Fortune Auto coilovers is what I would go with. Under $1k for the price-tag and excellent digressive shocks that are dyno-tested.

 

Application for Maxima?

 

yea they do have an application for maximas...it was in that 4th gen thread that asked BC or D2s. seem like a pretty nice set of coilovers..might be BCs next competition price range per price range

 

They do have an application for the 4th gen and 5th gen. Ignore the type error on their site that says the a33 is from 2000-2004.

Here is a link for them
http://www.fortune-auto.net/fortunecomfortseries.htm

 

Not that there's anything wrong with "cool factor". Everyone has their own priorities.

However, I lean towards agreement with Tuner here... the true value in the EDFC is having an easy technique to find your comfort & performance preference. Once found, I can't imagine why you would be switching things up on a regular basis.

On a related note, I thought Tuner's Tein's were just as comfortable as my Blues... (which are basically stock). In other words, very comfortable.

 

[quote=I wish they had a ride height adjuster that was remote controlled, now THAT would be worth the money, especially in the winter.[/quote]

They do, it's called "AIR RIDE"

 

That was with the Dampers cranked down almost all the way too, those things are smoother than stock if I turn the damper adjustment down, but that brings the handling closer to stock... so no

yeah, those SS coilovers just blew me away, I couldn't believe how smooth they were, I mean, I heard everyone going on and on about them, but never expected them to be better than stock, coilovers and smooth ride just don't sound right beside each other, but in the Tein SS, it's true.

I hear the BC's are up there in ride quality as well.




Air Ride in a Maxima = Fail.

I was thinking more of a Worm gear motor on each Coilover assembly, all controlled by a single switch. Oh some days I really wish I wasn't a single parent, and had the time to mess with some of these ideas I have.

 

I don't know bro....never can see too many of them!!!

 

What settings do you have on your dampers? Are the fronts and rears different?

 

Very hard to tell, IIRC the Tein lists these as 16 way adjustable,but there are like 26 notches when turning lol.

In either case, if I were to rate them 1-20, with 20 being as Stiff as they go, I'm riding 17 Front and Rear, both the same.
I have a decent amount of weight in the back though, stroller, carseat, tools, etc.

 

Would you say that the ride is comfortable or very comfortable in comparison to stock? Just trying to gauge where people setup their dampers for every day driving.

 

What about XYZ coilovers? I've been doing some research and they seem to be a well established company throughout Europe. For the 00-03 Maximas, they make a street version and even a racing spec version as well. Here's a link to their Super Sport street coilovers...

http://xyzsuspension.com/supersportcoilover.html

 

How so? I actually believe air ride on anything = win.

With the air ride systems of today, you get the comfort of a stock car, performance of a coilover system, but can adjust ride height at the flick of a switch. Only downside is that you pay more initially. But you more than get your money's worth.

 

On my current setup, it's less comfortable than stock, but I'm currently running 19" G37S rims with low pros to match stock OD, and I have the settings cranked up fairly stiff. All things considered, it's still incredibly comfortable.

But to comment on the coilovers capability, I had them with stock tires for a short period before installing the 19"s, with the coils at 3/4 of minimum ride height (low) and the dampers at 10/20 (20 being stiffest), they rode exactly like stock, only one exception> much better responsiveness and less body roll.

With them on stock tires and cranked all the way up, hard bumps taken quickly are a little sharper, but are cushioned very well, it's not much tougher than stock with it cranked up, and on stock tires.


I agree with the premis of your disagreement, current air ride systems are actually quite incredible, but for the A33, I think the only option is K-Sport, which are a $3000-4700 system (in the US, much more in Canada), and I don't trust K-Sport.

I Would agree that if you could do a proper, reliable air ride system on our cars for under $3000 it would be nice, but still, the only place it surpasses available CO's is the ability to drop lower, and if you're a show car. That said, there are VERY FEW people that are able to, or want to drop lower than 3"ish on this car, the Maxima just can't handle it, the suspension set up in our cars sucks.

