My car rides like stock now! I'm so f-ing happy...here's what I changed.
 

I've been getting rather sick of my ride lately. My Blues/Maxspeeds combo has been a bit harsh under certain conditions. I've thought about going back to stock, but then I see a stock Maxima drive by me and I quickly cringe at the sight of the wheel gap. That's out of the question.

So I decided to cut my bump stops 2 trims...that was pointless. Driving at standard speeds the car still hit bumps the same way. Going over a large speed bump/hump at a slow speed definitely saw an improvement -- but go 5 miles faster than that and it was still p*ss. The car began to flex more going into turns, and that really sucked. The piston began to hit the tophat...so I knew that was the wrong move big time.

So I ordered new bumpstops and I figured "you know...since the struts/springs will have to come off anyways, I might as well see what would happen if I used the stockers (struts) up front." And you know what, this is the best damn move I've made for my suspension.

The ride is f-ing butter! I can't believe how smooth it all feels now. And holy crap, I can't believe I'm saying this...but the car handles better now and rolls less! I was bracing myself for increased body roll, but it was just so terrifcly precise and accurate. I do believe I've decreased the understeer a tad bit, since I've got stiffer struts in the back, and softer in the front -- so the agility may be a result of a little bit of oversteer. But, I'm just beyond amazed right now.

I've read people constantly mention how they've installed spring-X with strut-Y and that it feels like stock...and I've driven those people's cars and it really didn't feel like stock and it did feel noticeably stiffer. Where as I can say, with ease, that my setup rides about as close to stock as you can imagine. NYC streets don't lie.

I'm happy.

where did you get your bumpstops from? How much?

So, wait, did you use stock struts up front or just stock springs? Or both?

Or did I miss it altogether?

or, are you saying that you didn't cut the bump stops altogether?

I think he is saying that he put his stock struts and new bump stops on with his Maxspeeds in the front. He said he cringed at the sight of stock wheel gap so I don't think he went back to stock springs.

Were the bump stops one piece or two piece( foam type bump stop within the dust boot)?

Just a regular Nissan bumpstop. I didn't buy it, Maximum Tuning did. Basically, my setup now is:

Maxspeed/OEM struts @ front.
Maxspeed/Blues @ rear.

Sorry....I know this was probably discussed before but since we are at it...could I just use the OEM bumpstomps (without cutting anything) when I install my new H-techs and Illuminas?

The thing is, unlike what most people think, shocks dont affect the stiffness of your ride (unless you really overdump your suspension.) Springs are the ones that make your ride stiffer or softer, your shocks only control your spring movement So, what could probably happen is either HPs are too stiff for the springs or you simply blew your HPs and what you felt were the uncontrolled oscillations of the springs.

ya im interested to know as well i need to install my illuminas and my h&r's

that really makes no sence. how can it control spring movement and have no effect on ride? more dampening equals more stiff.

i have had agx on stock springs and they were stiffer than stock struts with intrax.

With my h-tech setup I used stock bumpstops but I trimmed them a little cause the directions suggested to.

I have kyb gr2's/maxspeeds up front, when I hit a bump or a pothole, it seems like the struts want to come through the engine, the ride is harsh. Are my struts blown up front or is there something else?

The force that shocks exert in a properly designed suspension is completely absorbed by the springs. When your shocks are too soft they will not exert enough force to dampen you springs.

The only case when your shocks make your ride stiffer is when they are too stiff for your springs. In this case they exert more force that it is required to dampen your springs. So all the access force is now being transferred onto the chassis and the occupants.

according to this:http://maxmods.dyndns.org/index.php?...KybAgxSettings
if you set your AGX to anything stiffer than '2' with your stock springs, you just overdumpen your suspension. This setup decreases both your ride quality and handling.

You'll know if your struts are blown if the ride becomes VERY floaty. Like the car just bounces up and down all the time, no matter how flat the ground is. Your struts aren't blown, that feeling is perfectly normal and that is what my Blues felt like too.

Yes you can. But it's better to buy new OEM bumpstops, because the stockers may end up breaking without you knowing it.

Naaaah, definitely not. The struts were perfect. They've felt like that since the day I put them in. They were completely tolerable, but it did get annoying after a while -- and I just knew there had to be a better way. It just goes to show that contrary to people's beliefs, HPs are *not* OEM replacements. They are, indeed, a stiffer strut.

Dude, isn't it what I said before? ;)

How would you know when its broken? Any other negative effect from using OEM bumpstops?

JSutter, I have to bring my apologies, I've just read one article which proved me wrong, shocks do affect the ride quality in any possible case. Though, I still stand correct about the fact that you should not use AGX settings that are stiffer than 2 with stock springs.

Anyone with adjustable struts who's played around with them will tell you struts DO affect the ride quality. Increased bound stiffness = worse ride.

yep, that's correct, that's what I have found out.

:sprint: .

people, why do you keep proving me that I was wrong? As I have already said in post # 20 I was wrong and shocks DO affect the ride quality. ;)

C'mon man, be a little more understanding. They only had ~35min/1.5hrs for your post (#20) to sink in. Give 'em a break! :D

I just hate when bad advice/info spreads, then noobs who have no idea what they're doing aren't patient enough to wait for more responses, end up screwing their car up & blame someone else for it. :)

Just reaffirming what the guy said based on my experience with Illuminas. No need to be so sensitive on the intarwebz.

If these maxspeeds have a significantly higher spring rate or if they lower the car quite a bit, you stock shocks will wear out in short order. They may ride fine now because they are pretty new (?), but expect them to wear out or plain blow out very fast.

i think maxspeeds may not be as severe of a drop as other springs, and as long as the drop isn't too serious he'll be alrite on stockers.

If the spring rate is much higher, it will blow the shock also.

:werd: thats true too, the springrate thread doesn't have maxspeed specs yet :noes:

Well there are plenty of people running OEM struts all around here in NYC and other places with Maxspeeds for tens of thousands of miles, so I'm not very concerned. Plus the drop is only 1.3 inches in the front. The car now rides over bumps with a distinct thump and with very, very, VERY little chassis shock. It rides as poised and solid as my FX does. I damn near wanted to cry at the difference. But it'd be terrific if we could get those damn numbers for Maxspeed and H&R somehow.

i saw a major improvement in ride quality and bottoming out after cutting my oem bump-stops. i know there are arguments against this, that struts will over-travel and wear out faster, but the ride quality is much better this way. i was going to go back to stock myself because of harsher ride with lowering springs, but i think i will try oem struts in the front, and blues in the back in the spring. i think i may put oem springs in the back as well. h&r's wheel gap in teh back is non existent, loox almost like it's sagging.

Not true. My hp have more dampening control but they don't feel stiffer than the stock shocks. When i had stock shocks i could feel every little bump I hit, but the Hps don't have that feel. In my opinion the stock shocks are stiffer/harsher.

I've had my stock SE struts with Maxspeeds for 36K. I said I'd run them until they blow and then upgrade, still waiting. I think its got to be close to stock.

For folks that have adjustables you could probally duplicate this for daily use and stiffen at will.

I sent you a PM, theMax.