thanks for the feedback, I'll try the settings. If it deosn't satisfy, I'll go with the 7/5 and get back to every one....

Off point: Strahan better have a BIG game on sunday

 

I got a set of Ksport coilovers for my 1997 maxima brand new never used. Would someone take this off my hands for $740 shipped. Email me if interested Gkilgroe@yahoo.com

 

d00df00d,

I adjusted all the settings on the Ksports the half turn from full soft and the Max is ridding much smoother, thanks for the help

 

UPDATE: SOMETHING BROKE.

Pics forthcoming.

So... Highly adjustable coilovers for less than the price of Teins. You knew there had to be a catch, right? Well, of course, there is: the aluminum that the mounts and collars are made from certainly doesn't completely suck, but it's definitely NOT the hardest material they could have used.

Anyway... the top nut *somehow* came off one of my rear coilovers. The washer and rubber bushing under it, of course, followed soon after. With nothing holding it in at the top, once I hit a bump that unloaded my rear suspension, the shock piston ended up falling down and under the top mount. And that, of course, meant that it punched holes in the top mount every time I hit a big bump.

Again, pics are forthcoming (need to borrow a digicam), but suffice it to say that the middle section of the top mount looks pretty mangled. I'll post the pics as soon as I have them.

I'm definitely gonna need a new top mount. I'm also gonna find the dimensions of the bushings so I can look into polyurethane ones.

Stay tuned.

 

Try to contact ksportusa with your situation along with some pictures and I am sure they will help you out.

 

I had that same problem with my D2's. Well, almost...but the nut never came off. I was hearing a clunking sound. The nut was coming loose so I would tighten it down. This happened about 5 or 6 times. Each time I would tighten it a bit more and it finally remained tight.

 

Yup, I have. The support rep was very thorough in making sure he understood the problem, and then said the same thing -- I should send them some pics and they will send me the parts I need.

 

Here are the pics (thumbnails with links for 56k folk):



In the second pic, note the lack of metal between the two rubber bushings. That's how much of the top mount was punched out. The hole in the middle was supposed to be about half an inch in diameter, and now there's barely enough metal in the middle of the top mount to keep the bushings from touching each other. I had to tighten the top nut down extra just to hold everything in place.

 

Ohhhh my doodfood! I hope everything works out for you. I'm gona have to check mine out tonite. What did you hear to know that happened? Did your rear suspension just stop travelling??

 

Three signs:

- A fairly loud and quick bang in the rear every time I hit a decent-size bump. This was presumably from the shock piston hitting the top mount.

- A lot of extra bounce from the rear right on the highway, from the shock being positioned improperly and the adjustment being thrown off.

- A great deal more skittishness when hitting a bump in mid-turn – the rear end would skip out very noticeably toward the outside of the turn, even in cases where it wouldn’t normally do that.


I have a wood board in my trunk that my sub and amp are fastened to. At some point its supports broke, so it started bumping up and down whenever the road got rough, and it made exactly the same noise as the busted coilover whenever it hit the floor of the trunk. That should give a better idea of what it sounded like… a wood board smacking into the metal of the trunk.

As for the skittishness, I just figured I had worn bushings in the rear or something. But it definitely felt weird to feel the entire rear jump out about a foot toward the outside of a turn when I hit a bump.

The bounce – which I could clearly tell was from that one corner – was what prompted me to investigate it. I figured it had just been thrown out of adjustment and needed to be set back to where it was. Imagine my surprise when I opened the trunk, leaned in to adjust the dampening, and saw nothing but an empty hole in the top mount where the shock piston was supposed to be.

 

By the way... there was some talk earlier about spring rates that I want to revive because I just figured something out.

Someone was saying that if you're concerned about ride quality, you could just order softer springs and then add preload later to firm them up if you’re not satisfied with the handling. That sounds like a great idea at first, but now that I think about it, it might not be the best thing to do.

When you buy coilovers, the spring rates, the shock travel, and the shock valving are all matched. When your suspension compresses, the spring provides resistance and the dampening increases; the more you compress it, the more resistance the spring provides and the more the dampening increases, and so on. It’s all balanced: for “X” amount of compression you get “Y” spring resistance and “Z dampening. If you buy softer springs and then preload them a lot to simulate a higher spring rate, you’ll throw that balance off in three ways:

1. Because of the way our coilovers are designed, you preload the spring by pressing it into the top mount. That effectively shortens the spring, which may decrease suspension travel because the spring might end up fully compressed before the shock.

2. The shock absorber is designed to change its dampening as the suspension compresses. This accommodates for the extra resistance provided by the spring on compression. Because of the above point, the spring and shock would be mismatched because the top, middle, and bottom of the spring’s travel would no longer correspond to the top, middle, and bottom of the shock’s travel.

