My max seems to ride cushy yet hard. If I hit bumps/holes/uneven pavement...you know you just went over something (ie hard unforgiving ride). Yet, if there is a depression or wavey pavement the car seems to ride more like a Buick. What I mean is the nose will come up then down and then settle or the reverse. I have a GLE (101500 miles) with the stock springs and Tokico blue struts with about 45K on them. My mechanic says the shock are fine. Could this be a spring issue or am in in need of shocks or both?

 

I am sure the shocks are fine in the fact that they will pass inspection. After all, there are tons of buicks passing inspection. However, I am sure the shocks have had their better days.

My suggestion -> get some koni's and replace you bushings.

Matt P

 

Please check your tire pressures. Over-inflation can make a surprising difference in ride quality.

Springs are responsible for suspension compression; shocks are responsible for controlling the rebound. Therefore your springs are suspect #1. If you have a friend with a 4Gen Maxima you could make an experiment. Park side by side in a level parking lot. With both cars empty, measure the distance from the rocker panel to the ground at the leading and trailing edges of both rocker panels. Then put four hefty guys into your car and make the same measurements. Put the same four hefty guys into the other car and repeat the measurements.

If four passengers make your car sink noticeably more than your friend's car, you have weak springs.

To be sure of an apples to apples comparison both cars should be GXE or GLE models. SEs have stiffer springs.

 

Struts/shocks have both compression and rebound dampening. The rebound dapmening rate is usually much higher. From your description, nose bobs, the front struts are weak. A static test, like pushing down on the bumper is pretty useless.

 

You are right. My description was simplified, and perhaps oversimplified. Do you agree, or disagree, that 95Max has weak springs?

 

Daniel

As always thanks. The tire pressure is at 29 (per sticker on car). My friends that have Maximas have theirs lowered. Any other ideas how to tell if springs are getting weak? Would measuring the height of the car with a full tank of gas vs close to empty tell anything?

 

The springs are probably ok. This is the second set of struts in 100k miles, so the springs were probably never overstressed because of bad struts. The simplest direct measurement would be the spring's free length. (My older Nissan FSMs give this spec.) If it's still within spec, it's not weak. You do have to take the strut apart to measure it, but you have to do it when replacing the struts anyway. More than a half cycle of ringing, after a dip, indicates weak dampining.

 

Not really. I was looking for a Car A vs Car B comparison.

Mr. B. Rubenstein, whose opinion is respected, thinks the problem may be your struts. He may be right. I figured the suggested ride height measurements would give us some real numbers to work with. The description of "hard ride" is subjective. One driver's idea of "hard ride" is another's idea of "just right". That's why I was looking for an objective measurement such as ride height, loaded and unloaded. That would isolate spring behavior from strut behavior.

Is there evidence of leakage from your struts? Minor leakage is acceptable but any strut which has lost a lot of "blood" can't be working right anymore.

 

Struts are not leaking. Hard ride is similar to my friends Firebird with his shucks (adj shocks) turned to the race setting.

 

Hello "95MAX" --

I agree with D.B. Martin -- Buy some KONIs

Tokikos are notoriously weak on rebound strength -- even when they are new -- It is not a problem per se, but that is how they are designed --

Rebound is what keeps your tire on the ground on less smooth surfaces -- Weak rebound can lead to the "cushy handling -hard ride" scenario you have --

The "hard ride" you describe -- I suspect that is the tires leaving contact with the ground and reimpacting the ground --It is not a pleasant ride effect and is also fairly noisy too --

So for everything except deep potholes, a set of struts/shocks with good rebound will can
likely be more comfortable and quieter riding --

And of course, you'll get less squat, dive, and roll --

A set of adjustable KONIs in the full soft settings is probably still better than OEM Tokikos "blues" --


Also, unsprung weight of the wheels and tires is what the rebound stroke on the strut has to work against to keep the tires planted to the road -- Heavy aftermarket wheels and tires can make the same effects described above --

Of course, the compression stroke of the strut is just as important as the rebound stroke -- The adjustment on the KONIs only affect the rebound stroke -- For coilovers, softening the compression stroke is done by raising the height of the car -- A soft compression is what lets the tire quickly "ride over" the road irregularity while minimizing movement of the car body itself --
and the strong rebound is what ensures that the tire stays planted on "terra firma" --

If you have your car slammed super low, just forget about ride quality -- it won't happen

The rebound:compression damping ratios are about 2-3:1 for most struts -- I suspect Tokikos are 1:1 --

Strut compression stroke "firmness" can be determined by the rate of the springs on the susupesion and the strut stroke length -- Unsprung weight and spring rate work against the strut on the compression stroke --


my two cents worth -- hope I'm fairly correct about everything

 

Thanks, for all the info everyone. Sounds like I need new struts. So do I replace them now or wait for the KYB AGX to come out end of summer?

Also I measured the rear height of the car with 1/4 tank of gas vs full the diff is 5/16 is this alot?

Thanks

 

I have similar "hard ride" problems with my 97 GLE (32K). I have tried getting the tires rebalanced and rotated. Dropped the tire pressure per D. Martin's suggestion (a bit better), but when I encounter anything besides a very smooth road, get ready to "rock and roll" (literally!). The vehicle is "very" unstable under these conditions. You feel just about every grove, crack, ripple in the road. I have read other reviews (at different sites) that this is what to be expected when driving a Maxima. Even "Test Drive" states that the ride in the Maxima is a bit harsh and unstable at times. Just get used to it I guess.