coolmax05

iTrader: (8)

Stay tuned folks... They will arrive today from "partstrain.com". And with my patience they probably will be installed today (by me). $123 Shipped

I will be giving you the 411 on the contrast between ride quality & handling of these two front struts. Keep in mind the OEM's already have 50K on them.

I already have a progress rear sway bar, progress springs all the way around, and rear GR2's. Tires are Bridgestone PP 050A's.

BTW (off topic) I am digging my 24 inch "imac". I run a dual boot system residing in the best of both worlds...
Mac OS Tiger &
Microsoft Vista Premium

Last night in windows I down loaded music from yahoo, watched a movie on my virtual PC, surfed the net, and word processed all at the same time with no glitches whatsoever. Here is the kicker, I only have 1 Gega Byte of ram.
My imac runs Vista better than a regular PC. It also took less than a hour to load including all drivers.

DeusExMaxima

iTrader: (1)

I have heard good things about the Gr2s struts so you will probably lvoe the handling, and hopefully wont mind the stiffer ride. I elected to go with Konis for the adjustability.

coolmax05

iTrader: (8)

I hope you're right. But... I'll trade you my "brand new" GR2's for your used Konis.

coolmax05

iTrader: (8)

And now for the comparison review between OEM struts and KYB GR2 struts.

In terms of ride comfort and handling the trade off is well worth it.
A slight degradation in ride quality versus a pretty hefty increase in handling and control. Over relatively smooth roads no difference at all. With rather large potholes it is a bit stiffer although ok by my standards. Love the sporty feel. The rears made more of a difference than the fronts in terms of handling and ride quality.

The only thing that bothers me is the front end is now .4 inches higher than before. A STRUT SHOULD NOT CHANGE THE HEIGHT!!! Unbelievable...but worth it.

ChernMax. Take it to the Max. Stop screwing around and get those Konis already to complete the metamorphosis on your otherwise perfect beast. At the very least you need GR2's.

The complete front end strut replacement only took me 1 hour and 40 minutes this time without any special tools.
These dealers saying it takes 3 hours with thier state-of-the-art tools, lifts, and airtools are full of it.

For instrutions on front spring/strut replacement refer to this link...http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=521396

DeusExMaxima

iTrader: (1)

Thats why they are called the stealership

95Max

Glad you like the your new GR-2. Be glad that you are in AZ and not the NY/NJ area. I have the GR-2 and they are punishing on our roads. My girlfriend now calls my Maxima a TRUCKima.

Oh and you guy do know that we are a bonus for KYB...right? They use the same front strut for our maxima's that they do for all models of the 02-04 Altima.

coolmax05

iTrader: (8)

I'll be frank with you. When installed incorrectly they ride rough. It is easy to do incorrectly if you follow the service manual verbatim. You have to make absolute sure the *upper rubber seat* of the strut is facing the outside of the car which is consistent and inconsistent with the service manual. The service manual assumes you have OEM springs. Therefore with aftermarket springs when it asked you to line up the arrow (located on the *spring upper seat*) with the notch (*located on the upper rubber seat*)this creates a problem wich can result in a degradation in ride quality.

Quite frankly, I find the whole setup kinda soft. I'm now wishing I had AGX's I could dial up to 7 or so. Don't get me wrong tho, the handling is terrific!

2LEET4U

iTrader: (4)

OMFG..... I agree with coolmax05...........

overlooking alignment of the top hat is easy to do. take your time and make sure the top hat is flush.

like he said, if you follow the manual verbatim, you will overlook this important step.

coolmax05

iTrader: (8)

Just make sure when you put the strut assembly back together it looks nice and flush like this...

This is acchomplished by making sure the *upper rubber seat* marking labeled "out" is facing twords the wheelwell and this...

The *upper rubber seat* label looks like this (incidently it is aligned perfectly in the upper & lower pictures with the lower part of the struts screw holes)

The spring going into the *spring upper seat* should fit like this.
(it is upside down)

!PrjctMax!

iTrader: (38)

Struts or shocks do not effect ride height; it's because they are new and still have to "settle in," so measure them again within a week or so.

95Max

Where is the "out"? Can you see it or do you have to remove the strut from the car? BTW I only had the struts/shocks changes not the springs.

2LEET4U

iTrader: (4)

yes you have to remove the whole shock assembly. The word "out" is located on the top hat. You may want to clean off any dirt that may be covering the text.

95Max

They are installed correctly. I think that the issue is the roads. I was out to visit family outside of phoenix and man are you guys spoiled with the nice roads. Spend time driving the Cross Bronx, the helix in/out of the Lincoln Tunnel or some of our other "smooth" not roads. You will have a different perspective on them.

mightymax5

I'm thinking of going with tein s tech springs fronts lower 1.6 and rear .5 . Anybody have or know anyone who does have these?

4MySwee

iTrader: (2)

I haven't heard a lot of good about these (tein)on our cars. If memory serves me correctly, the reason behind it is because the springs are too soft for us.

Maybe someone else can chime in here.

Swee