rear Eibach spring broke after a hard dip. Car felt like it bottomed out and I did have full car of passengers. I am convinced the strut/shock for the rear are too weak for a lowered vehicle.

Ability for a strut to operate effectively when used on a lowered application is only one component to consider when replacing struts. At the risk of using incorrect references, the valve rate has to be sufficient to slow the downward force of the car so to not collapse the springs and cause damage. Durability is another important factor naturally.

Quesrion is, how much you looking to drop the car? Stock struts may have the durability, but they are not designed to function effectively on a car lowered beyond ~ 1". In my personal experince, they just lack the valve rate to handle lowering springs and be able to protect the car or suspension components. Particularly in the rear, as this cars all tend to fat behinds, I believe you risk danger if you run a oem or stock replacement strut. Regardless of when or whether not the strut blows.

IMHO, buy a good stut to lower the car. It will fell better, perform better, last longer, and was (at least for me) peice of mind.

Summary: experience with oem replacement = broken spring. Experince with Tokico blues = excellent performance, ride comfort, and peice of mind. BTW, I've had the same tokico blues on my car now about 9-10 years.

 

its fine if you simply need more time to save up but they will eventually blow

 

Chris: Thanks for the experience backed info. I'm looking at a comparable drop to eibach, using an out of market brand, but to hear of broken springs doesn't sound too exciting, even if it was with an Autozone strut. Especially considering replacements or warranty claims would be out of the question with foreign springs.

Shock: It's not that I need to save up for a set of struts, in fact, I have no problem with the price of struts. I'm just wondering whether the stock Tokicos may be better than the KYB, which is what I would get otherwise.

 

For an approximate 1" drop, I do think an oem strut would be fine for the front, not preferable IMO, but fine. The rears though, better invest in something good.

IIRC, they used to sell adjustable a for the 3rd gen. I recall that members spoke consistently about adjusting the rears 1-2 settings higher than the fronts, for the reasons I've discussed. Can't recall settings in relation to spring drop however.

 

you can get a tokico kit with struts and their springs... drop is 1.25" all around i believe. h&r's are perfect for stock struts, they're only like 1.3" and they ride great (i've heard everywhere)

 

I just got these new wheels on my max, I want to lower it at least an inch but not too low either, would it be safe to just do a one inch drop and call it a day?

 

nice... 5.5g gle wheels. to answer your question you can read the posts above...

 

Oops, sorry fellas didn't mean to hijack the thread

 

I ride with oem, cant really give you an answer. For about a year I got too lazy to take out my tools out of the trunk. Had to replace the rear struts, that was about 2 years ago. Had the front struts in since '07. Time to change the now. Eibach spring btw.

 

You really shouldn't talk out of school seeing as though H&R discontinued their 3rd gen springs MORE THAN 12 years ago.

 

I would go with what Chris is on the Blues and Eibachs, had the same set up on my 5th gen and a 5.5gen, my 3rd went with COs...Good Luck....

 

Clean Max, lose all the Chrome by the Windows do it in Black will Look 1000000000000000 Times better.....

 

Not to mention the fact that you most definitely cannot get a "tokico kit with struts and their springs". Spring wise, you really can't get anything new now except Eibach and very rarely some Intrax. There's probably still some slightly off-brand ones like Aerosport or OBX or K Sport floating around eBay.

Struts, we're completely SOL. Can't get Konis and can't get Tokico fronts. Really KYB's are about the best we can get and those are really just stock-ish replacement. Even those are starting to dwindle and getting harder to find.

Hectic, you can still buy Tokico rears. I got a pair on Amazon just a couple months ago. They were pretty cheap too. Fronts are absolutely long gone.

3rd gen guys lowering on stock struts 10+ years ago would likely be quite a different experience than doing so now simply because back then these cars were by and large a decade newer. So basing off old threads isn't really applicable and I haven't seen much freah blood here the past few years, at least none genuinely modding their cars. Really though if you lower on stock struts what's the worst that can happen? You'll just have to replace them (KYB's) sooner.

