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Hello Maxima.org members,
My 2000 Maxima SE is now at 256K miles and the ride quality has begun to deteriorate. Squeaks, rattles, swaying, etc. I personally changed the struts and shocks at 100K miles with KYB GR-2's and I had those replaced with OEM assemblies at around 140K miles. I had a mysterious bump with the KYB's and to me, the wide was more harsh than OEM. Once the OEM's were installed, I was pleased.
I prefer not to go back to OEM's for a few reasons. I have no interest in lowering my vehicle either. Given my mileage, I figured I would go ahead and replace my springs while I'm at it. Should I give KYB GR-2's another try, give the Stagg's a chance, or something else?
Also, would you mind validating my shopping list? Here's what I have right now:
(2) MOOG front upper strut mounts
(2) MOOG rear shock mounts
(2) front and (2) rear MOOG springs
(4) MOOG dust boots and stoppers for front and rear
(2) Monroe spring insulaters?
(2) Monroe spring seats?
(2) Front struts
(2) rear shocks
Hello Maxima.org members,
My 2000 Maxima SE is now at 256K miles and the ride quality has begun to deteriorate. Squeaks, rattles, swaying, etc. I personally changed the struts and shocks at 100K miles with KYB GR-2's and I had those replaced with OEM assemblies at around 140K miles. I had a mysterious bump with the KYB's and to me, the wide was more harsh than OEM. Once the OEM's were installed, I was pleased.
I prefer not to go back to OEM's for a few reasons. I have no interest in lowering my vehicle either. Given my mileage, I figured I would go ahead and replace my springs while I'm at it. Should I give KYB GR-2's another try, give the Stagg's a chance, or something else?
Also, would you mind validating my shopping list? Here's what I have right now:
(2) MOOG front upper strut mounts
(2) MOOG rear shock mounts
(2) front and (2) rear MOOG springs
(4) MOOG dust boots and stoppers for front and rear
(2) Monroe spring insulaters?
(2) Monroe spring seats?
(2) Front struts
(2) rear shocks
Your opinions and advice is appreciated.
I have what you need in the classifieds section.
Stagg Front struts, New
KYB complete assemblies, 3,000 miles no snow.
Or Monroe Complete assemblies, used though 50K miles.
With those miles, I'd honestly just go with Monroe Quick Struts. Beats buying every component individually. Ride's on the softer side but still compliant.
They make OEM struts for a lot of cars, so it's not like normal chinese crap, I would assume.
Well even though supposedly all my struts were replaced when I bought the car (still need to check the rears), I'll probably buy these this or next summer.
I would agree. My frts are noisy and the rears came mis aligned. Had to rent spring compressor and totally reset the orientation. Would not buy again.
I'm finishing up collecting parts for a new strut and spring build on my 4th gen. You might want to browse the following thread regarding some of the fitment issues I found along the way. More parts and pictures are on the way. Its mix of H&R, Koni, MOOG, and OEM
Thank you to all who responded. Based on the general feedback from forum members, I elected to purchase KYB GR-2's for front and rear, front and rear Moog mounts, front and rear Moog springs, Febest OEM copies of front and rear dustboots/bumpstops, ES rear trailing arm bushings and ES front sway bar bushings. My total price for everything was appox $530. I'm happy with the finish product. A couple of items of note were:
1) The Febest OEM dustboots fit perfectly in the Moog mounts. Nice quality as well.
2) My install of the ES trailing arm bushings was the most time consuming. ES instructions and (2) other forum members instructions reference an OEM bushing design that is substantially different than what was installed in my 2000 SE. It took me 10 hours to just remove the bushing from one side and install the ES bushing. The second side took 2.5 hours to complete the job. While one of my OEM bushings was leaking a bit, I would NOT entertain this job if I knew my OEM bushings were OK. I did not have easy access to a shop press and this could have made a large difference in the install time/effort. it's hard to describe, but my bushings had a metal core in the center that was extremely tight fit inside the trailing arm housing. It was notched in 4 places so I theorize that Nissan had a machine that compressed this ring, inserted it into trailing arm housing, and once inside, it expanded.
