Lowering my 03 on 20's
 

hey guys, i was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on whether i should or should not lower my car which is currently on 20's. if i can, what spring should i use? i was looking at going with the eibachs but does anyone else have a similiar setup. i dont plan on keeping it on 20's (rather be on 18's) but for the time being thats what i'm working with

suggestions, you shouldnt have 20s.

and this has been discussed before...they let just anyone search now days...you have no excuses

well i'm new....so my bad....

H&r would be a better choice then Eibachs. They sit more even. 18's or 20's you should lower it.

thank you for the info...i juss wanted to make sure they wouldn't rub...how do you like your tein's? thats what i usually run on my imports

My car rubs on hard corners. I like the teins, doesn't ride to rough and gives a nice look.

awesome, i'll definetly be buying the s-techs then. what size tire r u running?

H&Rs and either agxs or illuminas give a nice drop on 20s with a decent ride with no rubbing.If your gonna be running 18s then you can go with the s-techs but I'd stick with the first setup I suggested.

I bought my car lowered and on 20"s. Looks clean, but wheels are too large IMO. I get rubbing at about 1/2 of the full steering input in both directions, it's nothing too bad though.

My car is on eibachs.

suggestions, you shouldnt have 20s. not everybody is a speed demon like you sooner. i am runnning 20s with the tien coilovers. best option for you cause you can adjust them to work with the 20 for now and if you step back to the 18 you can then adjust for them. plus theyve had the best ride thus far. and ive run the eibachs, maxspeeds, s-techs, and the h&rs. althouhg if i just wanted a spring set up the h&rs had the best ride.

My Maxima is lowered on 20s. I have and H-tech setup with tokico blues...Im definitely switching to illuminas because the struts are simply too soft. otherwise, no rubbing issues or nothing when there are less than 3 peeps in the car. and im a well built guy. car rides fine man. Do as you please with the lowering and 20s. Theres absolutely nothing wrong with it. Half these dudes up here follow suit of each other..Like 90% of them have them damn g35 rims on their cars..Sometimes i wonder if people can think for themselves sometimes! Good luck and post pictures! This is what my max looks like
http://photos-338.ll.facebook.com/ph...293547_814.jpg

Like I said, my car rubs a bit with the s-techs. I am running 2453520 but a better size would be 2453020 but they are hard to find. The only ones I know of are the nitto neogen.

good advice

s-techs are the biggest POS springs available for the maxima.

the excessive drop ruins LCA angles and results in bump steer, poor suspension geometry, and generally bad handling and bad ride. The spring rates are all wrong.

If you absolutely have to run 20s (ugh), Eibachs or perhaps Tein H-techs are more appropriate. S-techs are FTL....

[QUOTE=irish44j;6212720]
the excessive drop ruins LCA angles and results in bump steer, poor suspension geometry, and generally bad handling and bad ride. The spring rates are all wrong.

QUOTE]

I must call BS on this statement. My alignment came out perfect and the car rides straight and handles good. I havn't even ever changed my struts. The only thing that made it drive bad was before I cut the bumpstops.

I like the way my car rides. You make it sound like it will ride like a slammed mini truck.

yeah...question josh. the resident suspension expert :rolleyes:

im on the market for new springs and struts and ive reading a lot lately and i guess man nobody here can come to a conclusion on which struts or which springs are good. so i think its a waste of time even to ask people here. some say h&r are crap and some eibach are crap.

you just need to listen to the people that know what they are talking about. those people all agree.

Good excuse for being lazy :laugh:

i had s-techs and tokico blues with 20s on my o3 max never had a problem also looked really nice

once again, all of this boils down to is a matter of opinion...You asked for advice bro and you got it from all directions...For me, I personally love the LOOK of the 20's on my car. its probably the best looking maxima IMO around the state (so ive been told as well). But besides that, if ur not into performance too much, going with 20" rims are not that great of an idea...However, if you are looking to have your car stand out from all the rest of the maximas and still have a descent ride, then 20s are not a bad idea. As aforementioned, i am running h-techs and tokico blues and have no real true issues other than the fact that when i have more than 3 people in the car, the rear right side always rubs but only on heavy bumps and such. Other than that everything is peachy! Enjoy your 20's when u get them bro. Haters will hate.

