Albertt

First off, the handling improvement is quite significant. There is a definite reduction in body roll and steering response. It seems that the limiting factor now is the tires, my Continental CH95s are touring all season tires.

The ride...a of course is more harsh over bumps. With the damper settings at 2 and 4 (front and rear, respectively), the car seems to bounce much. My drive on most weekends from Hartford to NYC is more dramatic, I feel every dip and wave on the road surface. A friend of mine suggested I wait for the installation to settle, get an alignment and to adjust the struts to a lighter setting. He told me that this might improve the ride compliance, BUT in turn would cause large deflections due to road imperfections to be more severe. Anyone have any thoughts on this? Has anyone here ever lightened their damping settings...on 1 and 2 for example?

Finally, suspension noise; I had the wire wrap put on the coils, replaced rubber hardware and strut bearings in the front. The installer used synthetic grease on all contacting parts as well. When I travel over speed bumps (slowly - in parking lots and such) the rear suspension seems to squeak ONCE as the rear wheel come down off of the speed bump. Is this normal? As for the front, when at extremely slow speed, or at idle, turning the steering lock to lock produces a slight clunking or knocking sound. Any ideas on what this could be. I was under the assumption that new strut bearings would prevent this problem.

Sorry to have brought this topic up again, but I thought that I might share my experience.

Thanks
AL

njmaxseltd

iTrader: (19)

Did you go from stock struts and shocks to AGX's/H&R? Or were you on the AGX's on stock springs first?

I'm on AGX's with stock springs, H&R's will be going in this coming weekend. The AGX is a very firm strut. Thats probably what your feeling the most. They ride totally different then stock bangers. Most of the actual ride comes from your struts and shocks. The spring absorbes the shock, transmitts it into the strut/shock where it is dampened out. The shock absorber does just that, absorbs the shock the spring encounters so you get no oscilations(sp?) after you pass over it.

Give the springs some time to setup and break in. They do become a bit softer after a few weeks, but your ride height should stay about the same.

Albertt

I went from stock struts and springs to the H&R/AGX combo.

Really? From your pic, it looks like you have lowered the car as well.

Since you say that the AGX are firm...what do you think about turning the damping rate down...to "soften" them up?

Kevin

In that picture the car is actually lowered with H&R's.

I'm getting H&R's next week or so and sticking to Tok blues. From what I've heard the is still pretty harsh even on the soft setting.

Kevin

rmb

I did that same setup about 1 month ago. Of course it's going to ride harder..

As far as different settings, play around with them. That's why you got AGX's so you can adjust them. It takes less than 5 minutes to change them all. The only problem I've found was with the highest setting (8) in the rear, I tend to get a little too much oversteer on less-than-perfect corners. Albeit I'm going way too fast too for safety as well....

I've also got the FSTB and Stillen RSB. The RSB I know from adjustments that you can really dial in oversteer. If you don't have one your experience may differ...

I ride 2/4 almost all the time and 4/6 when I want to really haul and will be paying attention....

I've got a little rear noise if I roll the windows down from the rear springs going over a sharp bump somewhat like you describe. Nothing bad, and it might have been that way with the stockers too... I never really listened before. I can't hear anything with the windows up.

I have no noise or clunking from the fronts. I wrapped the top half of my H&R's with 5/8" clear PVC tubing though rather than the wire wrap stuff.

-RMB

vin1024

I have the H+R/AGX setup. Here is an interesting data point. I have
been running 4/6 for a long time. Yesterday I softened the front up to
2 and the rear to 4. I have noticed a dramatic improvement in the cars cornering dynamics on the softer setting. Less tire howl. Can push much harder before the car starts to lose traction. Interesting. Anyone else notice this?

ericdwong

I'm running the KYB AGX with sprint springs on max stiff at 4 and 8 all the time. I like the "rides like a corvette" feeling. Anyway check the center nuts to make sure they are tight and not banging around. I did not grease or wrap anything, and used all the OEM parts and only replaced the dust boots and I do not have any noise problems.

DanNY

iTrader: (14)

they are tight

Albertt

If Dan says their tight, they're tight.

Albert: "What about the torque wrench?"
Dan: "What about it?!?"

Albertt

After thinking about what you just said, it makes sense. I think that by softening the suspension, you've allowed it to absorb the sideward loading, taking up slack off the amount of load required of the tires. I know that with RC cars, in order to keep them from sliding or traction rolling, we lighten up the shock oil.

xHypex

iTrader: (1)

Albertt I have B+G/AGX so it's similar to your H&R setup. I also have the "pop/clunck" from the fronts despite wrapping the springs. I have run lots of settings on my car, but I usually run 1/2 or 2/4 for everyday driving and 4/8 when I push the car. Lately I have left my shocks on 1/2 just because I do enjoy maintainng a nice ride.
I also seem to have an intermittent squeek from the drivers side strut when it compresses, especially on harder settings. I know aftermarket struts are usually noisier, but no one else ever really mentions this
-hype

njmaxseltd

iTrader: (19)

Albert and Kevin, yes my sig pic is my car on H&R's. Had some issues with them so I took them out. Long story........