2) My install of the ES trailing arm bushings was the most time consuming. ES instructions and (2) other forum members instructions reference an OEM bushing design that is substantially different than what was installed in my 2000 SE. It took me 10 hours to just remove the bushing from one side and install the ES bushing. The second side took 2.5 hours to complete the job. While one of my OEM bushings was leaking a bit, I would NOT entertain this job if I knew my OEM bushings were OK. I did not have easy access to a shop press and this could have made a large difference in the install time/effort. it's hard to describe, but my bushings had a metal core in the center that was extremely tight fit inside the trailing arm housing. It was notched in 4 places so I theorize that Nissan had a machine that compressed this ring, inserted it into trailing arm housing, and once inside, it expanded.
Maybe this helps a forum member in the future.
how do you like the results of the trailing arm ES bushings?
I would agree. My frts are noisy and the rears came mis aligned. Had to rent spring compressor and totally reset the orientation. Would not buy again.
Your lucky my front and rear came out the box misaligned. I will never buy another set ever again.
Do the febest rear shock boots, part # 55240-2Y000 have 2 rubber ribs like the oem 54050-2Y001 front boots have, or just 1, where the bump stop goes. Just trying to find out if the front/rear oem boots are different in sizes/specs. Pic of '03 Max SE oem strut boot with (2) rubber ribs/bushings, 54050-2Y001 Pic of 'Febest' brand oem copies of rear shock boot w/o bump stop. This vendor does not sell them together. Does this boot look like the oem Nissan ones for the rear shocks of an '03 Max SE 3.5L with (1) rubber ribs/bushing? These will be going on rear oem-replacement Kyb #341341 Excel-g shocks with the original, rear oem upper shock mounts if I buy them. Thanks for any help!
I wouldn't put too much thought into what strut boots to get. just pick a set and you'll be ok. KYB struts are decent. I'm running KYB struts, boots and upper mounts that I got from Rockauto with Tein springs and it all worked out great.
Hey uptownsamcv. Thank you for your wealth of knowledge. You always help me out with any concerns that I have. God bless you. I think I'm gonna go with the 'Moog' #K90655 front upper strut mounts,# 54050-2Y001 front oem Nissan strut boots, and either the Kyb #SB132 rear shock boots/bumpers(from RA), or the 'Febest' brand rear oem copies from Ebay. I'm just torn between purchasing the rear kyb shock boots or the Febest ones. I'm just gonna go with your advice and stop over-thinking everything. It's just keeping me stuck, and my vehicle needs to be fixed 'yesterday'. Are the rear Kyb shock boots,(#SB132) for an '03 Max se? It says on the description page from RockAuto that they are for a bunch of different vehicle models and also for 1996-2018 Nissan Maximas. Is this the correct rear boots for my '03? Comes with bump stop as well. They may be smaller than the 'febest' oem copies from china. Does it matter if the rear boots are smaller than the front boots for Kyb Excel-g strut/shocks? And will the front oem Nissan boots be fine for the front 'Moog' mounts? Last question: What other strut/shock components will I need to buy for the Kyb struts/shocks? The only components I have right now are the front Moog mount plastic bearings,(and whatever that rubber insulator, or spring perch that's on the bottom of each mount that has a small, black tube in the middle). And the front oem strut boots from the dealership. This is my first time building up 'any' struts/shocks. Any help on part #'s would be awesome! I think I'm in way over my head, lol. Anyways, all have a great Thanksgiving and God bless!🙏🪽🪽🫶🤜🤛💥💯🦃🦃
avoid eBay, you never know what your really getting. I never even heard of Febest. Moog and KYB makes good stuff. the boots are usually all made from the same stuff so unless you find one made of silicone which lasts longer it won't matter what brand you get.
I wish I would have read this earlier. The one and only time Scotty screwed me over.
I got a pair of Monroe quick struts for my van. for a van I can't really complain, it's better than the worn out 05 Toyota struts that it came with at 490,XXX miles.
yeah well after a couple years mine are all covered in rust and one failed (leaking) so it's cheap chinese junk, maybe back in the day when they were made in the USA they were decent but not today.
