lol. ive had these for quite a while. these are gonna stay... hopefully..
gonna be refinished in Volk white.

 

before i went to GC/Koni's i was running GC/Illuminas. the ride over flat roads was decent and handling department was pretty decent although when the roads got bad, the car got pretty dang bouncy and it didnt seem like the suspension was dampening the potholes etc. i had it set from 3 to 4 to 5 in the Illuminas on the GC's 450/350 rates. setting 3 was waay to soft. even on full stiff, the car just didnt feel right. the illuminas seemed too soft for the GC's. I only had one strut blow which was surprising but when i changed to Koni/GC, the car felt much better. you can actually feel the suspension working (ie the dampers dampening, the rebound/compression properly) there wasnt any jarring bounciness i found with the Illumina/GC setup. I know for how low i was on the Illuminas i was riding on the bumpstops the majority of the time.

ultimate decision: Koni Yellow and GC. everything else for the maxima in that price range is junk.

 

^^Which is why I am working my way towards that setup. Just takes time... ^^

Whatever happened to the 89548 spoke rims where the outer surface was aluminum but the 'walls' were black?

 

can you tell me any more about that. i thought of something like that when i saw the megans for 5th gen i said i wish they were for the 4th gen. the rears are the same? seems like the third hole drilled on the lower part of the front strut would be really clse to one of the original ones. safe? got any pics?
yeah i am def trying to dump it and fit my wheels. nothing crazy 17x8 +30 front/+23 rear.ksports arent looking too good right now really and i cant lower the teins too much. also i kinda want to keep my illuminas in one piece and either sell them or keep them for the winter months so im not too interested in the GC's either.
thanks for the first hand experience with the illumina/GC setup. i dont think im gonna do it. prob just gonna keep the illuminas for winter, id hate to ruin them theyre brand new. im still really feeling that whole, keeping suspension travel as you lower deal.

 

I'm on the same stage looking to lower my car..dont really want to spend too much because down here in toronto we get enough snow..I will probably just buy tien basic..would that be good for me?

 

Keep in mind :

Snow + lowering = problems. If you drive it in the winter, STRONGLY consider height adjustable springs, as said adjustments usually arent necessary for most applications unless your auto-xing. But if you drive it where there is snow you NEED to remember that you're gonna be driving a plow if you lower more than 1"

 

oh yeah the coilovers would be coming off for the winter, even before snowfall just because of the cold. ill be able to go through them and everything. i have a winter setup, i think thats one of the things that kills coilovers,riding them through the winter.

 

the tiens are definatly not an option at this point. as well as the GC/koni setup. i dont think the teins will be able to lower me enough as much as i would want. and even if they did the struts would blow it seems. thats not knocking on tein at all its just the design for these particular coilovers.

i dont really want to hack up my illuminas either and from what ive gathered from mr****s it can be done but its non comparable to the konis. id rather hold on to those and keep them with my s techs for a decent winter setup.

ive heard a lot of bad about k sport but thats also because the most people have them and your only gonna hear when people ***** about them, not when they are fune. the dampning adjustment range is a little overkill for me but its not a bad thing at all. i also like the camber plates up top.(do these things ever loosen up/make noise?). and the ability to keep full strut travel regardless of ride height. same thing for the D2s. that is really all you could ask for in a coilover, adjustment wise.

are they (ksport/D2) really that bad? what if i babied the car, maintained the suspension and took them off during the winter months? do you guys honestly think they would not hold up still?

for some reason im honestly really feeling the Nex coilovers. the price is right but i guess thats because of the lack of dampining and camber plates. but i kinda think about it like thats just less **** that could go wrong with them. im stuck with the dampning but the ride would have to be just as good or better than what im on now. and the handling i assume would be much better. im perfectly fine without the camberplates if it came down to it id adjust it with bolts. also they maintain strut travel no matter whatthe ride height it. i definatly need this feature in which ever set im gonna get.

im gonna look around about the 5th to 4th gen suspension swap.

 

If, your planning on slamming and tuckin some 17s, IMHO, you have no choice other than ksports, D2s, JICs. Unless you like riding on the bumpstops all the time.

I dont have any pics of the modded front strut but my buddy nax has been riding on 5th gen JICs for atleast a year and a half to 2 years with no problems what so ever. He's slammed on 19x9.5 up front and 20x10 in the rear. You can lean a car key on his front lip and side skirts and thats his daily ride height. I will tell you right now that the car is very comfortable.

I have pics of the car if you want.

 

I have the resources to do it, but none of the money...

blah blah bla icanlayframe blah blah blah youcant blah blah blah igetnewaxleseverymonth blah blah blah


You guys are killing me...

