I'm one of many 5th gen owners who was annoyed by the uneven stance of my car stock. As you can see in the pic below, my car was shipped from the Nissan factory with nearly 5 full fingers of awe-inspiring front wheel gap. Also, the front was nearly a full inch higher than the back.

But I've recently noticed that not all Maximas are created equal in this regard. A few observations:

1. It appears the 5.5gen often has more front and rear wheel gap stock than the 5.0gen.
2. Some 5.5gens have a notably more even and lower stance than others. I've checked these SE's and confirmed they're running stock setups.

I'm wondering how much variability there is in the stock ride height of 5th gen Maximas. Mine is clearly on the 4x4 side of things when stock, as you can see below. I suspect different springs were used for different years, but would like to see trends with measurement.

So, could some of you guys still rolling stock post your ride height measurements front and rear? Just measure from the ground to the center of the wheel well. Also, pics of your cars stance from a direct side view like I've posted below will be helpful - though measurements are preferred.

Anyone else noticed the above?

My stock ride height. Try to keep the cackling to a minimum.

 

I wish I took measurements of my stock height... but here's a picture at least... looks just as high as yours:



I now have Progress springs so I don't have to worry about em 4x4 jokes. (Housecor, they might even be your old ones cuz I got em from Man74 or whatever his name was and he said he had 2 sets, one of which was purchased from you).

 

Actually your ride height looks more even than mine to me. Yours looks pretty typical, whereas mine seems abnormally high. I've just had a hard time finding any Maximas with the front end propped in the air as much as mine is stock.

And yup, sounds like you've got my old springs. I bought them used from an org member as well. Funny how org mods get around.

 

wow! i have an 03 on stock supspension and my wheel gap definitely isn't as noticeable as you two.




however, the ride height does seem to be lower in the rear. i'll take some real measurements tonight.

 

Man, that's a huge difference BP. That's enough to make me wonder if Nissan didn't use two separate spring suppliers or change springs midway through production. Do you know what month your max was built? The VIN tells the story, but I forget which digit. hunting...

 

yes housecor i have noticed the big difference between front and back. i think i have a pic somewhere on my computer but there is a huge discrepancy in height. its ugly.

 

Something that I noticed when I still had my stock suspension was that even the two rear gaps were not the same height. I noticed when I was looking at the tail end of my car and it looked really tilted. I finally measured it and it was off by nearly an inch! I'm glad I got rid of that though.

 

I had this same problem when I was stock....my rear drivers side was about 1/2 inch higher than my rear passenger side....phew....glad I wasn't the only one....

Now I am riding on coilovers....so height adjusting isnt a problem....but when I did lower my car, I had to lower my rear drivers side more than my rear passenger....so It would make the car sit even....kind of weird I know....

 

I think it's fairly typical with many cars to have the front considerably higher. The difference in my wrx's front compared to back height is much more noticable than the maxima's

 

03 GLE Auto:

I do have some extra weight in the trunk though:

Plus "Home Depot" Dynamat on trunk lid.

 

jeez....i bet without all that stereo...just a plain ol' stock maxima...your 03 GLE would sit nearly flush with the front and rears!

 

I will take a pic and get measurments too because my front is higher. The only thing that is not stock is that I have 235/45/17 tires. Which makes it even worse in the front.

 

these are the best pics i have, brand spankin new... still has temp plates on from back in the day.

 

Front 28 3/8 , Rear 27 3/4
2k2 six speed

 

some food for thought, autos weigh about ~100lbs more then manuals in the front on 4th gens, not sure if the same weight difference applies on 5.5 gens.

I'll take some measurements tongiht when i get home, here are some of mine but they're on 350z rims.

heres a pic of mine.....GROSS!!!! IMO the worst out of any pic i've seen here yet.

 

Damn, that is a true 4x4.

 

Yeah, tell me about it, hopefully not for much longer, thanks to the housecor website, i decided i'm gonna get Tein H-Tech springs, i'm just looking for the best price on them right now...

 

Oh, i almost forgot.... cackle cackle cackle!!! how the gap is huge!!!!

 

Stock:
http://img174.exs.cx/img174/6940/rsz139ta.jpg

Now (100lbs in the back of the car -- OEM rims in trunk):
http://img174.exs.cx/img174/2291/pict00218cd.jpg

 

the gap on my car is horrible, looks exactly like yours housecor

 

Yeah it does bug me...This is why I'm going with some Progress springs, those seem to give the car the most even stance

 

Why do you have 2k1 wheels then?

 

28" front, 26 3/4" in the back with a set of golf clubs in the trunk....ridiculous. I think I am swaying more to just putting the H&R's on the front and leaving the back alone.

