Review of Vogtland and GR2's
 

I thought I'd quickly post some opinions on the Vogtland lowering springs and KYB GR2 struts I picked up off of E-bay for my 1999 ES with 137k kms.

First, they arrived without issue, on time and as advertised. Seller was jdmwerks.

Second, they went in pretty easily. The Vogtland springs barely needed a spring compressor as they have a very short free height. As I've heard elsewhere, the weight of the car bottoms out the first couple of coil rings, which had me worried.

Visual impressions: Ya, its a bit lower, but not that noticeable unless you park next to a stock Maxima. Its still settling, but a day later the front dropped maybe an inch and the back maybe 3/4". I don't think it'll settle to the 1.4" they describe.

Driving impressions: Much better ride than I expected. Not harsh at all, just more of a sports car ride. Cornering is very flat. I haven't bottomed them out yet, and I never bothered to trim the bumpstops.

Overall, I'm pretty pleased. I didn't want a lowrider and nobody would guess the car is lowered unless they knew Maximas. The ride is vastly improved and the complete setup was easy to install and fairly cheap.

If your struts have seen better days, and you want to eliminate that 4X4 look, this seems to be an affordable fix.

Richard

Nice little review! do you have pics of the look. That would really help.

yeah very imformative
glad to hear the easy install

:worthless

Haha, I took a couple before and after pics but the car was so filthy I was too ashamed to post them! I figured the thread would get hijacked to one about "lack of pride of ownership" or such!

I washed the car since and will try to get a decent pic up soon. But really, it didn't drop that much.

Just so you know I'm not quitter....I did eventually take some pics, get a photobucket account, and hopefully learn how to put up a picture.....

http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/k...a/IMG_0832.jpg

Just an FYI, dirty cars dont mean lack of pride of ownership...just check out the dirty car picture thread in Other Cars.


Can we get some side shots? Also, can you measure the distance from the peak of the (front) wheel well to the ground?

Damn Droz, I am jealous... 3 car garage.

Nice look and enjoy those springs. Starting to think about the rear sway bar?

Actually I am! Now that I can corner with all 4 wheels staying on the ground, I can really notice the body flex. Seems wrong to twist up the old beast on the ramps. I'd hate to pop the windshield or something! :laugh:

I was thinking about one of those strut tower braces first though.

It'd be kind of silly though, to start adding parts just for the Henday/Whitemud off-ramp!

yea i got the vogtland springs now with blues.... Its ok.. But im going with coil overs now.

Have any side shots?

maybe, but the first time that you take that off-ramp at 10km/hr or so more than you used to.... the smile just doesn't end. :)
If you want, shoot me a message and I'll let you take mine for a little drive. You can drive a 5 speed. right? Addco rsb equipped, fstb, poly bushings for the front sway bar etc.
lmk.
/jasen

All I have are these "dirty" pics. (I took off the winter rims and tires at the same time.)

http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/k...ma/Before1.jpg

http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/k...ima/After1.jpg

I tried to take the pic from the same spot, but they don't quite match. :(

Droz.... found this in the canadian f/s section
http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=560443
he's got a rsb for sale if your interested......

Is the second picture off or are the springs saggy in the rear...anyways you said these pictures are right after install. After 6 mnths or some mileage I would like to see how the stance turns out. Not bad right now....

some serious dirt. the drop looks fine though.Nice.

For the guy who asked, the distance to the highest part of the wheel well measures 26.75" EXCEPT on the rear passenger, where its 27". No idea why that one is a bit higher.

Has P215 - 55 ZR 16 tires since that would affect those numbers.

From initial measurements, I got a 1-1/16" drop in front and a 1/2-3/4" drop in the back. Which is weird as to me it also looks like it needs more front drop to balance out!

The car has a 5spd.