Can you just let me live in this dream world that I have the best possible suspension setup known to man? pretty please.

 

Have fun with that impractical idea.

Changing your coilovers every winter? Thats going to drive your pocketbook to the ground, and if you're doing it yourself, it'll drive you nuts.

As far as winter driving/cold hurting your coilovers? That's one of the most ridiculous things I've ever heared, makes no difference at all, you'd have to buy some REALLY, REALLY cheap crap for temperature to make any difference at all on there performance or reliability.

I'm not trying to flame anyone, but you're asking for advice, I'm giving it, and trying to help you see all the angles before your decision before you make it and regret it.

A bit of extra coin on adjustable springs > paying for or changing coilovers twice a year.

 

haha changing the suspension would literally take me one hour max using hand tools. ask anyone who cares about their coilovers if they rock them in the winter. it absolutly has a negative effect on them in many ways. i would laugh in your face because you know nothing about this...please stay out of my thread. if you have anything else to say pm me

 

Apparently some of you think lower is better

 

blah blah blah you can't lay frame blah blah blah stop lying blah blah blah i call bs blah blah blah

first of all there is no frame. second of all air over coils with notched/tubbed frame rails and rear wheel wells only laid exhaust. pics or it didn't happen.



i tend to agree with this statement, but my opinion is not based on fact so i won't say too much about it.

it makes sense that with a cheap coilover prone to seal issues cold/salt couldn't help any but then again they blow straight out of the box sometimes.

i think the process of elimination has left you with d2's being the best choice in this scenario.

 

OMG.... can you let a brotha dream for a little? Always gotta get technical with it. lol (not sure if you noticed the sarcasm)

on a serious note though. The height range of these coilovers are crazy. Even sitting as low as i am right now, I can still go down another 2 inches at the very least. Not taking into account the limitation factors that were already stated previously of course.

 

It's not?

 

sarcasm > me

use a smiley next time fool.

ascetically lower is far superior to not lower (imo). as long as you can get over the fact that your maxima will no longer be the best handling car on the planet (that's how you do sarcasm) then yes, lower is better.

 

trying to mimic sarcasm in text format > me :

 

A good amount here also think that being slammed is the only way yet forgetting about suspension geometry

 

who says anyone forgot about it? personally i just don't care.

the same way a performance oriented builder may overlook some cosmetics in favor of function, someone going for looks may give up a little performance. different strokes...

 

I disagree with your choice of the word "optimized". As someone mentioned already, it's not just a simple matter of optimizing the existing setup; it involves customizing parts (ball joints etc.) to get the proper geometry back. So it's no minor consideration.

Regarding aesthetics, I was referring specifically to the 4th gen Maxima but any car will look bad if the wheels are tucked up too high (e.g. frame resting on the ground haha). 4" drop IMO is too much for a 4th gen body. With 20" rims the wheelgap might look perfect at the top but because of the wheel well design there will be relatively huge gaps at the 3 and 9 o'clock positions, which IMO looks terrible. However, feel free to support your opinion with a photo of your I30 since I can't see your wheelgap well in your avatar.

OIC. I certainly agree there. By the way, can you or someone throw me a link to the write-up of your GC/Koni/Eibach assembly? I haven't been on the Org much lately.

EDIT: 4,444th post FTW!!!!

 

Definition of ascetic: pertaining to or characteristic of an ascetic or the practice of rigorous self-discipline; "ascetic practices"

 

i would go with the GC's and shortened konis..ive had ksports on my max for a little over a year and a half..it rides ok..no blown struts and its survived the cold weather in tennessee and made it thrugh the rough roads in SC..but do your research before you buy...get what best suits your needs

 

theres no point in optimizing the suspension on a 4th gen (fwd,heavy, rear beam...ect.) IMO for DD. so i wouldnt mind not maintaining effective suspension geometry. im looking to dump the car, chew through fender liners, destroy front lips and eat axles...all that good stuff.

the struts need to survive with the car being slammed so its between D2 and Nex. im probably gonna get the d2 because of the camber plates and dampning adjustments but ill have to see if Nex can change spring rates and stuff.

any more help is appreciated...thanks

 

4th gens aren't heavy cars unless your standard is a Civic or something.

 

werd. pretty light for its size.

 

yea i have room to go lower. however if i did the front bumper would be sittin on the floor. i am in the middle of a big project and will be dropping it lower in the next few weeks.

 

wow. i was way off on that one. for the record i meant aesthetic, but we already knew that.

