maxima 21

iTrader: (2)

I have a 2002 6spd. Its my daily driver and i do not race or hotrod my car. FWD so no drifting. At best I may cruise the dragon once in a while in it ( I live 20-30 min from it). I always want to be a little bit above most of my freinds so I do some upgrades. So here are my options right now that I am debating on and wanted to see if you guys with more experience with these could give your input. All input, positive and negative is welcome.

Lowering, Springs or coilovers? Obviously, coilovers will be more expensive and will limit the rest of my mod options.

Catback, Megan, Evo2 nock off, or EXPENSIVE cattman catback? (also limits the others depending on price)

MEGAN CAT BACK
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuZ1bUFdD0I

EVO2 WANNA BE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aANBi9jxXM

CATTMAN 3" CATBACK
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbibZoljK0Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzaQX...eature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkTO3...eature=related


I have already done the JWT pop charger and the RAYCO short shifter kit.

Please excuse any ignorance in this. I have had a 4th gen for a long time and am new to the 5.5th gen world. All input is acceptable. Thanks again.

phatboislim

iTrader: (27)

coilovers...i just made the move from springs/struts to coilovers and i love them

as far as catback...i personally have a cattman axleback with other custom work..i love it.

triple g

hows the ride on coilovers?

maxima 21

iTrader: (2)

What brand coils? and how much did you give for em? I just sold my 97 so i have a set spending limit that i want to do quite a bit with. Im trying to prioritize and figure what to do first and how great of quality i really need.

95VQ30

Can't speak for the susp mods but I had been weighing the Megan/ Cattman 3" exhaust a while now. I actually ordered the 3" a couple months back but had to cancel it to replace an appliance.

For me, I am going with the Megan. Its $320 shipped vs. $700-800. The Cattman may provide a few more ponies(even more so with headers) and the quality may be a tad better but it is still not worth the price difference(2x) in my eyes-many will disagree.

That being said- i am ordering the Megan on Friday and will spend the $400 I saved elsewhere.

phatboislim

iTrader: (27)

i recently purchased some BC coilovers slightly used (only 200 miles on them) for an undisclosed price. but the ride is pretty phenomenal and i'm not mad one bit that i got them. yes i can see where they say that these ride better than stock and i can see where people say that they ride like coilovers....at the end of the day, its an awesome ride. most of the time, my ride is like stock, if not better. when i hit certain bumps on my travels to work, it feels like coilovers.

if you want a womans perspective, i asked my wife what she thought, this was after about 3 years on a aftermarket spring/strut setup, she said that it rode fine

save and get some coilovers

maxima 21

iTrader: (2)

This is very similar to the way I have been looking at it. The Megan sounds pretty good. (i like the cattman better) but i dont know that the sound difference is worth the $400. Also, This is not a race car and I dont dog it. I have a 91 240sx SR20DET for that. So performance isnt as big of a thing to me. (although i dont mind it)

maxima 21

iTrader: (2)

I have been talkin about coilovers for a while and its what i want... but money doesnt grow on any trees near me unfortunately. And i have an expensive lifestyle that i cant seem to kick :/ lol

phatboislim

iTrader: (27)

well...save is the only way to do it, unless you want to throw it on a credit card and pay it off quickly. i believe ebay and paypal have this thing where you can buy now and pay it off by august without any penalties....thats a thought. thats what i was planning on doing, but i found another awesome deal and did it that way

maxima 21

iTrader: (2)

So as far as coilovers go, What brands should i look at for good bang for the buck? I wont need 36 way adjustable or anything like that. Just a good lowering to get rid of the 4x4 profile it has now.

phatboislim

iTrader: (27)

either Megan or BCs. from what i've read, when you blow a strut on a Megan, its not that easy finding a replacement for it.

i'm on BCs and i'm not looking back, even though there are better out there, but its more money too. there are coilover threads, big *** coilover threads, look for them. itll give you some good info on it

Mr. Brett

iTrader: (7)

Definitely coilovers.

Anything else for our cars, lowering springs, struts (with the exception of the Koni inserts), or coilover sleeves are rubbish.

They'll make your handle and ride like hell...

I'm pretty sure Bryan's covered everything you need to know.

If you want a budget set of coilovers, however, C8 makes them for relatively cheap.

I've heard they're not bad at all. And I think they're something like 28-way adjustable.

Edit: Can't seem to find the C8's on eBay for some reason. Maybe they're out of stock right now...

TunerMaxima3000

iTrader: (4)

Tires would be good LOL

There are way to many threads out there, and recent too.

