Well, I finally confirmed the source of my problems.

Two (front) struts are shot. I have been having a huge issue with noise and popping, clicking on the front struts. Three times now I have pulled the wheels and took the whole suspension out.

Today I took both fronts out and took them apart.

Front Passenger is gurgling all the way down and all the way up. It vibrates in my hand just pushing it down and letting it come back up.

Front driver.. Push down, ZERO resistance and stays down. <Sigh>

Anyway, while this does suck, it is all about who you do business with. I spoke to Mike at Urban Imports and he didn’t even question me after I told him what I did, he said that he would be getting two new struts right out to me and he would notify D2 of the situation.

We all complain of customer service here, etc. This guy is great. I hope that he gets more things for Maximas because I would like to keep doing my business with him. I told him I don't know if I would recommend D2s after this (2 months old) but I would recommend doing business with him anytime.

I know that there are occasionally issues with struts coming bad from the factory, but two in one batch, just my luck.

 

My luck to. I had a back one go bad and Mike got one out to me quickly. Problem fixed, but are anymore going to go bad. I don't even have that many miles on mine.

 

tokico blue sweet

 

So wait, this is at least 3 cases (two for the first poster, and 1 for the second) of blown struts on D2 coilovers already? They've only been out for a couple months. That's not very promising, I was planning on getting some. Any insight into the cause or whether or not the were defective since new?

 

Sounds like Mike at Urban provides great customer service.

More importantly, I hope the manufacturing issue is being solved because I'm one of 20+ people in the GD for these. What a PITA it would be if there are issues with the ones we get.

 

Seems like the people who sell D2s are good people, but I'm not going to buy them. I'll spend the extra cash and get JICs when I'm ready.

 

So Rob, you wanna get out in the 15 degrees and wet snow and change em out?

 

I pulled them out yesterday. Put them back in because I cant put the stocks in without getting the whole front up to get the axle to release all the way. Gotta get that race lift from Harbor Freight so I can get the whole thing up.
So D2s are still in and now I know why I feel a little too bouncy.

 

Well you won't believe this but I think I blown the drivers side JIC strut. In the last few days I've been having this noise when I hit a bump. I thought it was the spring on the coilover so I tightened it up a bit. I drove around and when I hit a bump and the tire goes down, I hear this noise that sounds like the spring is hitting the top of the tower. I can't figure this out so I think I have to contact JIC and see if I can get a replacement.

 

Damn, I hope I don't have these problems. My D2's should be arriving soon, and I hope they are problem free. Maybe I'll have them set up by TopElement in So Cal, since he is the ultimate suspension guru, especially when it comes to these coilovers.

 

Hmm...not sure if my D2's are blown. I get some creaking noise usually in the morning when it's cold and I turn my wheel hard right to get out of the driveway.

Yesterday I noticed them creaking more, even when it's warm out and I had been driving a while. Creaking on both fronts. Don't know if this is an indication of a blown strut. Ride still feels the same, not bouncy, short return on the spring so I think they are ok and it's just the spring creaking during turning.

Any thoughts?

 

I was going to get these next month. But after reading the posts of ppl having issues, I don't know. I am not suggesting that the warranty does not take care of blown ones. I just do not want to go through the hassle of waiting for replacements if they blow. I am going to look for other options...

 

Creeking and cracking means probably a loose setup, Try tightening the bolt on the top of your front struts. I thought that my struts were gone because I bounced around like I have cut springs. I knew something had to be wrong.

I took it all apart and just couldn't believe the feeling from the front two struts. No resistance, or a shaky shudder with slow response.

For the price, I think these Coilovers are great. I think they are built well and I like the setup. I question their quality control, or the contract they are getting their struts from. Other than that, they are great.

 

yea same here

 

I have the same problem with the creaking noise you are talking about with my JIC's. So don't think it isn't normal because its the first winter with these things for me and I have that problem.

 

Not trying to start anything but since the JIC and D2 are having so much problems what about the TEIN coilovers, would that be another alternative.

 

I need to check if mine are blown before I install them. If I don't hear any bubbling sound or if the strut doesn't stay compressed, they are good struts?

 

That pretty much sums it up. Take them apart, remember how they were setup, and then push them down. You should get a good solid feeling when going down and then coming back up should be smooth.