---

on another note. i saw a non-maxima related koni insert write up that got me to thinking.

the theory is to use a shorter overall insert to achieve full travel at drop. i started thinking how this would apply to a maxima suspension which led me to do some research.

apparently the 3rd gen inserts are significantly shorter, to the point where the couple guys who have tried it ran into problems because they were running them within the confines of "the 2" rule" for performance reasons and topping them out. you are also not limited to maxima applications (the write up i saw was using wrx inserts on a q45).

i think 3rd gen or other short inserts with an extreme ground control drop might be a viable option as far as slamming a maxima using quality parts on a budget. for around the same as cheap taiwanese coilovers you could have a much better suspension.

the (not so) short coming would be there are still no camber plates, but in all honesty they don't do much on an a32. nothing that couldn't be accomplished with camber bolts anyway.

i know i'm kind of changing my story here, but a little bit more insight has changed my outlook on it.

 

I completely agree with you there with optimizing the setup. Which is why, for what I use my car for, it's not worth it. (even though I brought it up )

As far as the wheel being tucked, i personally dont like that look. I prefer for the tire to be completely tucked with the rim as close the the fender as possible. And by the way, what's wheel gap? lol


More Pics of my car here: http://forums.maxima.org/members-rid...l1-01-i30.html

The sides are painted now. I'll try to get more pictures, but it's been raining non stop so the car will be dirty.

As far as a 4th gen goes. This one is pretty much as low as me.


19s in the front and 20s in the back.

 

Honestly, with the correct tire choice, you wont chew the fender liners. My passenger side is gone just because It was sagging from a previous miss hap so I just removed it. Driver side is good.

As far as destroying front lips go... get urathane. (spelling?)

Axles? get the life time warranty axles from advance auto. They last for a while considering the height. And when they go bad, take them back and walk out with 2 new ones.

The 4th gen I posted in my previous post got rid of your same bumper and went with the 97-99 bumper with the stillen lip because he couldnt go lower.

 

now do it on 17s and really be low.

 

Nice ride, essential. The rims are beautiful. But IMO your car would look much better if you were raised an inch and had 1" smaller rims. Ya call me crazy, but to each his own. However, the low drop is aggressive looking and I'd certainly turn my head if your car drove by.

That 4th gen doesn't look bad but I suspect at least the rears have a greater-than-stock overall tire diameter, which changes everything because it fills the wheel well more.

Not feeling the Q; if you're going to be that low you need bigger rims. Also those rims look like they belong on a Rolls....

 

ha ha. that's what they keep telling me. already got my eye on my next 2 sets of 17s...

and actually they belong on a q. period correct (old school) impul's (nissan factory tuner) designed specifically for this chassis.

we can talk a32s also...



factory 1/4 on 17s



19s w/ radiused 1/4s

unfortunately this one never lived to see the outside world. r.i.p.

 

I would say k sport cause they are good for my daily driving and also I had a uestion on how do u roll your fenders?

 

tempting... Oh so tempting...

How about I throw on my stock 16" and snap a pic?

Thanks for the complment. I'll take your advice and raise it an inch... After I drop it 2" more. lol. I see what you mean. But I just love when I'm walking back to my car and hear people saying things like "this has to be on bags/hydrolics" or "watch him raise it before he drives of". Then when they see me take a steep decline at a crazy angle just to get out of the plaza all I see is . lol.

The tire size in the rear for the 4th gen is 235/35/20. (wheels are 20x10)Which is just a tad bit larger than the stock overall diameter if i'm not mistaken. (i'm more familiar with 5th gen tire sizing).

 

Get a fender rolling tool (google) and heat your fenders while you roll them so the paint doesnt chip.

Or you can be ghetto like me and use a jack handle or baseball bat. If you dont mind minor paint chips on the inside

 

do it!



this angle please.

but anyways... i think we kinda took over this thread. sorry op.

 

D2's this will be my 5th summer with them, no issues, I take them off for the winter season...

 

Dude, that is excellent! There must be a few driveways you just can't make it up, though. We have so many steep ones around here and I get nervous even angling up them with a 1.8" drop (although I have an LTB which reduces my clearance a lot). And I guarantee your car would not survive the roads up here. One of the city's main thoroughfares had frost heaves so bad this winter they had to put up "Rough Road" signs. It was ridiculous.

Stock OD is about 25.3 inches. 235/35/20 is more than an inch bigger (26.5"), so that explains it.

 

im kinda stuck with my tire choice, i have 245/40/17. i know thats fine in the back but would probably rub at a certain point in the front. the wheels are 8" +30 Front, and +23 Rear. nothing crazy but a decent little poke all the way around. even though the poly lip would have been nice i liked the ID one better and it has held up well.

in for pics with teh stock wheels
good to know... thats probably going to go with.