I know this topic has been beaten to death, but I'd like to give my perspective on this spring/strut combo. I've been through several suspension setups, maxspeed/stock, progress/stock, d2, and now I've got the Stech/Illuminas. This is the best compromise of all the suspension factors that are important to me that I've tried so far. It has a low enough drop to keep me happy, handles stiff, low body roll, and low floatiness, and does all of this while keeping a surprisingly smooth ride. I was really surprised at how smooth this stuff is even on the crappy roads around here. It does not feel any stiffer than my maxspeeds on stock struts. I love this setup and will be keeping it probably as long as I own the car. I would highly recommend the S techs and Illuminas to anybody who's Max is a daily driver, but likes a firm, sporty feel without being harsh.

 

I find it hard to believe stechs offer a good ride w/ illuminas. Im on htechs w/ illuminas and I hate my ride...its so rough. Maybe we have different views on what a good quality ride is...as long as your happy dude

 

Happy to hear that you like them man, I loved the set up too. I think it is by far the best spring / strut set up too. Especially when you are looking for both looks and ride. Congrats on the new set up. I too am extremely happy with my new set up. Be easy.

 

I have the stock SE suspension and I don't think there is a lot of body roll, but, I also did come from a '94 cougar with very lofty suspension and an s10 that drove like an old farm truck....

I'd be interested in how they compare to the s techs and the tokico blues.

I am looking at doing my suspension next to get rid of my SUV looking ride...

 

Comparing Tockico Blues w/ Illuminas is apples and oranges my man.

 

your also in NY. did you trim the bump stops? it helped me a great deal after i cut them.
i have h-techs with blues and the ride is great. but the roads that i travel are in horrible condition, no matter where i go. i just hate the stock wheel gap so i have to make the sacrifice. s-techs wouldnt even be a question in my case, i heard these were stiffer than h-techs.

 

Stechs rode decent till I got 18s.Bumpy rough ride and rubbing of the right rear tire on bumps.Got maxspeeds now,Im happy with them.Illuminas all the way around on both setups.

 

ive tried a bunch of set ups s-tech/illuminas, k-sports, maxspeeds/stock&illuminas, and eibachs/illuminas. i think by far the eibachs had the best ride if only the back didnt sit so low. i wanna get another set of eibachs and do them in the front and try the maxspeeds in the rear with illuminas all around.

 

I have the S-Techs/Illumina setup and the ride IMO is very harsh and bouncy. Granted I have about 15K miles on the S-Tech/Illuminas

 

Well I have had D2s and most of my friends around here run stiff coilovers and so I am pretty much used to race setups, so this feels pretty plush in comparison. I ran the stock setup for 2 days while waiting for this to come in and I HATED it. I had forgotten how floaty and crappy it felt. I guess I just like a stiffer ride.

 

s-techs are not a "race setup"

you guys in OK must have nice roads....bump steer with those LCA angles would suck at high speeds....

 

One thing a lot of ppl don't tend to take into consideration with ride quality is tires. Very Low profile tires or tires with a stiff sidewall tend to relay a lot of the road conditions through the suspension. I would be interested to know if these comparisons were made with the same tire/wheel setup.

 

i had the s-techs on my stock struts and im currently gettin the illuminas put on. the car should be ready tommorow and i will compare bc i thought the s techs rode pretty good on stock so hopefully it will change the ride to even better quality.

 

I was referring to the D2s and some other race coilovers on other cars, not the S Techs I know the S Techs are for posers like me.

 

I wouldn't call anything for a maxima "race" but thats just me...

 

speak to the hand

 

when i had my s-techs with illuminas i rode on 19" nitto 245 35 , and also the stock 17" 235 45 . i think they rode about the same on both like crap.

 

Have you looked around this forum much???

 

A friend of mine hated his S Tech/GR-2 setup. It was bouncy and bottomed out frequently. I'm glad to see you like the springs w/ Illuminas.

It's hard to disagree with this statement. Mcpherson struts and solid rear axle make our cars anything but race.

 

which set up is ok:
1. D2`s
2. Tokico Blues/Megan Racing springs
3. Stock struts/S Tech
4. Stock struts/Max Speed
5. Tokico Blues/S Tech

 

low-quality coilovers
don't know of anyone who's used Megan racing springs

this is sure to be terrible, and stock struts will be blown in no time

subtle drop, ride similar to stock, better handling. Decent, but not great. Won't blow your stock struts, at least for a whle.

the blues won't stand up well to that low a drop.



What kind of setup you want depends on what you're looking for ("slammed look," handling, ride quality, etc.). Do some research.

In my personal experience (several different setups), best all-around spring/strut combo (non-coilover) is Eibachs with Tokico Illuminas

 

The solid rear twist axle is actually a pretty good setup for road racing on smooth tracks. It has the advantage of keeping the camber of the inside rear in a good position instead of going positive. I.e. better traction on the inside rear on long sweepers.

now, if the road is bumpy, it's another story.....

 

what is wrong with the Blue Tokico, why are they so crapy?

 

They're fine for a mild drop. They're about 10% stiffer then OEM, but are generally considered to be OEM-replacement struts rather than a "performance" strut like the Illumina.

I didn't say they were crappy.

 

looking for big droop, sometjing like coilover drop but without such as big stiffnes

 

no such thing, at least not in the price range you seem to be talking about.

the lower your drop, the less travel the springs will have. The less travel the springs have, the stiffer they have to be to keep from bottoming out the struts. The stiffer the springs are, the more stress they put on the struts (and cause them to wear out quickly) and cause harsh ride quality.

everything is a compromise. you want to slam it low, ride quality is the tradeoff unless you're willing to invest in some high-end coilover or airbag setups. (read: not D2's).

 

which coilovers you have on your mind?

what springs/strut set up would you recommend?

 

There is only one spring/strut setup I would use: Eibach/Illumina. Best compromise of performance, ride quality, and a decent drop.


Coilovers....cattman or boss chen. Both pricey. Both more than YOU need

 

ok, but Eibach doesn`t offer big drop...

 

dude...just get some cut S-techs and put them on your stock struts

btw, it's "drop" not "droop"

-------------

Sooner, sorry for whoring up your thread. I'm done in here, kramarz....do some research. The stickies are your friend.

 

ok, what ever...

 

irish...what are your thoughts on the progress/gr2's vs the eibach/illuminas? mine is a daily driver but do track occassionally...and with R compound.
thanks

rt

 

this is what my stock suspension looks like on a road course...doh.

rt

 

hey irish...

 

Eibach/illumina is superior. The few people I've known local who had progress didn't like the ride quality at all. I've been happy with the eibachs daily and for autocross and wouldn't go back to any of my previous setups.

 

That's true... unfortunately, most people on the org don't track their cars... and if they do--often times it isn't with a maxima

If we had a double wishbone setup in the front and rear like Hondas, I'd fall in love with the max all over again.

 

then again, 90% of the people here never drive their maximas more than 50% of their limit

 

hahaha jesus

 

Yea I like the look of the S-Tech/Illumina but the ride does suck. Bouncy as all hell, I feel every little bump. Im on HP Lighting Evo 19" Rims which may make it worse with the low profile tires. Overall Im happy got everything used for a real good price.

 

Also tire pressure. I run my tires at 45psi all the way around for daily driving.. So it can get pretty rough at times. If I lowered them to 28psi all the way around it probably would be pretty nice.