The thing is, mine seemed fine when I first installed, it was about a week later the problems seemed to come up. Not sure.

 

dblrr900 - I'm just confused as to how you can be so enthusiastic about a suspension that has left you with not one, but TWO blown struts in 2 months, and they are brand new! Is it your gut feeling that this is just a very unlikely coincidence? Given what you've experienced, and the other person on this thread who said they have a blown D2 strut, and what TopElement said, I am seriously reconsidering my plans to get the D2s... as much as I like working on my car, replacing frunt struts every 2 months is not cool. It's great that Urban Imports and D2 are willing to replace them so readily, but if the product is not up to par then why mess around with them?

 

Ouch!! That's the reason why I stick with my stock strut, unless it was a POS then I would got something better. But in my opinion, the stock on the SE does a pretty good job.

 

I don't have the D2 or JIC's but I'm on a 6 year old set of Koni yellows and Ground Control coilovers, and just recently my front suspension started creaking and bouncing exactly as you guys described yours. I checked the front struts and they were both leaking oil and blown.

I was going to go with a D2 setup but now I'm going to think otherwise. Thanks for posting this thread.

 

Hey guys, coilover suspension come from the racing industry not from the Lazy-Boy industry. The problems discussed here are frequent with coilover, look at any car race, F1, Indy or IRL these guys invest thousands of $$$$$ on suspensions and it frequently breaks too, perfection is one thing and strenght is another one, for the price I think the D2 are as good as any comparable product TEIN or JIC. Oh how much cost a good set of spring & strut 500-600$ maybe more. If you are afraid of getting a defective product then buy oem stuff and keep your car stock, this is part of the deal when modding a car. Before proceeding with the installation of a coilover an experienced technician would thoroughly inspect each strut and would probably found the default one, before or during the installation, and sometime during the test drive. An average skilled person with tools can install coilover, but not make a great installation, we only know what we know right... I suggest that if you guys wanna buy a coilover set have it installed by a qualified technician, someone who has a good experience of these type of suspension, that is going to make all the difference at the end.

Cheers

AA

 

You bring up very valid points. The reason I say this is that I could have very well received two struts that came from the same assembly group. Could be bad seals inside, the fluid was full of bubbles, I dont know.

The system is built very well, and these guys are right, aftermarket parts are going to cause issues, as well, almost every brand of suspension has struts that go bad, sometimes too fast. In this case, I am being hopefull that the struts were made the same day/week and the parts used inside had an issue.

Now if I get more struts blown, and the news ones get messed up, then I will be the first one to come here and tell every one of you to beware and back away from D2. At this point, I have nothing from D2, only from Mike at Urban Imports. For now, I will wait on my new struts and see where I get from there.

 

Ehh, I would tend to disagree.

First, the parts we are putting on our cars are not in even close to the same league as F1, FIA GT, etc, parts are that are intended to be rebuilt or replaced after every race, qualifying session, etc.

Second, saying "if you mod your car expect it to break" is not valid either in my book. Coilovers being defective from the factory or the struts blowing within two months of installation is NOT something one should have to expect or put up with. People ride for YEARS on a good set of struts and springs or coilovers, not 2 months. The simple fact is that something is WRONG with the blown D2s. Either they were defective from the factory or they were made with very poor tolerances or materials to have blown in two months. There is no excuse for such things. I don't expect to have to replace my turbo every two months, I don't expect to replace my greddy emanage every two months, I don't expect to replace my 720cc injectors every two months, and I sure as heck don't expect to replace my suspension every two months. It is perfectly obvious suspension can me made for these cars which is durable and reliable. Any company that cannot is doing a **** poor job. I hope D2 resolves the issues at hand, not just replacing the bad units, but fixing whatever it is that caused these issues in the first place.

 

Keep us updated, hopefully it is just an isolated issue which has already been resolved in their manufacturing process.

 

Man, I am the one with the boucin **** car and bangin&clangin and you sound more pisssed off than me. Easy cheetah, hit the BOV

As I said, we will see what happens.

 

I'm not mad I just thought it was rediculous for that guy to say it's "expected" for aftermarket parts to break within two months of owning them.