I will say that I recently put new strut mounts and bellows on my blue VE front end. That setup has been Intrax and Tokico for 12+ years now. When I disassembled them to put the new parts on I noticed the front struts were "blown" - push piston down and it just stays down completely. But in all honesty I never even noticed a difference in the ride. Still about as rough as ever. If I didn't want to put new strut mounts and stuff on them I would have just continued driving on them indefinitely not knowing any different or even thinking they might be blown.

Also keep in mind, just because you see stock struts on high mileage junkyard cars doesn't mean those struts offered a particularly good ride quality or that they were still in good shape.

Either way though, I say go for it. Your stock struts are gonna go bad anyway at some point.

 

Okay relax, instead of pointing out where I'm wrong a 2 min mobile search on eBay turned out some springs for you guys. Item # 350316608253 Check it out! It's a lil low but better that cutting or heatin springs dear god lol

 

Yup after a stillen lip kit, e36 conversion, a 1 inch drop and a new paintjob I should have this thing in tip top shape

 

so you don't know jack about the aftermarket supply for 3rd gen but you posted anyway.
then you went on a some ebay/google search and found B&Gs that were available the whole time...and telling us about it like it's a new fact?

might as well post that we have coil over available for the J30 body that you saw on ebay.

why even bother posting if you don't have a clue?

 

what about sonar suspension struts

my digidash has the original ss struts after 150k and its one of the smoothest rides ive ever had. the control unit for the 'electronic adjustable' struts doesnt even work so they're in 'default mode' (?) and its still incredible

although probably pointless since they're like 600 a piece. but I wonder what some would be willing to pay for new tokico fronts..

or maybe im on to something

 

well i really didn't think tokico threw out the whole set... they have sets for other cars that old. and why sell just the rears?!?

actually i was looking at the k-sport gt's (thats why i said a lil low cause its 2.2f/2r) but posted about the b&g's lol fail... lookin at it now, no one here has mentioned them and they have a mild drop appropriate for stock struts or the gr-2's imo.

and i don't get your comment about the j30 but there are coilovers available for the a31

 

I have a set of B&G lowering springs for my car that they stopped making a while ago but I've seen them on ebay for 250ish. There is no aftermarket strut for our 3rdgens that will last long with lowering springs though.

 

Yeah, I saw em on Amazon back when that "discontinued" thread popped up, got excited for a second until I saw only the rears were available. It probably would be a good idea to buy a pair. I tend to put off buying off the shelf parts until needed, which is kind of how I ended up in this situation. My car only has about 135k, and I really have no problems with how the car handles. All I meant by noting the junkyard cars, is that it kind of says something about the quality of the stock struts and that maybe they are relatively comparable to the HP struts. Or at least capable of supporting a modest drop.


Sonar suspension is notorious for failure. You're truly lucky if you haven't blown any of the struts yet. I had one of those cars, it had high miles, but it was clunk city on all corners. M30's are all affected by failing sonar suspension as well, it came standard and have personally driven one with about 175k which bottomed out like crazy, just like the Maxima I had.

So that alone, as well as the price, and the unlikeliness of installing lowering springs, I'll be passing on the SS.

 

I just remember flipping through the 90fsm and remember noticing a page where the SS struts had different "spring/valve rates" in different modes, so I thought it might be a possibility to use them with lowering springs. but I myself wouldnt pay that much for struts when they need replaced even though I am totally impressed by them (my set, anyway)..

Im glad I said something though since you pointed out they're prone to failure, I think I will have to drive the car a little easier now

 

IMO, Not too much for the front. I think your observation regarding your blown front struts supports this.

But, for the rear? Worst that can happen is a broken spring. I'm just restating what I've already said at this point. But I'm convinced that the rears need the most attention in regards to quality struts. If even an oem replacement, just don't cheap out on the rears.

 

I made the most logical error of lowering my car on stock struts back in '00 and up until '11 i finally got around to replacing my suspension with KYB shocks and Intrax springs that i had for about 3 years before i actually installed them. BIG DIFFERENCE! Couldnt even remember how good it felt to drive my car and not worrying about the car bottoming out everytime i drove it.

 

i lowered mine 2.5 inches on 2 year old KYB GR2, lasted and even when the car went to the junkyard the struts were still good and someone took them all lol

how high the oil pan is off the ground on 3rd gens when youre that low is scary though

 

I would recommend not dropping more than 2"......to keep it user friendly in the real world.....