Has anyone tried using springs in the front that drop more than springs in the back? How would this affect ride? Is it a bad idea?

I'd like to see a pic of someone who's done this, if anyone has one. I think it would look just a little more aggressive.

 

I just saw Nick's Max with all the suspension mods on the general forum, and I liked how it looked with just the front dropped. The only problem was the different sizes of fender gap, IMO. Anybody else care to comment? Any other photos?

Nick, if you read this: what made you go from "up front" to "all around"?

 

My car has Sprints. It is a little lower in the front than the back. Probably about a .5" difference. I like the way it looks. Also, theoretically, having the back a little higher will reduce understeer as well. You can check the pics link in my sig to see. My car has settled a little since I took those though.

 

 

Meaning, do different springs up front and in back make for a strange combination? I'd think that the difference COULD be felt if the fronts and rears had different compression characteristics, and could cause the car to see-saw or shake when recovering from bumpy terrain.

 

The only reason why the suspension wasn't all put in at the same time was that my friend and i didn't have the time to do it. I can tell you that driving with Sprint & Koni in the front and the stock setup in the rear felt really awkward. Going around corners felt uncomfortable because it felt like the rear wasn't planted as much (lower center of gravity?) Also, on the highway, when I would hit imperfections in the road, the front would absorb them much better and passengers in the car could tell that the rear suspension was not as controlled (in terms of dampening). I haven't heard of anyone mixing and matching spring heights without using a coilover system. I think someone using coilover would have a better idea of how the ride feels with differnt spring heights.

 

Thanks, Nick. That's exactly what I was afraid of. Oh well. I was hoping for an inexpensive way out, but more often than not you really do get what you pay for.

 

nm

 

hahaha... what i meant to say is "what ride!?!?!? there is NOT going to be any ride!" You would have completely difference handling characteristics on the two ends. I suppose the setup would let you "swing the tail out" a little more around corners, and that definitely would be fun on an autocross. When it comes to everyday driving, you would only feel insecured about unstable tail.

Just a side note, I took my car (Sprint springs) on a BMW tour past weekend and drove through the curvy roads of the Hill Country in Central Texas. I matched the Bimmers (540's, 330's, 328's, and Z3's) and flew around the corners at 80MPH to 120MPH. I cannot keep up with the 540's in straight-line acceleration, nor can I keep up with the M3's with P-Zeros around the corners, but I am definitely not complaining!

Bimmers are known to be some of the best handling cars on the market, and being able to keep up with them (80% of them at least) says a lot about the Maxima.

Wish you guys could have seen the fully-modded supercharged 318TI (the little hatchback)..... Boy! That thing FLEW!

 

How's the ride with the Tokicos and Sprints. My car is lowered with cut stock springs and I definately need to change that. So I am thinking about Sprints, but I don't want the wife complaining about aching kidneys or anything.