Nismo

iTrader: (18)

ok heres my question- I orderes a set of 16"-7 wheels and havent lowered the car or anything yet and just wondering if it will look nice with those wheels and not lowering it. will the wheel well have a large gap? has anyone kept the stock suspension with new rims and how does the car look if you have.

Shadow

iTrader: (15)

It looks not so hot. When I first got my 17"s, it looked like crap before I dropped it. Since the sidewall is so low, the gap looks even bigger. Now that I have my 19"s, I may have to turn the ground controls even lower since the sidewall is so low. But if you got 16"s it may not look so bad since it's the stock size of an SE. But to me, a stock height maxima is just way, way too high. I parked my car between 2 stock 4th gens the other day and both of them looked like 4x4's. My car was like 4" lower than theirs. But I'm one of those guys who likes really, really low cars, so you're views may be different than mine. I tried to find pictures, but I couldn't find a clear one of just how high my car looked with the wheels.

I30CeFiRo

Yes you would need to lower your car or it will look like a 4X4

Nismo

iTrader: (18)

so me having 16x7" how low would I want to go? how much would it normaly cost? not looking for a super slammed car cause I still want to go through driveways pretty easly and not planning on racing either.

dch95

I beleive that both H&R or Eibachs will lower the car with out going to low. I have Progress springs which one day I will sell (as soon as I can afford other ones) because the front end dropped close to 2 inches which I don,t like because of driveability reasons.

nixima

It will also depend on what size of rubber you put on your new rims. I have 225/50 rubber on my 16x7.5" rims. Before I lowered it, I can stuff my fist in the fender gap in all four corners. That's well over 3.5" of gap. Now I have H&R and the gap is about three fingers, or 2". It looks much nicer.

Nismo

iTrader: (18)

Again, how much money am I looking at to lower it with a set of springs like eibach or H&R. whats the usual installation charges?

_DRU_

ive called around locally and the cheapest i found was 120 and most expensive was 180. i wasnt expecting that much at all, i was hoping for free installation if i bought the springs but the dealer said the rear on the maximas are totally different from civics and integras. he said somthing about how the struts are connected to somthing so everything has to be taken off (correct, im sure im wrong). i think eibachs and HRs fair the same price at around 240ish but im goin to go with Sprint(180). i was told the ride isnt as harsh as the eibacks or HR but the drop (after it settles) is 2 inches (said the dealer). his co-worker had a max with sprint springs and so i dropped by, looked damn good to me.

nixima

I don't think there's anything different in Maxima that requires more work when replacing the springs. That shop you talked was probably just trying to find excuses to justify the high cost. I replaced my springs by myself and took about 5 hours. If I owned a shop with all the professional tools, I'd be able to get it done in 2-3 hours.

And the ride of Sprint is A LOT more harsh than H&R. There has been a lot of discussion on this topic in this forum. Eibach is probably somewhere in between.

Nismo

iTrader: (18)

ok so Im looking at around $450. Do all you think that it is worth the cash and the harshness? or should I leave the stock height?

dch95

It all depends on what you want. The ride will be stiffer when you lower it no matter what. I did mine because my 17s made the car look like a 4X4. Although I wish I would have bought H&R instead of Progress. They look better in my opinion and don,t give it the slammed look.

_DRU_

i called two shops and they both said the back was tough to do, but since you've already done it and have the experience, ima take your word over the dealers anyday. thanks

Shadow

iTrader: (15)

The back is easier than the front in my opinion. Fewer bolts, less torque on the bolts, and a lighter assembly. I've taken apart and reassemble my suspension 5 times now and I can do it in under 2 hours now without air tools. The back only takes me like 20 minutes while the front takes me about 30 for each corner. But I have ground controls so I don't have to deal with a spring compressor. From what I've seen on my brother's Prelude, his car is a lot harder than mine. You can't get much easier than the simple strut assemblies on Maximas.

mzmtg

iTrader: (11)

I got sprint springs (2 inch drop) for $144 shipped from

http://www.southwestautoworks.com

The guy that runs it is "max8mycash" here on the forum. Good company.

Do the install yourself, only takes about 3 hours as long as you are careful.

UntouchableMX-5

BIG *** TIRES!!! That outta fill your gap

nixima

Unless I missed something during the installation, I cannot imagine why a shop would think the rear ones are more difficult. There are three top mounting nuts in the front, vs. two in the rear. There are two lower bolts in the front, and one in the rear. The rear has smaller springs so I used only one spring compressor when I had to use two for the front. On top of all that, you have the drive axle, CV boots, brake lines, etc in the front that got in the way. The rear does not have any of those. For the 5 hours I spent, I must have spent more than 60% of time on the front and less than 40% on the rear.

OK, the only part the rear requires a little more work than the front is that you do need to reach in the trunk to remove the two nuts holding the shock. With my optional heavy duty trunk floor mat it was REALLY a lot more work.

dch95

Perhaps those mechanic wanna bees had a gut too big that prevented them from getting in the trunk to get to that oohh sooo hard to loosen ONE EACH NUT!! It is not hard at all. Good luck!

Sonic

If you want to know what a Maxima with 17" wheels not lowered looks like, this comes from Sweetsound2001's webpage. My car sits up like this too, but with the splashguards, it doesn't look so 4X4ish.
[img]http://images.cardomain.com/installs/29000-29999/29987_87_full.jpg[/url]