I got my install finished this afternoon. Wow! Just WOW. I had 11 year old OE GLE suspension and I'd never had any problems until recently when I started getting an odd noise from somewhere in the rear right. I figured it was a very good excuse to get the buy in form the Mrs. for the expense of new suspension. Using the various posts in the 4TH Gen. forums and the complete writeup at VQPower.com it was pretty straightforward and every detail that I needed as a first timer was included. I even found that I didn't need to buy the rear strut bumpstops (after I'd already purchased them! ) because that hardware comes with the Illumina rear shocks. I probably didn't need the front strut mounts either but since I had bought them, in they went. It took me the better part of a day because I had to go get a spring compressor, torque wrench, and another tool that I couldn't find but it was well worth the time and effort spent. I used the most common settings that I found recommended in the forums (2 in front, 3 in rear). I was expecting the ride to be very harsh compared to the OE GLE suspension. Not at all. It was very difficult to tell any drop off in ride quality at all. The only place it seemed slightly harsh was the worst of potholes, but then my suspension had almost 200K on it so they were pretty jarring already. But as far as handling, it was night and day. NO body roll at all (I already have a FSTB which helped a lot). This setup completely cut out nosedive under panic braking and rear end squat under full acceleration. Body roll was not noticeable at all; I can't imagine how it could be any better when I add front and rear anti-roll bars. As far as those who've posted about noises, I followed all of the recommendations to prevent that. I reused the isolator sleeve from the bottom of all 4 OE springs because they weren't in bad shape. I also spent $3.49 at Radio Shack and bought 10' of helix cut wire wrap and wrapped the top 2 1/2 coils of each spring and the bottom 1 1/2 form where the sleeve stopped. Not the slightest, clunk, creak, scrape, or groan noises were noticed on my lengthy test drives. It's not quite an F1 car, but considering how it was before it feels pretty damn close. Much thanks to everyone on the .org who have done various writeups, comments, and research on how to fix/prevent problems with this setup.

 

Good to hear! Glad the ride is not worse than before. I'm hoping to get Illuminas and h-techs soon but I'm somewhat afraid of it just because I'm unaware of all the other stuff I need. Strut mounts, bumpstops, boots....I just dont know much about suspension so Im afraid to get springs and struts without knowing what else I actually need to replace and how hard it would be to install. Any thoughts that could help me out?

 

Congrats man. Its gotta be a good feeling to put in the work and have some kick *** results

 

man now im gonna have to spend some money... u guys suck

 

any pics????

 

That setup makes for a great riding Maxima.

 

The results are worth far, far more than the cost IMO. No pics yet until I let the springs settle for about a week, get my new wheels mounted, and get an alignment. I didn't take any "before" pics or pics of the install as I did it. Hopefully next week or so I'll post up som of how she looks now.

 

mines lower
trunks be poppin
drops be droppin down in houston

 

O why did you go with Illumina's rather than, let's say, AGX or Koni?

 

AGX's are hard as hell and I can't speak on the Konis. Illuminas are stiff but allow the spring to actually do it's job keeping the ride controlled.

 

Another option on a mild drop like H&R is the Tokicko HP (saves money).

Illuminas are butter on H&Rs, though. All depends on what you want to spend.

 

Nice post and nice choice. I have the same setup but unfortuantely I was not as complete as you on the part replacement, hence the mechanical symphony eminating from my trunk. What are you set on for ride stiffness?

Enjoy!

 

I just swapped in eibachs & illuminas. The ride is not too bad, though notably stiffer, then again my stock shocks were badly worn after 270k miles I've been experimenting with the settings so far:
1fr & 1 rear is too springy
2fr & 2 rear is not bad, but occupants still complain of bounciness.
I will try 3fr & 4 rear, this may be get rid of of the bounciness but with the added stiffness penalty.