The H&R's are going back in this coming weekend. The car just looks to damn good with those puppies in there. The drop is perfect.

Albert - Run with even settings and see how you like it. Try 1/1, 2/2 and them play from there. I find that if I keep the rear same as the front, the ride, stiff as it may be, becomes more smooth. Sounds crazy, but with the rears so tight, you feel a lot of bumps, loosen up just the rear a bit, and it really smooths things out a lot.
I'm running 2/2 usually around town. I drop to 1/2 or even 1/1 when I'm crusing on the highway for a nice smooth softer ride.

Like rmb said, play with them, they are adjustable ya know!

Albertt

Thank you again Dan.

Kevin

Hey Njmaxseltd,

So you'e getting the H&R's back? cool, I'm probably geting mine next week. So what is the ride quality of the H&R + AGX's in your opinion. You know how the roads are in NJ so I don't have to tell you about some of the ridiculous potholes out there. But my objective is to make the ride less harsh but keep as much handling as possible, and I'm debating whether to keep the Tok's and put on the H&R's or get a set of AGX's and put em in with the H&R's. Decisons, decisions...

Eric L.

I use 1/2 F/R settings on my AGX's on H&R's and I love the ride and handling.

MarcGXE95

A true test for youre suspension is driving hard on the roads in Québec. The stock shocks get a real beating here, high end components are the only hay to go.

But for now I'll still have to drive withe the stock/mushy+H&R set until reception of the AGX.

P.S. I used a aviation grade teflon tape for the upper and lower coils! Keep you posted on how it kep up for the last two years.

njmaxseltd

iTrader: (19)

You'll just have to come drive it for yourself and see.

StygianMax

iTrader: (8)

What's this type of teflon tape all about? Is it made to take an exceptioal amount of abuse? Any details you can provide? Thanks in advance.

Albertt

Read all about teflon here. It's got a low coefficient of friction (static and dynamic) and is a relatively tough material in bulk.

StygianMax

iTrader: (8)

Hey Albertt, neat site. There's a lot of intersting info there!

I'm still interested in finding out specifically about the aviation-grade stuff that Marc was referring to wrap his springs.

Albertt

I think marc might have used this.

or maybe something like

this.

Albertt

How long have you had the spring and strut setup? Has the pop/clunk become louder over time? I noticed that it pop/clunks near the end of travel for the steering. The first full turn of the wheel does not seem to produce this noise...

pro

Hi,
All I will be getting are springs that will lower the car 2". I will not be getting the struts and I have no other suspension mods installed. Does anybody see any problems with this set up?
Thanks,
Paul

Albertt

Your OE struts won't last too long with aftermarket springs.

pro

Well then maybe I will get these, I just don't like the idea of paying $300 for a suspension mod because I only race on a straight track and turning is almost never involved.
Thanks,
Paul

xHypex

iTrader: (1)

Albert I've had the popping since I first installed the shocks and springs and it hasn't gotten any worse. From stop to stop I get about ~4-5 pops (that's just off the top of my head).
The strangest thing is that if I let the car sit for a few days there is NO popping for a brief period on the first time I drive the car again. Then as I drive the car during the day the popping will return again. exhip95 has had the same symptoms that I have, but I never asked him about what happens when he lets the car sit for a few days. I think I'm the only person to report intermittent popping, but then again most people drive their car everyday. My car usually sits for almost a week at a time and is driven on weekends during the year.
-hype

Albertt

...that I don't believe it has to do with wrapping the coils. The crunching sound some have heard with suspension deflection is related to the coils contacting each other, but it seems as though this popping sound has more to do with the rotation of the entire spring. Why would coils contact each other if the spring were simply turning? Assuming proper installation of a working strut bearing, do you have any ideas on what the popping could be?

I know I'm really beating this topic to death, but the noise, as insignificant as it sounds, bothers me.

xHypex

iTrader: (1)

The noise bothers me as well. After researching and speaking with people who have the same setup as I do, I can only conclude that either the KYB front mounts make the noise, or the springs are seated incorrectly (which may be related to the mounts). I installed the springs with the help of another Maxima owner who has done springs before. We checked everything and I even wrapped the springs so there should be no noise. I reused the isolator bushings, but they were in good shape. The reason I blame the front strut mounts so much is because both myself and exhip95 have the mounts and the noise. Another member (whose name eludes me... starts with an a) also had the noise with KYB mounts. He replaced the KYB mounts with OEM mounts and his problems went away. There are very few members who have KYB mounts (which isn't very many to begin with) who don't have noise as far as I know.
-hype

Albertt

By strut mounts, I assume you refer to the round steel plates with the three studs pressed into them? In my case, the strut mounts are the OE parts, which looked in good enough condition and were reused in my install. I changed the strut bearings and dust boot/bumpstops (OE parts as well) with the install.