I just purchased a 2000 Se and I'm wondering if they have a sport suspension or what. The car rides very stiff. 82k miles on odometer, could the struts be worn out that soon? Car does not seem to have ever been abused. I drove a I30 the same day i bought this one and it rode like a Caddy, but I'm sure they have a more plush ride set up.

 

Tons of threads about suspension upgrades. One of the more common mods, i'd look into it if I were you. I did Illuminas and H&Rs and have been very pleased.

 

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=449807

 

The SE does have a stiffer ride. Mostly due to suspension, but the lower profile tires also contribute. A quick (but not necessarily accurate) way to check your struts is to do the bounce test. If they're bad, they'll bounce excessively.

BTW, you're also right about the I30. Definitely a much smoother (and quieter) ride.

 

The "bounce test" is useless imho. True, it will show you when your struts are completely 100% toast, but it does nothing to show you how worn they are. I recently replaced my struts at 56k miles. I thought this was pretty low miles to have to do struts, and the bounce test made the struts feel fine, but the ride and handling of the car still sucked. On the highway the car was all over the place, the back end bouncing around on even the slightest undulations in the road.

The new struts made a huge difference in the way the car rode and drove. No more bouncing around on the highway, much much better handling. The best part is the car tracked better over irregular roads, especially on the highway. No more wandering.

Does the car ride stiffer? Yes, but it should as the struts are now actually working. Personally I like the ride better. As for you Aeiceman, a car rides "softest" right before it gets new struts. It also bottoms out a lot and handles like crap. Since you say you bought the car used, the previous owner could have replaced the struts and you could be on fairly new ones, making them seem even stiffer.

 

That makes sense. It doesn't bottom out and the car does not float. It responds well say if I jerk it back and forth quickly. My last vehicle was a Suburban and my wifes car is an Eddie Bauer Expedition so I guess I'm just going to have to get used to sitting on the ground. With all that said I am hooked on Maximas .