 

The D2 are 700$ not 1500$ and even though it happend the same thing to people who spend the 1500$

AA

 

I just blew my third one! Damn I like the ride of the D2's, but i just changed a bad one on the back last week, now the other blown. This is too much work. Since there is even problems with the JIC's, I may have to go back stock, atleast until I find a more dependable transportation.

 

Somebody get me the shock dyno #'s for the D2's. I can't find them anywhere, if they even exist...

 

I've had my Tein SS Dampers and EDFC installed for about 5 months now... no problems at all

 

This is ruining my enthusiasm for getting D2's.

 

Here's what your looking for. http://www.d2racing.com.tw/CERTIFICATE.htm It states that a million cycles were performed with no leaks. What they didn't talk about was noise. So I guess I've used these things over a million cycles in 2 months. Maybe I should drive so much?

 

I think I have one in the back making me feel like it is shot too. I am with you. I am getting these replaced, and then I am pulling this from the car and going to ebay. Good or not, this IS too much work. Shouldn't have to be this way. Merry Christmas to me....

 

ugh that's the last thing I wanted to hear I don't want to go back to agx/sprint combo anymore!

 

Hey, appreciate the link. However, that's just some kind of durability test they ran.

I'm referring to a shock dyno, which tells you characteristics of the shock. I HIGHLY doubt they've done one, and even if they have, I know it's not available to the public. I started looking b/c my friend was raving about the shock dynos for his Cusco coilovers...they make some sicka$$ stuff...but not for us!

 

Just wanted to let everyone know I am monitoring this thread and we are aware of the situation and working with the manufacturer to resolve it as quickly as possible. The defective struts seem to be fairly isolated incidents. We have been importing D2 coilovers for close to a year now and up until about 3 weeks ago we had only sent out 2 replacement shocks (of the 300 or sets sold in the last year). The incident seems to be isolated to one manufacturing run of the shocks as best I can tell. The problems we have been having is primarily from Maxima customers (both A32 and A33) who received their products in September and October. The manufacturer is investigating the problem to see if they can come up with a cause of these problems. I will keep everyone updated when new information becomes available. I do not believe this problem affects every set of Maxima coilovers however we do not want to tarnish the D2 name so we will stand behind the product fully and get everyones problems resolved. We will not push a product that we do not believe is of good quality. Under our exclusive distributorship for North America we plan to spend over $10,000/month on advertising and promoting the product line. We understand that if a product gets a bad name from the start the line can be doomed and our advertising money will just be going to waste. We have used the last year to test the US market and advise the manufacturer on any revisions that need to be done with the product before we go all out on promoting the product and building the brand name. I also spoke with Impulse Racing earlier today (exclusive United Kingdom Distributor for D2). They have been carrying D2 products for over a year and have not had any widespread instances of shocks blowing, the % of defects they have had is well under 1% which again leads us to believe this is just an isolated incident. I know the term “race proven” is thrown around all the time but D2 products truly are used in professional racing throughout Asia, I assure you D2 is not just another knock-off brand.
If anyone has concerns in regards to the products or warranty please feel free to contact me.

-Michael
D2 Racing North America/Urban Import
919-383-5000

 

Nope, no oil seen. I think its just an internal problem with a valve or seal.

 

My settings were about half way set. 3rd turn, setting #1. Nothing too agressive.

 

UPDATE

I had a conference call earlier this evening and wanted to update everyone on the situation. At one point D2 switched manufacturers for some of the oils in the shock and so far all the shocks which have had excessive noise coming from them have been traced back to this manufacturing run. D2 has since switched back to the original supplier and all coilovers sold recently and any sold from now on should not experience this problem. Again I want to stress that this issue is not a problem with every D2 coilover sold, only some. It may not even affect all 4 coilovers, depending on the dampening it could just be your rear struts or just your front struts that are affected.

We have extra replacement struts on the way from D2. If you feel your coilovers might be affected by this you will (upon confirmation of defect) be eligible for replacements free of charge. We will also extend this offer through next winter to be sure that if your shocks are from the questionable batch you will be eligible for a replacement then even if they don't start acting up until that time. I would like to reiterate that this does not affect all shocks only a relatively small # of the overall coilovers in the US. If you feel that you are affected by this please call us AFTER FEB 1ST (we should have replacements by then) @ 919-383-5000.

-Michael
D2 Racing North America