So wait:

1. you're going to call BS on the FACT that with a drop that low your LCAs will be at an upward angle? :laugh::laugh: ANYONE who knows ANYTHING about the Macpherson-style IFS can tell you, an upward-angled LCA is a recipe for increased bump-steer. Suspension geometry is measurable.

This is a FACT and it is indisputable.

2. I didn't say anything about alignment. LCA angle is not related to the alignment that the guys at the local gas station gave you.

that said, with more than a 2" drop, negative camber begins to become a problem....and unless you run coilovers or have camber plates/bolts, you really have no way to bring it back to spec.

3. You're riding on s-techs and stock struts. You clearly have no idea what "good handling" is. So it handles better than stock. Big deal. S-techs + factory struts is possibly one of the worst spring/strut combinations you can possibly have in terms of actual handling. If you're happy with it, more power to you - but don't kid yourself into thinking that you maxima handles any better than "good." Whereas mine handles "great." (and rides "good")

4. You're riding on 20s. Clearly handling is not high on your priority list anyhow. Let's just admit that 20s+stechs is for looks, and looks alone. Let's not try to pretend that combo is good for handling.

5. Ride quality is subjective, and depends on other things as well (tires, other suspension, etc). Just because you like it doesn't mean others will. I have been in and driven several 5th gens with s-techs and the ride was far harsher than even Eibachs (which I autocross with).




BS eh? :laugh:

This can be fixed verrrryyyy easily, and for free.

ask me how.


btw, I will agree, h-techs have a very nice ride quality, probably the nicest (though not the best handling). s-techs are a completely different story.

00SEMAX19 got owned...tried to warn him

1. My control arms sit fairly flat. They maby have 5-10 degree of upward angle.

2. You said something about "Bad suspention geometry" I took that as if you were talking about alignment. No local gas station gave me an alignment. Read this thread and you will see http://www.nwmaxima.com/viewtopic.ph...r=asc&&start=0. I managed a shop for 5 years in Seattle that was known for one of the best alignment shops in the NW.

I have camber kits installed, and even without them it was still in spec.

3. I know what good handling is. My car is yes, setup more for looks than handling. If I wanted great handling a Maxima would not be the car that I would be driving. I would roll a porche or bmw. I'm not kidding myself saying my car handles better than good or great, I said it handles good. Tracking a maxima =:007:

4. Read #3

5. Correct, Handling is not just springs and struts. If you read back I personally recomended H&R springs in the 4th post in this thread. The OP asked about my S-techs and I gave my opinion. I also told him that my car rubs on hard turns. I've as well have rode in other maxima's with S-techs and 2 of them that were 5th gens rode horrible. Both had koni adjustable struts and the owners forgot to cut the bumpstops. After riding in my car they paid me to take theres apart and cut the stops making it ride much better.



Don't take the BS thing to personal. People on here just tend to make the S-tech springs sound like they ride like a minitruck or slammed honda with cut springs. They arn't that bad.

Once again, my recommendation for the op is H&R springs

^
:noes:

+1 on the H&R's

Here is a thread on how to fix the rr rubbing issue.
http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....t=rubbing+rear

the fact remains that the should have a downward angle rather than 5-10 degree upward....

The "local gas station" was a reference to "anyplace that does alignments," I just don't know what the names of the shops in the NW are. Regardless, a slammed mini-truck can be aligned correctly. That wasn't the point...

tell that to the BMWs and Porsches that regularly place behind my (and others') maximas at the track. The goal isn't to make the maxima the best-handling car out there. The goal is to make it the best-handling MAXIMA out there.

