Ok so my suspension is pretty worn out, my strut bearings are bad, my spring insulators are tore up, my strut rod boots are torn and loose, ect... My suspension is all stock.

So I am buying Tokico Illuminas - I know that much.

What I need help with is trying to figure out what else I should buy with the struts so I can do a complete and thourough strut replacement.

So I need bearings, are they the same part # for the fronts and rears?

I know I need 4 spring insulators for the front, but I am not sure how many for the rear. Also, I don't know any of the part numbers of any of these parts, I want to get as much OEM as possible.

I know I need strut insulators (the orange gasket looking thing), but I don't know the part numbers, or how many I need.

I need strut boots, but I hear that OEM strut boots don't fit. Is that true? Do I use the Miata and Mustang strut boots with the Illuminas? Also, the bump stop, do I need to do any modification with this?

By now I suppose you are seeing how confused I am about something so seemingly easy, but I want to do this right and since I cant search on this site I just have to browse around and see if I get lucky, that is not easy for me.

If anybody can help me out here, I'm sure this will not only help me very much but it should also be great for the archives.

Thanks in advance guys!

-Jesse

 

shazam! http://www.kcmaximas.org/tech/suspension/index.html
just replace the worn out stuff, unless you want a compleatly new set up.

 

SHAZAM! lol That was pretty much everything I needed!

So, another question, those orange strut seals/spacers, do they need to be replaced every time you change your struts?
rear seal:
http://www.kcmaximas.org/tech/suspen.../061002-04.jpg
front spacer:
http://www.kcmaximas.org/tech/suspen.../061002-06.jpg

I just want to make sure so when it comes down to installing them I have all the parts I need!
This is what I have so far, can you tell me if I need anything else?

 

I made my own from a sheet of gasket material. The stock rear ones do seal the trunk/rear seats from dirt and water. They end up shrinking and leaks occur. Pull back the trunk trim and have a look.

(disreguard the strut bar mount) You can see the seal is ruined.

Again its oval shaped from age. The ones I made will not fail. They are full circles. I am not running ones up front with no ill effects. If yours are in the correct shape and there are no leaks in the trunk then you may not need them. But they can stick to the mounts and rip if you arent carefull. IMO they are way over priced. The sheet of gasket material is enough for many gaskets and is much cheaper.

Tokico Illuminas come with bushings for the rear (if you buy them new): 56217-61L10 and 56218-61L10. So no need to buy them.

 

Thanks JSutter!

One more thing, what about the dust boots? Can I use OEM-style boots on Illuminas or do I need to use boots for the Miata and Mustang (I heard that on this forum somewhere...)?

BTW, my rear seals (the orange gasket thing) seem to be in good condition and seems to be aligned with the mount. I'll recheck them when I take it off. Then i'll get some of that gasket material and cut my own gaskets - that's a great idea.

 

Bump. Can someone help me with the boot question? Thanks

 

The original struts are Tokico, so the boots will fit. The OEM boots fit all struts. Some have had issues with putting the KYB boots on the Tokicos. I had KYB boots but they ripped. Go with stock boots, preferably from the SE model. They have a softer, removeable, and trimmable bump stop.

 

Ok, so I got all the parts from Courtesy Nissan. Total: $355.85
I also got the Tokico Illuminas from PerformancePeddler. Total" $408.00

Grand total: $763.85 !

Being a suspension newb, probably buying much more than I needed....Priceless. There are some things money cant buy, but for everything else there is Maxima.org /Corny

Thanks JSutter...the only person who helped...

Now I just need to get them installed! 2 cases of beer...$25.87....1 DUI and 2 failure to yields....J/K

 

Good to hear that someone was able to help you with your suspension.
Hope everything works out with your new suspension.
Jon Sutter, also helped with questions I had about my suspension.
So, I guess Jon is the one to talk too about suspensions!



Geo T.

What springs are you putting on?
I decided to go with Tokico/Progress.