I have an 03 Maxima GLE with a little over 80,000 miles on it. It has a new set of Bridgestone tires 215-55-17 tires. I have never owned a Maxima before and was wondering if they supposed to have a stiff ride? You can feel every bump in the road. Would new struts help smooth out the ride or is this the norm for a Maxima?

 

Did you just buy the Maxima? Do you know if there are any aftermarket parts on it already? Got pics?

Personally I felt the stock suspension to be too mushy for a racecar.

 

Mine does the same thing at 103K. I expect the struts are fried on mine... Just deciding if I want to replace them with OEM's or lower the car and maybe get a set of KYB's or some other aftermarket strut

 

80k 03', nice pick-up. Yea I would go ahead and replace the struts but if you like comfort them lowering is not for you AT ALL. Its not going to ride like the stock unless of course you get some expensive coil overs that you could set to soft for DD.

 

Don't worn struts create a softer ride?

OP was talking about how stiff his/her ride is.

 

worn struts will compress faster and thus it will be harsh. Struts are not supposed to compress easily

 

The suspenion is all stock. The car just doesn't seem to soak up the rough roads here in KY. I bought the car wrecked with 75,000 miles on it, very light damage, I drove it home from Nashville. So far I love the car, but the ride is a little stiff. I will certainly not be lowering it.

 

Just to make sure that you don't overlook the obvious...check the tire pressure and make sure it's not over inflated. But likely the shocks are worn...I've noticed the same on my I30 with 83K miles

 

Hmm my bone stock SE which comes from the factory with slightly firmer suspension that your GLE rides very nice. I don't like too firm either and I find the Maxima offers a nice combination of ride and handling.

Check your tire pressures as someone mentioned. Also what are your previous cars? The reason I ask is if you're comparing it to a Lincoln or something then yeah the Maxima would feel stiff.

 

It kinda depends on what kinda car you had before the maxima. I came from a mazda protege before buying my max and I felt the suspension was kinda stiff, but I got use to it and like it that way. If u wanna soften up the ride buy some tokico hp shocks. I had them on my max and the ride was much softer. To soft for me, so I went back to stock...

 

I had a similar problem when i bought my 03 max 4 years ago except mine felt like every little bump i hit was a huge pot hole, plus riding stiff. So replaced stock shocks and struts and fixed the problem

 

I feel as if subframe collars could reduce the harshness and noise from bumps. That and a set of tokico hp's

 

My 02Max is at 94k and rides like it doesn't have a suspension. I'm probably going to go with BC coilovers to replace the existing suspension cause I want a lowered ride (basically get rid of the wheel gap) without the harsh ride which I believe you can't really do with aftermarket struts & springs. Could someone point me to a place to purchase subframe collars? Perhaps I can get them installed while getting my coils installed.