joseseat

Hey guys, I own a 6th gen Maxima in Australia, obviously a little bit different to your 6th gen, but i was wondering if there is any coilover experts out there that could tell me if 6kg front and 6kg rear spring rate on coilovers would be ok??

I dont want the car for track work, just low and as comfortable as i can get on coilovers

thanks!

joecurr

I can't really say since it's a bit of a different car but I'll tell you what I know. The BC Racing BR Type coilovers come with 6kg fronts and 7kg rears, not sure if that would apply to your car since the weight and ratio may or may not be different. A few questions for you.

What coilovers do you plan on using, and if not BC Racing do they offer valving for custom spring rates?
Are your rear springs also mounted separate from the shock?
How much lower do you plan on going?
What are your current and OEM wheel/tire specs?

The answers to those questions will affect what spring rates you should use. P.S. I hate you lol, I love the features of your Maxima/Teana (all the exterior chrome trim, front and rear bumpers, the grille integrated into the hood, the interior design, etc.), especially the body kits that are available for you, much more fitting for the scene I'm in to.

joseseat

Thanks for the reply man!

I'm getting BC v1's as they're the only ones bc made for the teana/aus max.

Currently have it on 20's.

Don't want to go stupidly low, just low enough that there is no gap. Currently have it on springs (35mm drop) back is nice but the front is still too high!

The website im buying them off has listed them as 8kg front and back but has said I can change that if I want.

Funny what you say about the bodykits for our maximas, it's an absolute pain trying to mod a maxima in Australia!! 99.99% of maxima drivers over here are old people or families so aftermarket stuff is virtually nonexistent in aus! Very small maxima scene over here... We have to source everything from Asia, which is understandably quite hard at times due to the language barrier! I actually imported my exhaust from you guys over in the US! Greddy spectrum elite system. Absolutely love it!!

I'm jealous that your maximas get manual transmissions! Only auto in the J31 6th gen...

joseseat

I will post some pics of it when I get it back from the panel shop, currently getting some bits resprayed. Black cars are a pain!!

joecurr

No problem, that's what the forums are for.

If you're getting BC's, you should be able to get custom spring rates with the correct valving, which is important for comfort. The general rule in my mind is the lower you go, the higher your spring rates should be to prevent rubbing. Judging by pictures online of your year Maxima, you suffer from the same OEM wheel gap that we do. If you are looking to go with zero tire to fender gap height-wise, 8kg/mm front and rear MIGHT be okay, but I'd probably go at least 1-2kg/mm higher. My BR's originally came with 6kg/mm fronts and 7kg/mm rears, I'm currently at 9kg/mm and 10kg/mm and plan on going 10kg/mm and 12kg/mm, but I'm also tucking tire and have pretty aggressive wheel/tire specs.

I can't exactly say how the comfort will be for you with increased spring rates because when I increased mine I used Swift springs which are probably the best springs to use for coilovers. I actually noticed when I changed my springs that the ride comfort was better than when I was using the softer BC springs, but having the correct valving should still help. When you post pics I might be able to make a better suggestion, I have to see how your wheels currently sit with respect to the fenders.

I don't care much for manual, I'm a cruiser so I'll take your version any day lol. The same can be said about Maxima drivers here, although the online scene seems very large, the majority of the ones I see on the road are also driven by older people. And you're lucky that you share a model with Japan because even though it's hard to get stuff, at least you have the option to! We are stuck with a strictly US model, and the little exterior mods we do have don't even compare to ones for the Maxima/Teana. Compare the body kits, window visors, grilles, etc. for the A34 versus the J31 and you'll see what I'm talking about, which is one of the reasons I've left the body alone. It seems the J31 is more geared towards luxury whereas the A34 is more geared towards being a 4-door-sports-car.