I take nothing personal on here. But if you're gonna call :bs: on something, you'd better be able to back it up. ;)

still getting owned....

I have H+R springs dropped on 20's. It's definitly more for looks and the ride is smooth on smooth roads. If you live in NY I would say dont go with 20's. In florida here the roads are alot nicer and you have to more or less watch out for small swails in the ground. I heard the tokico blues are the best way to go with your drop. GL and have fun. Treat the 20's nice

Clean max i like it we need a 5th Gen lowered on 20s pic thread and i agree with your statement. Everyones always hating or has something to say when someone on 20s wants to lower there MAX. but anyway I am going to lower mine on H&R and illuminas within a couple of weeks i am going to just lower the front though because the back will sag. how does ride on 20s mine has so much sway and it feel like a boat at time even when i am on stocks.

Whats up man i am going to lower mine on H&Rs and illuminas soon. Did you get any better handling with your setup and do you still have a lot of torque steer and sway. Thanks are you on cardomain or do you have any pics of your car.:cool:

still not posting anything worthwhile on here

you should lower you car on 20s man i am a i already have the springs i just got to get the illuminas it going to look good and its going to set you apart from everybody else who are on 18s and below. Just Do It.:D

S tech ride horrible:banghead:

If I was getting bumpsteer then I would worry about it. Other than that if it's not causing a problem then who cares.
My point wasn't that you couldn't align a slammed mini truck the point was people make riding on s-techs sound like your in a slammed mintruck. Talking about the horrible rough ride of a minitruck.




The bmw's and porches that you are beating are either near stock and or they can't drive. You probly do have one of the best handling maxima's out there but I don't think that was the op's point when he started this thread. I don't think being one of the best handling maxima's out there was his goal/or my goal.



I back up myself fairly well Batman

Hey there Batman's sidekick Robin:wavey:! Quit being a:007:sidekick and imput something usefull. owned:rolleyes:

how come every maxima track star (or sidekick) thinks that every maxima driver cares about geometry. y'all are concerned with it because you track your car. most people don't push there car anywhere near that hard and don't pay anywhere near as much attention, so therefore the effects are not as noticeable/important.

that being said, i personally like to do things as right as possible. i don't care about going fast or handling/riding well but i do like things to work with some resemblance to how they were meant to.

my point is that there are many different types of enthusiasts on the .org. (to the performance gurus) don't talk to someone like they're stupid just because they value different things, but at the same time (to the average joe) don't act like you know it all just because something works well enough for you.

um, because bump steer really is not an issue at the track (where the pavement is generally smooth). Bump steer is much more of an issue on less-than-perfect city roads, highway exits, etc.

Just because you don't understand a concept, don't assume that I'm talking about it because it's a "track theory." Bump steer is real-world handling for people who drive their cars normally. Since I assumed the OP drives his car "normally" on public roads, I thought he might want to know about it.

BTW, my Maxima has 150k street-driven miles and about 200 track miles. My setup is geared toward the idea STREET setup for normal/spirited driving (I am not reckless, don't street race, and haven't had a ticket in years). If I was setting it up just for the track, there are alot of things I would do diferently.

few cars you see at the track or at autocrosses are "near stock." Racing is more about the driver than the car and I hate to tell you, but E36/46 3-series bimmers are nothing special in terms of quickness. Nice cars, yes. And stock for stock faster than a maxima.

Assume all you want about "near stock" or "bad drivers" blah blah blah. The same day I beat several E46 M3s, I MYSELF was beaten by three or four civic hatchbacks. So am I a great driver because I beat BMWs, or am I a crappy driver because some civics beat me?




you have yet to address the fact that you called :bs: on the fact that bad LCA angles cause bumpsteer (and were wrong). So, basically you have backed nothing up.

btw, you all should be happy this thread is still open. There are a million threads out there on "lowering you maxima" with or without 20s. There was no need for a new one, but I let it open to be nice. Any more of this whining and the OP can get used to using search......