This pic is without the clubs in the back...I will try to take a current one later, but the back right now looks pretty good.

 

first off, i also have a speaker box in the trunk ~35lbs.

took these measurements twice just to be sure.

FR = 27 3/4" RR = 27 1/16"
FL = 27 1/2" RL = 27"


the car is an auto and manufactured 9/02. the numbers suggest it's slightly lower on the left side.

 

LF 27 7/8 LR 28 1/4
RF 28 1/8 RR 27 3/8

 

i was under the impression that gle's and se's have dif springs, the gle's have more give

 

27 1/2 front 26 1/2 rear
on 18's
stock springs

 

All front wheel drive cars are higher up in the front than the rear. it's to balance out the extra weight in the front than on rear wheel drive cars.

 

you 5.5 gens are lucky, i noticed that a whole lot of 3.0's are really high... made worse with the stock 16". Also, I noticed that 99 5th gens are a lot higher than others... sad sad sad.

 

wow, mine suddenly doesnt seem so bad...in this pic, its even on a slope....i'll get the measurements tomorrow

btw, sorry about that crappy pic, but my phone is the only camera i have for now

 

Mines a bit odd rear are both even
front are not

LF 27-3/4" RF 27-7/8"
LR 27-1/2" RR 27-1/2"

 

front and rear are even.
front 27 1/2
rear 27 3/8

the gap is greater on the front of my MSP
front 25 3/4
rear 25 1/4

so I think the Maxima is more evenly matched.

 

Hmmmm.....my rear seems to sag a little. Weird, considering I have no extra weight back there. Pretty uneven, since the front is a bit higher.

This isn't as bad as some of yours though. Housecor, yours is pretty bad. (sorry)

EDIT: My 2002 was built in 11/01. I will try to get measurements this weekend.

 

Mine was built 4/02 - I checked the label inside the driver's door on the B pillar. I see everyone above doesn't appear to have as bad of wheelgap as my '03 - although nyautostyle, yours is close to as bad, but it may be your aftermarket rim/tire combo making it appear that way. I wonder if they went to a different spring in '03 or if mine is just the freak show? Man, I need to put my H&R's back on. Any '03's around here with measurements?

 

Your car is hardly the "freak show." It's one of the cleanest, sleekest ones on here!

 

28 1/16" in the front
27 in the back
I measured just on the driver's side.

This is the thing that bothers me most about my car. Fitting 235/45 tires on the stock rims didn't help matters...it makes the front gap look even larger. Really it just needs to be lowered in the front, the back looks fine.

I like look of Housecor's car with the H&R's just on the front...

 

Maybe it has something to do with the 6 speed or being SE? If the autos weigh more that would help explain the difference between my 03 auto and your 03 stick. However, I have a GLE while you have a SE. If the SE is supposed to have stiffer springs, maybe they used the same length spring, just stiffened it up somehow to prevent the spring from settling as much as the GLEs? My previous post has my measurements.

 

Strange that this thread appeared. I just went to the dealer last week to get some things fixed and asked about the uneven gap. They measured it and admited that it wasn't up to specs (1/2-3/4'' below specs at the rear). They ordered new coils and they should change everything under warranty. Hope it's going to look better... BTW, specs are 27.99 front and 27.32 at the rear for the P225 17'' tires.

 

The front springs on all autos are the same stiffness regardless of trim level. The difference b/w SE and GLE's are the rear shocks and springs. Also Manuals have slightly less stiffness in the front springs.

Housecor, the OEM springs in your car, are the the ones that you had orignally with the car or did you sell and buy another set? If its the latter, mAybe the ones that you have are from an Auto ?

 

Kevin - These are my original springs. And the pic/measurements above are from before I removed the spring so it couldn't have to do with the spring "stretching" after removal. But a good question nonetheless.

Arcana - Welcome, and thanks for posting! I didn't even think to ask the dealer about standard heights. It looks like mine is only 1/16" too high up front which I doubt would be considered out of spec in Nissan's eyes. I'd be interested to hear if Nissan has different ride height specs for the different years/trims. I suspect so, and my guess is 2k3's or 6MT's are supposed to have a higher ride height up front. I may call tomorrow and see what I can dig up.

And UGAd13 - That's a great point. I imagine the 6MT is lighter than the auto tranny which could also contribute.

So why this whole thread in the first place? Well, I noticed a number of local maximas still look pretty slick with stock springs so I decided to try returning mine to stock. After the swap, I realized why I dropped my max in the first place. It just doesn't look natural stock (and certainly not aggressive!) with the uneven stance and 5 finger gap. I was just curious why...and if I was the only one to notice. Thanks for all the input guys. Keep it coming.