Many people just answer the question without details, but there are too many factors to consider, mainly, what you NEED and WANT. You need to find that out first.
Because I'm such a nice guy though , I'll help you out:

http://forums.maxima.org/5th-generat...iscussion.html
http://forums.maxima.org/5th-generat...megan-cos.html
http://forums.maxima.org/5th-generat...on-thread.html
http://forums.maxima.org/advanced-su...ep-please.html
http://forums.maxima.org/5th-generat...ed-thread.htmlhttp://forums.maxima.org/advanced-suspension-chassis-braking/625598-bc-coilovers-step-please.html
http://forums.maxima.org/advanced-su...ep-please.html

Once your eyes start to bleed, get some rest and keep reading. This is only a little bit of the plethora of info out there.

When you have some legitimate questions about which set ups you're interested in, then repost and we can get into more specific answers for you.


I'm confused about this portion of your post, it came out of nowhere, then you wrote this:

If you don't care much about the sound and you aren't doing it for performance, then why are you touching the exhaust at all?

TunerMaxima3000

iTrader: (4)

Never even heard of these are they new?

phatboislim

iTrader: (27)

they are about 2 years old now...last year they were on ebay for like $500 shipped...i was out of a job when i first saw these on ebay. but the review i read on them were pretty damn good. some people related them to BCs as far as ride, as i ride right now...for a $6-700 price tag, thats pretty damn good. better pricing than Megans too.

Prophecy99

iTrader: (1)

to be above most of your friends... you can just ride stock hieght

You're daily driving, and if you get low end coilovers(~$800 new), you're sure to get some problems down the road. and thats something you can avoid by A getting the best c/os for the 5th gen max TEIN SS (~$1100 new) or
B getting lowering springs and shocks that can handle the lowered springs(Illuminas paired with springs that aren't too low) (~$700 new ).

if you dont plan on keeping the car for a good while I wouldn't recommend getting TEIN c/o's, financially it dosent make sense, though now that i think about it , it would be extremely easy to sell a set of used TEINs too.

azdevils013

iTrader: (5)

I would definitely suggest BC Racing coilovers. I know there are alot of other people on the org with them and I'm sure they all love them just as much as me. As far as exhaust is concerned that choice is gonna be all yours. Not too much will change as far as performance unless you go 3" cattman. So basically you're going to have to decide which you think looks the best, and which you think sounds the best. I personally have the Evo2 (not a knockoff) and I love how quiet it is, especially with an ebay resonated test pipe.

Mr. Brett

iTrader: (7)

Fairly.

Like Bryan said, about two years. They must be out of stock right now.

A lot of the S13/S14 guys use them, and don't have anything bad to say about them at all. At least from what I've read.

TunerMaxima3000

iTrader: (4)

Tein SS cost around $1300 average now-a-days. You can find them around $1150 Sometimes still, but those sales are getting few and far between. And the price is expected to rise more over the next year.

Also, Just to clarify, they are not the best, JIC FLT-A2 are. But They`re obviously not in the OP`s price range.

All this is kind of pointless IMO until we know what the OP is actually looking for in a suspension set up.

maxima 21

iTrader: (2)

As far as suspension set up goes i want something that makes it handle a little better and lower. I hate the stock ride hight. Im not taking my car off road. I looked into the C8's and that looks like the road im gunna take.

The exhaust, I want the best tone out of. Whats funny about it is the car stock runs over these little ricer honda's runnin around knoxville. Ya performance is nice but i mainly want to hear the VQ. It makes such a great tone its a shame to hide it with stock exhaust.
As far as exhaust goes... the evo2 sounds good and the knock off's price is reasonable. I just dont car for the fart can LOOK of it. I know it doesnt sound ricy... just kinda looks ricy..

so in overview... looks like C8's are going on soon... now for the decision of the exhaust....??

phatboislim

iTrader: (27)

give us a review on the C8s man i'm highly interested on them on a max

Rhyno02

iTrader: (12)

Regarding the exhaust, I say save up for the Cattman 3". It has a really nice sound to it, even with the stock exhaust manifolds in place. Or, the Megan if you dont wanna drop that much loot.

maxima 21

iTrader: (2)

Well i talked to the guy at JM AUTO RACING who i originally talked to about the coilovers and exhaust. He has the megans about the same price most everyone else. he was sceptical about the C8sports because of the price and the fact that he had never heard of them. what is running through my head is you get what you pay for... $599 for coilovers is CHEAP. So i am either gettin screwed or a really good deal. Makes me a little uneasy about it. Im gunna do more reasearch on the C8's but a quick google search (found evos and hondas) says the no one has really heard of these and like i said... you get what you pay for. so i dont really know just yet..... UGH i hate making decisions like this.

