Hello People:
I have a few questions about my car, 97 SE auto with 80K miles. I figure I would post them all together. I would apreciate any help on any of these matters.

Shocks:
I still have the original Shocks. When ever I go over speed bumps, the front shocks make a sound like air is leaking. I don't know if the back ones do that too, but I can't hear them. The Car has a good amount of body roll, but I don't know if it is because of the shocks, maybe I take corners too fast. So!,
- do I need to replace my shocks, or should I?
- Can I change two at a time, or should I change all 4?
- Will aftermarket shocks lower my car? Do I have a choise?

Noise:
My car whistles at 70mph-78mph; and only then. Is that normal?
Do I have a leak of air some where. I have a JWT filter, but it was doing that before I put the filter. Maybe a bad sensor?

When idle, in Parking or at a stop light, I hear this very light metalic grind, from the engine bay, front driver side. Could that be the transmission. It's always done that, I've just ignored before. Now I want to know what it is.

MPG:
my gas milage is about 19 mpg, and I most of the time drive about 80-100mph; mostly freeway, with stock 16" rims. I know that's not the best things for you gas milage (or for anything else for that matter), but for those getting like 28 mpg, what speed do you normally travel at?

Ok, I'll post the rest some other time.

 

The air leak sound from your front struts is normal. They are gas pressurized and liquid filled.

KYB AGX shocks all around will improve both your ride and handling. If you choose to lower the car with springs, it saves labor cost since the labor is the same whether you switch springs or not. There are many different types of springs out there, use the search function.

A characteristic noise of the JWT cone is the hissing noise. I would not worry about it. Even stock, there is a slight hiss from the engine.

As for fuel economy, the Maxima gets the best fuel economy travelling at moderate speeds (between 60-70) on the highway. Any faster and mileage drops. If you do any city driving, you will get terrible mileage. I get around 16 city, 24 highway. Overall, I get around 20-22 on my daily commute which is 25% city, 75% highway. On a long road trip, I got as high as 27mpg all highway.

 

I recently got just under 30mpg out of one tank (with 17's) during a long road trip. I had three other people in the car and a trunk full of luggage and I tried to average about 80mph.