One of the reasons I've hesitated to lower my Maxima is the problem with squeaks and rattles. Even after I took the Squeaks and Rattles TSB to my dealer and had them install felt tape in my dash, glove box and A-pillars, there's still plenty of squeaks and rattles left. My question is, if I lower my car, are they going to get worse?

 

not really...
it makes your car ride stiff but i wouldn't say that it's to a point where your whole car shakes loose...unless u opt for a coilovers...

 

I agree that it's not going to get that bad. You won't notice the rattle when you go over potholes because the *CLUNK CLUNK CLUNK* will grab your attention instead.

If you're picky about squeaks, rattles, and other annoyances, I don't suggest lowering your car.

 

I'm not sure if it rattles and sqeeks because of my springs (eibach) but mine sounds like an all out orchestra.

 

Hopefully not the 1812 Overture!

 

Where can I find TSBs, the 'squeaks and rattles' in particular?

 

Look here for the squeak and rattle information: http://www.fourthrock.com/maxima/issues/issues.html

 

I put some 18" rims with some 240/45 tires on my 00 se. What would be the best springs to use in order to drop my car. I not looking to make it too low, just enough to fill up the wheel well. Is it possible to drop a car with a meatly tire like the 240/45? When I bought the rims the salesman recommended the 235/40, but I decided against them because by the looks of it, I would be riding on nothing but wheel. My main goal is to drop the car about 1.5in in the front, the back end seems ok to me as is. Is there a way for me to do that and if so would ya'll recommend it?

Thanks
KMK

 

I also have 18" rims and I use the eibach springs. It lowered the car, and took up the wheel well gap. I don't have any problem with squeaks and rattles, just like kev said when you hit a pothole or something it goes clunk clunk. But 18's with eibach is a very nice combination. I highly recommend it.

 

Do you ever bottom out your shocks on the bump stops? Do you ever scrape when making sharp turns? What is the OFFSET of your rims? What series tires(35/40/50)? I'm getting Prokits and I'm deciding whether or not to get 18x8's. How big can I go? I don't want to shred tires or damage anything though.

 

kmk786...you should have listened to the salesman...your overall wheel dimentions are quite a bit bigger than the stock dimentions which means that you speedometer is off (by your setup i'd say it is probably off by about 4 mph)...with 18s, you should get 40 series tires unless you go really wide in which case you should get 35 series tires...you say that you didn't like the fact that you would be riding on nothing but the wheel, but the fact of the matter is that smaller tire equals better performance...wider is better and smaller series tire is better...just FYI...what kind of 18s did you get? post some pics, i'd love to see them

 

From my experiences I do believe that the hard clunk clunk you hear is the car bottoming out on the bump stops, but to get that you really have to hit a pothole or something that you shouldn't have hit. I didn't change the offset on my tires. I am currently running 40 series and I do believe that you could go with the 18x8 and be ok. I mean that is only a half an inch difference in width from what I have. That shouldn't make to much of a difference. I just ordered the tokico shocks and they should be in this week, so I can't wait to see what kind of difference they make. Considering they are made to fit with the eibach springs nicely. Hope I could help!!

 

Thanks for all the replies,

I put a set of 18x8.5 Niche Spitfires and they are wrapped in 245/40 Kumho's and not 240/45 as mentioned in my earlier post. Tires don't scrape and I haven't bottomed out the car thus far, but I have only had the setup for about a week and a half.

NVMYMAX2 - Thanks for you input, I'm seriouly considering going with eibach springs, but wanted to know which one had more of a drop eibach or HR? Let us know how the new shocks work out.

IceY2K1 - You should be just fine with 18x8 and prokits, how soon are you planning on getting everything?

Mr. Burner - Your right I should have listened to the salesman, but I guess that I have made my bed and now must lie in it, until it's time to get some new tires. My question to you is with the height of my tire being 245, would the car bottom out or scrape with the springs on it?

Give me a little while to get the pictures together, until then here is the link to rims that I put on.

http://www.nicheroadwheels.com/html/spitfire_1.html

Thanks
KMK

 

245/45/18s are fine...it may be off by little, but it's still ok..as long as your off-sets are good, your ok to go!

i've never bottomed out with my car, but..i do get the 'clunk' sounds occasionally from my suspension especially from my rear...but, hey, what the heck, i didn't lower my car to ***** about all the sound it makes!

 

Exactly... don't expect a quiet ride once you lower your car. The clunking noise is not from bottoming out.

 

What would all the noise be from then? I am considering lowering my GXE as well and with all the complaints about noise it makes me want to reconsider.

 

Thanks guys. I'm convinced. I definitely don't need clunking on top of buzzing, rattling, and squeaking. Enough is enough!

 

DAMNNNNN! Those are sick, I mean nice, very nice. I'm not too sure when I'll actually buy my rims and tires, since I've started looking but haven't seen what I want yet. It's going to take me a LONG time to finally decide on what look I'm going for. So far, I've just been deciding what I don't like. Please post a pic of those on your car with the Prokits PLEASE. Also, if I read your correction correctly you have 245/40-series tires. If this is correct, the 245 is the WIDTH dimension that determines the footprint of the tire and covers the 8-inch part of the rim. Where as the 40-series measurement of the tire is the HEIGHT(diameter). So, you would want to go 35-series for a smaller overall wheel diameter(more clearance) or 45+ series for a bigger diameter(less clearance).

 

In regards to lowering my car. I had a chance to visit a local performance shop yesterday and inquired about putting some Eibach springs on it. I mentioned to the gentleman that I wanted to get a cleaner look than stock without sacrificing the ride of the car. We both looked at the car and he suggested that I just put the springs in the front and not the back. The reason for that is the back fender is cut lower than the front and with the 18" rims the back wheel well fills out great. However the front of the car looks like a 4x4. I wanted to find out has anyone here just put springs in the front and not the back of the car. Advantages and disadvantages of doing this and does anyone sell just a set of front springs? Also if someone has a set of 18" wheels on their max along with the Prokit setup could you please post a pic.

Thanks
KMK

 

hey I'm new here, but i've heard that the H&R springs lower the back more than the Eibach.... is this true? does anyone happen to have pictures of either one or both cause I'd really love to see what they look like. because I'm also considering lowering my '00 SE but I didn't want the back end to look like I have a carfull of people or junk when it's empty or nearly empty... I was going to stick 18" with 245/40/18... because after checking,

http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html
(a few people suggested this site on the maxima newsgroup)

and comparing it to the origional 17" that came with the car, (225/50/17) the overall diameter seems to be the same.... so wouldn't one want to keep it as close as possible to that? thanks for the help!

~Dan

 

Yes the front will look higher than the rear, but putting two different type of springs will only hurt the handling of the car.
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[Edited by Maxx-s-ter on 03-08-2001 at 05:40 PM]