phatboislim

iTrader: (27)

http://www.yoursciontc.com/forums/12...-coilover.html

http://www.amazon.com/C8Sport-NISSAN.../dp/B002W3KKXA

btw i do remember reading that one of the holes in teh front strut mounting locations had to be drilled, not much, just enough to let the stud come through. i dont konw if the new coilovers this year has this rectified or not, but thats to be taken into consideration as well

95VQ30

I shopped around and found the same exhaust as low as 304- I'll be ordering mine late this week

Edit- and I really dig the Megan sound from all the youtube clips.

maxima 21

iTrader: (2)

Where did you find it at 304? I found it the other day for close to that and cant find it now :/

maxima 21

iTrader: (2)

So im really debating on getting C8sports.... Are there any A33's out there running around with the C8sports on their cars? Id like to hear a maxima owners opinion.. Im just nervous about being the ghinne pig for em. I can't afford to spend $600 and they turn out to be POS.

Stormzusmc

iTrader: (17)

headers - obx or cattman
coilovers - depends what you want to spend
custom 3" - 5-600 bucks done that day parts and labor
that in order
/thread

Grand_hustle17

iTrader: (22)

coilovers/ megan catback.. k bye

TunerMaxima3000

iTrader: (4)

Quickest suspension setup decision ever recorded in a thread?

You didn't read anything I sent you, did you?

EDIT: Looks like you are rethinking your foolishly quick decision. So I'll offer this: $600 for a complete coilover set up? Just stop and think about that.

If you're too cheap to put a half decent suspension on at this particular point, then WAIT.
If you can't wait, cheap out and get springs/struts.
If you want to really cheap out, get lowering springs and keep your stock struts. Progress or H&R springs will work with the OEM struts IIRC.

Rods03Max619

iTrader: (5)

Should just save a little more cash and get the Megan Exhaust.....

Rochester

iTrader: (3)

Ha. Poor guy.

Mr. Brett

iTrader: (7)

A real, properly installed spring/strut setup will run just as much as a set of mainstream coilovers.

I always break it down for people because they don't realize it until they see the numbers:

Set of Decent Springs: $250
Set of Decent Struts: $450
New Strut Mounts: $225 for OEM
All totalled, that's $925. Same as you'll pay for a set of D2's or Megans.

By the way, FWIW, Progress springs ride terrible on stock struts. That's the setup I had. It made the car feel like it was going to self-destruct over every bump.

95VQ30

cant locate the 304 but...

314

http://www.rsaperformance.com/megan-...ima-00-03.html


318

http://www.importpartspro.com/mrcbsnm0002.html


323 Shipped

https://www.upscaleautomotive.com/p-...an-maxima.aspx

TunerMaxima3000

iTrader: (4)

Agreed, I was just implying the cheap out method. ie. Just springs or just springs/struts. But like you said even springs/struts are going to run him around $600-$700.

Any comments about ride quality would be pointless because he is trying to cheap out on the parts. He will simply not acheive good ride quality in the price range he wants. Especially not for CO's.

phatboislim

iTrader: (27)

i wouldnt knock him for getting C8s...i have a strong feeling they will make a GOOD mark in teh coilover industry

blue_magicSE

iTrader: (4)

How long do you plan to keep the car?
What's the ride quality that you want to get out of a sports sedan?
If I were you I would hold off, do more research while saving more money to get what will last, something that will make you glad you were patient.
Teins, D2's or JIC's take your pick.
My Teins perform like a champ while the ride quaility is to me almost better than stock.

nismoSEXIMA

iTrader: (4)

COILS!!!!! the only way to go.....

maxima 21

iTrader: (2)

I have been doing a lot of reasearch on the C8s. And i have not decided 100% on that. I am working with a company on getting me a better deal for the C8 so that i can put a review on here about them. If these turn out to be a good product then i will arrange a group buy also.

Here are my personal thoughts on the C8sports after the reasearch that i have done.
In high school I work in electronics at sears as a salesman, What i found is that when Vizio came out, No one had heard of them and didnt want to try them.... Vizio's price was LOW. They kept prices low to get their name out there. The vizio TV is a very good american made television. But without the credability, they couldnt price their products like sony and samsung could. Now that the vizio name is up near the top... prices are starting to reflect that. This could be the same situation with these coilovers. They are new and dont have the reputation that they would need to price like everyone else. Its possible that these are a great product and no one knows it yet becuase everytime someone considers them they get thrashed just like this thread has done. People are creatures of habit and it takes 1 person to step out and go for something new in order to convince the others that change is not always bad. If i have to be the test subject on these to help get the name out then they are going to have to give me a pretty good price on them. Other wise... Ill listen to the advice and save for the D2s. Negotiations should be firmed up this evening and Ill let everyone know how its looking.
Thanks for the input.

AlexxSCM

iTrader: (2)

Tiens........... Coilovers all the way