 

Well.......after much debate, primarily with myself I have decided on the BC Coilovers which BTW were not even listed as one the choices, hahaah. The main reason after all is said and done is $$$$, the Tein's were always in the lead and were the main reason for this poll, but in the end I couldn't justify spending an extra $500 on a similar setup, at least from everyone's opinion on the matter. I took a leap of faith and hopefully it works out, thanks to all that participated

 

Congrats man, BC's should work great for you, I'm very interested to see how they hold up to our winters, where do you live in Ontario?

 

I'm in Bowmanville, I moved up here four years ago due to work. I grew up in Kitchener though, lived there for twenty years, but the comute to Toronto was killing me slowly . I hope the coils work out also, the oem's on the max currently are getting bouncy and uncomfortable, hopefully this brings the ride quality back some.

 

congrats on BCs...they are the best bang for the buck coilovers

 

yeah you will put them through the paces still, so I'm eager to hear how they make out for you, there have been very few to no reviews on the BC's in our climate.

 

somehow this turned out to a nice thread even with the spoonfeeding title. Good luck with the BCs please post your impressions of them when your done.

I really wish I could have went with Tiens, i almost regret sticking with a spring shock combo. I am definately happy with my set up, but I can only imagine how better it would be. I need to get a ride in a 5thgen with the TIEN SS.

What I picked up from this thread is that the census is in rougher colder climates... BCs may not last quite as long as the TIEN SS though the BC price is more inspiring than the TIENS, in which I stand by the saying you get what you pay for.

 

Yeah I agree completely that Tein's is the way to go and you absolutely get what you pay for more often then not. The thing is, I have a 2003 Max with 211,xxx KM on the odometer, how much longer am I realistically going to drive this car? I went with the BC's with the mindset that I will drive this car another 4 years, 5 years absolute max as I try to get everything out of my cars. Car payments are for suckers IMHO, but to each their own. How much difference in ride quality will there be from one set of coils to the other? in my estimation not worth the extra $500, and really that's what it came down to, because from what everyone says, JIC is the better way to go over Tein's, yet another $500 premium. In short, $1000 out the door shipped hurts a bit, but not as much as $1500 and I get improved ride quality and handling over my failing OEM setup. Break that down over 4 years of hopefully trouble free operation and it will be a sound purchase, anything less will be a disappointment IMO, only time will tell.

 

yeah im all about longevity, and if those bc's hold up then you did pick the very right choice. You're absolutely correct in considering the cheaper upgrade with our high mileage cars. I mean in a plus few years these cars will only be worth a set of TIENS ya know.

back when I was first shopping for suspension set ups, the questionable longevity in colder climates is really what held me back from getting coilovers, and that the price for supposedly cold resistant ones were over my anticipated budget such as is in your case.

 

Well I finally received the coils yesterday and installed them today. They were delayed in customs for 17 days , I guess border patrol had to make sure I wasn't importing anything crazy . The install went very smoothly, having the right tools for the job makes things go smoothly. I tried to make sense of the instruction manual that comes with the coils but I became very confused quickly, chinese to english translation makes for a bastard of a read . I noticed something odd though, the manual actually tells you to adjust height and spring preload? this is very odd as I thought the spring was preloaded from factory? this is on pg.06 of the manual. I did not mess with the spring preload at all, as I'm sure the rates will change if this is adjusted? I also ended up being 0.5" higher in the *** end for some reason, I adjusted the front and back to have the same gap between locking rings, yet the back is higher. I tried setting the dampening to 23 front and rear but found that to be too stiff of a ride, I'm currently rolling on 16 front and 15 rear. One more thing, the setup came with the pillowblock mounts instead of the rubber mounts like I requested, road noise and vibrations are certainly transfered to the cabin but it's not bad at all, simply louder. There is no clunking or strange noise of any sort at the moment and the car handles night and day better. I still need to do an alignment and quickly I found out my tires are worthless, Nankang FTL If anyone can confirm the adjustment of the springs, that would be very helpfull and what dampening you all rolling on?