So finally after about a year and a half of having the parts sitting in my basement, I finally got it all installed last night. I connected with Chris Yost from http://www.maxgt.com to do the install. He has a Nissan tech that he works with do the install, and while it was really expensive compared to other speed shops (don't ask how much...too much), I am also really satisfied with the results. I wasn't confident in any of the speed shops I visited so this was a good way to get someone who at least had some idea what they were doing to do the install. I got a good vibe from them both and the work seems to have been top notch.

I still have to get it aligned but WOW what a difference. I can't believe that people have complained about the H&R's being too stiff and going back to stock. The ride is hardly different from stock at all. I mean, if you're looking at a Caddy or putting H&R's in your Max...you won't like the H&R's. But if you want performance and not a horrible ride just go for it. I live in Boston and had no probs on the way to work this morning. I mean on REALLY rough surfaces things sound a little bumpy, but the ride is never uncomfortable in the slightest.

I beleive the struts are set to 2/4, but I need to make sure about the rears (haven't had a chance to check yet). The handling is 1000x better. The **** doesn't heel over in sweeping corners like it used to...lane changes are flat...etc.

One thing I had a question on. The tech told me he installed the rear AGX's backwards (dial pointing in) because he thought it might be better to keep it out of the road debris. He told me he'll be glad to turn them around for me if I want, but that access isn't that bad. I don't really care about being able to access them on a moments notice...grabbing a flashlight and laying down is not a problem. Does this sound reasonable? I haven't even ahd a chance to check them out (it was raining and dark when I picked the car up last night), but as long as I can get at the dials I don't care and the road debris theory seems like a good one.

 

With the dial facing in you can easily get your hand back there and adjust it. In other words, he put them in the right way!! When they face outwards, you can't access the dial unless you take the wheel off.

 

Even better!

 

do H&R make an even drop on a 5spd?

 

Congrats on the suspension upgrade. I've talked to Chris several times over the phone, he's a good guy to deal with.

 

Thanks man. Yea Chris is mos def cool. He even gave me a ride in the supercharged Max...

Yea the drop looks pretty even on the 5spd so far. It seemed lower in the back for awhile but my street is a little sloped. I checked it in the parking garage this morning and it looked _perfectly_ even.

 

Now for those people with H&R with AXG, does the car actually handle that much better and what else is needed when to accompany any upgrade the suspention of a car?

 

My car feels more planted to the ground now that I have the H&R's and AGX's. This combination along with my Progress RSB makes my car hanle a lot better. At first I thought that my new suspension was pretty stiff, nut now that my suspension has broken in, I am really enjoying my car. Looks a lot better too.

 

Did you have to buy anything else to accompany the h&r/axg before installing them? Or you just got them and installed them?

 

H&R with AGX are the way to go!

 

Here are the parts that I replaced during the spring/strut install along with the part #'s:

2 - Strut Bearings (54325-5V000)
2 - Front Dust Boots, with the bumpstops (54050-38U02)
2 - Rear Dust Boots, with the bumpstops (55240-0M315)
2 - These are the rubber spring seats, they go on top of the spring (54034-31U01)
6 - Front Spring Polyurethane Isolation Sleeves 2 for the bottom of the spring and one on second coil from the top(54034-31U20)
4 - Rear Spring Polyurethane Isolation Sleeves for the bottom of the spring. I can get the # for you later

2- Front Strut Mounts, I can get the # for these later too. You may not need to replace these. Mine had over 100k on them and the one on the right hand side was totally shot within a week of the install. If your vehicle has high mileage I would say go for it.

If you want you can take the old isolation sleeves off your old springs and reuse them,that is what I did. Just make sure to clean them. I bought 4 for the front and 2 for the back and placed them all on the bottom coils and I still had some noise. It turned out to be from one of the upper coils on the front, which I then used my old isolation sleeves on, and all is now quiet. On the rear I used the old sleeves for the coil below the dead coils (the ones that are all bunched up).

Hope this helps. I was able to get all of this information from old threads here on the Org.

 

I wanted to know this because my friend thinks that you just buy the sprint and shock and install it. He thinks if he does the job himself it will be around $400-500. But I tell him it will be mor elike $850-$1000.

 

Forgot to mention that I bought all of the parts, except the strut mounts which busted a week after the install, from Courtessyparts.com from Kaleb. He knocked off something like 15% from the total price after I mentioned that I was a Maxima.org member. I believe I paid around $230 dollars for the stuff including shipping. My local dealer wanted almost $400 dollars for the same parts.

 

about the isolation sleeves...if u want to do the radio shack wire wrap sleeves..what size wrap do u get?