why is it that everytime i see a max with eibach's, they look more dropped than i do with my B&G and i have a .3 more of a drop. the gap sumhow is jus less with eibachs for sum reason. is it really only 1.3? is there sumthin else to these springs?

 

i thought it was 1.5 in the front and 1.3 in the back.. my drop looks really low.. i think its cuz my shocks are busted right now..

 

my eibachs droped alittle more then 1.5

 

Same here.

 

I believe there are 2 releases of Eibach springs. One did drop the car more.

I can't remember if the earlier ones dropped more then the current ones or it's the other way around.

I took a set of Eibachs out of Kevins car a few months back. I was riding on B&G's at the time. His drop was similar to mine. Off hand I want to say it was the later Eibachs he was on.

 

Eibachs look a lot lower than 1.3"

I know a guy with Eibachs and 18s and his car sits lower than another guy with Sprints and 16s

 

Shocks don't carry any weight, so they won't have anything to do with ride height.

I've had my Eibachs for 3 years now, I know they have settled a little since I first installed them.

 

yes shocks have to do with a drop.

like tokico shocks for some reason make the car lower. the agx make it higher. stock make it lower.

not only what type of shock but also what condition they are in.

tire size also has to do with a drop.

last year i had 18x8.5 wheels with 245/45/18 nitto's and i had 1.6" apex springs with tokico shocks. my car was almost as low as sprint springs and all the rest of the max were using 225 or 235 tire. my car was lower even having bigger tires. after going to agx the car went up.

now i have 245/35/19 which is a smaller tire than 245/45/18 and the car still looks high.

 

Alright, I will grant you that MAYBE the spring perches are different on different manufacturers struts.

But explain to me how the CONDITION of the strut effects ride height. The only thing in a strut that could carry any weight is the pressurized nitrogen. I would be surprised if it takes more than 20 lbs of pressure to compress a gas filled strut; so that is the most weight it can support. Given a Maxima weighs 3100 lbs dry, the pressure in 4 struts would be carrying 2.5% of the car.

Or, from a different perspective, can you tell the difference in ride height when you add 13 gallons of gasoline? That is the equivelent of 80 lbs of extra load carrying of 4 struts.

 

I know that in my wives old car (90 Camary) replacing the blown rear struts made the back end sit a good inch or two higher, but I have no idea why or if the max has a similer setup. On my Max with stock springs and origonal struts (90k miles) the back end definatly seems lower than it should be, becuase of my experience with the Camary I was thinking it was becuase the struts are worn out

 

its nice to see someone else has any clue what they are talking about. blown or old struts dont make the tiniest difference in height. only difference between height and other brand struts MIGHT be the perch design, as you said.

 

i understand what your saying but if you have a shock that has 50k mls on it and you change that shock to the same name brand & modle # you will see a diff. the car will be higher and you will see it and feel it.

thats why they say if you can't replace all 4 shocks then you should replace them in prs. (front is 1 pr & rears are the other pr).

have you ever driven a car with 1 new shock in the front and the other front shock had over 50k mls on?

it would be like driving with an agx on 1 side than having a stock shock on the other side. it's day & night.

 

Here's a visual of my car w/ eibach prokit on stock struts



My drop was only about an inch or so... and I got these springs a looooooooong time ago, so the newer version of the prokit are probably the ones w/ more drop.

 

you can say all you want about me not having a clue of what i'm talking about but i have 15yrs in wholesale/retail in aftermarket products for cars.

take a car that has 50k mls on it and put 1 new shock on it of the same modle and tell me if the car goes up on the new side.

 

There is NO WAY it could possibly go up. As some have pointed out, even a gas charged strut will only produce a few pounds of upward force. Not anywhere close to enough force to change the ride height of a car. The spring perch on any given replacement strut should be exactly the same as OEM. Again, ride height isn't effected.

My 99 SE was on stock sturts, I upgraded to AGX's and remained on OEM springs. The ride height didn't change a bit. The ride itself did. Thats a perfect example of how struts and shocks do not effect ride height.

Even better, I dropped my car with H&R's sprngs. My car, being a loaded SE Auto tranny with California emissions and all is heavier then most. My drop with H&R springs was well over 1.5 inches up front. Again, the AGX's gas charge didn't increase my ride height. I came down more then most do on H&R springs. Even lower then those on stock struts or Tokicos.

Struts/shocks have nothing to do with the actual ride height. There ability to keep the car's nose or ride height UP and level is another story.

Contact any strut manufacturer or even the guys at shocks.com and ask them if shocks or struts change the ride height. Your answer will be no, I guarantee that!

What you feel change in the ride of a car when you replace struts and shocks is the change in the ability of the sturt to work with the spring correctly and maintain the cars ride height. This could give you the sense of the car actually riding higher.

A worn out strut will allow the car to bounce and dive quite a bit. This gives you the feeling of a lower ride. Park the car and measure the ride height, it's the same. Drive it and you feel like your hitting the ground at times.

Theres much more to a strut/shocks valving then just keeping things firm. There's a jounce and rebound valving that must be matched correctly to a given spring and the weight of your car. If you don't have enough jounce, your car will dive to much. To much jounce and your car will want to jump up to much over bumps. All this plays a part in what you "FEEL" when you drive the car. It does not in any way change or alter the ride height.

New shocks and struts will give you the feeling that your riding higher. Thats because your car is now maintaining it's ride height as you drive over bumps in the road. With old worn out struts and shocks, your car does not maintain it's ride height. It dives and rebounds to much and gives you the feeling of a lower ride. Park a car with worn out struts, and it looks fine. Driving it is another story.

 

I wasn't referring to your post nor questioning your knowledge about shocks.

 

i worked for many store that we had to install springs and shocks on many diff cars. when a customer had a set of shocks on his car for about 40k mls and 1 went bad we already new that we had to change both of them.

my point is that when you change an old shock to a new 1 of the same brand you will see that it will be higher. you must drive the car around because it has been jacked or been on a lift. then you look at 1 side and you look at the other side and you will see a diff.

i have seen this many times because some customers are just that cheap and then they come asking why the car is not running the same.

we had 1 guy came in and gave us a hard time because we installed tokico & sprint spring (about 2" drop) on a 97 accord. he went to another shop to cut the springs (we would not cut them). he comes back about a month later telling us that the shocks are leaking. we take a look at the car and it looks like the car had a 3.5" drop. so he buys 2 front shocks because the car is hitting to hard. 3hrs later the guy is back to buy the rear shocks because the car was higher in the front now.

he was going to send all 4 leaking shocks back to tokico. we never saw him again. some ppl just don't understand.

 

I don't understand. What is in a typical shock or strut that impacts ride height?

It sounds like the only anecdotal evidence you provide could be the fact that the 3.5" dropped car was riding on the bump stops.

 

you are still wrong.. the reason you replace in pairs is for a matched ride... one side might be firmer than the other if you were to replace one, but the height doesnt change with different shocks/struts. SPRINGS lower the car... lowering "springs"... not lowering "struts".

 

i'm going to put this to rest but i wish you guys where around here so we can find an old car and install 1 shock so you can see the diff.

good night

 

wow all this from my comment.. max.org is great.. this is a good thread.. learned alot