3. Furthermore, the shock's changes in dampening upon compression will not match the ramping up of the spring's resistance because the latter will not happen the same way as with a longer but stiffer spring.


Moral of the story: the ride/handling balance could be significantly worse because the springs and shocks will no longer match. IMO, it’s not worth it: pick a set of spring rates and stick with it.

I realize that we’re not dealing with a $10k set of racing coilovers here, so they’re not as sensitive to this stuff. But the principle holds: the whole point of a coilover system is to have a matched set of springs and shock absorbers, so they’re better off left to work in their intended operating conditions.

 

Thought I'd give you guys an update. I haven't heard from Ksport in the past week. I called them a few times each day and no one picked up.

Anyone have any idea why this would have been a bad week for them?

EDIT: Just realized it's SEMA week...

 

Also been trying to get in touch with them this week. doodfood just out of curiosity what # have you been trying?

 

1-480-829-8100.

 

Same # here. I hope SEMA is the reason, although I doubt it

 

Yes, this is SEMA week which is why no one is available at ksport to answer calls and such. They are all at the show rite now lol

 

Thought so.

They'd better hop to it when they get back. It's not a good feeling to be riding on half a rear top mount...

 

I have read through most of this thread, but still have a couple questions.

- i have my k-sport in hand, and i was wondering what the point of the ball top mount is. How does does this help?


-what are is the drop for these....0 - how many inches.

- i want to be real low with these. what will be the way of making it the softest ride i can?

 

Interesting coincidence. I happen to still have a couple answers. Let's trade.

That lets the the front coilovers turn as you steer, since they're connected to the wheel hubs (that's what a MacPherson Strut suspension is). They could have gone with bushings, which would have softened the ride, but the pillow ball mount design gives sharper steering response.

Ksport says they'll go as low as 4 inches, but they'll probably go lower than that.

Ride quality won't really change with ride height. Whatever you do, follow the instructions for minimizing preload and using the best dampening settings, and that's as good as it's gonna be.

 

FAR LOWER. You can basically take it lower than your wheel well can accomodate. My concern would be how high and close to stock can it go.

 

I have a feeling the 4-inch drop limit was just because of the default spring rates. The lower you go, the stiffer your springs need to be just to keep your bodywork from scraping the ground during cornering, so maybe 4 inches was as low as they were willing to suggest with the default springs.

 

wow ur max is beautifull. they will go really really low and are really really soft. u wont be surprised. look at my sig.... im only at like 3.5" infront and 3" in back....

 

wow! what a long freakin thread...I just got done reading 10 pages of it...

dood - thanks for the many contributions to this thread...mad props to u...I just ordered a set of A33 Ksports from Jinsu not too long ago...here is a question

A33's kits don't come with rear upper mounts/hats....I'm interested in buying new ones from DaveB...reason is, I want it to be a bolt off, bolt on deal...don't wanna haggle around with removing my old ones...anyway, does anybody in here know the parts that I will need? Part #s would be greatly appreciated...Judging from the FSM, I think I need more parts than just the hat?

 

oh yeah..anybody in here have axle issues? a few pages back, a member took a picture of his control arm not being horizontal anymore...at the same time, if u look at the axle, its being bent, putting much more stress...wouldn't this cause premature internal axle failure? i mean most people's axles wear out becuz of the torn boot...

so any members who slam their ride have axle issues?

 

i already got 2 torn boots on 2 BRAND NEW axles. i also got ticking noise when i get on the gas.....

 

I just finished my 2k3 and the only parts that get reused besides mounting hardware (nuts and bolts) are the rear hats. They come off really easy, all you need is a spring compressor tool... Autozone loans it out for free when you provide a refundable deposit.

 

What I've noticed is that slamming won't break your axles. But, if they have ANY imperfections in them, you will feel them. As everyone knows, there are always slight variations in the manufacturing process, so it's really a crapshoot.

That's why people have much more success with Raxles axles than with, say, NAPA remanufactured ones. I had the NAPA remans, and I had to return one because it was clicking and binding up, even though it felt totally fine when it was off the car.

 

alright a few more questions and i'm done...hopefully

my coilovers should be coming in the mail next week...I will have plenty of time to play with them before I put them on...anything I should do before putting them on? ex. put stronger rubber isolaters, grease certain parts etc..?? I remember reading it somewhere in this thread but don't want to go back to find it

also about the preload...what preload are all ya'll running? IIRC, most of u guys either snug-tight the spring when the car is fully jacked up...or leave 1inch of space between spring and mounts when fully jacked up....and i also remember most of u guys sayin going past the "snug-tight" is overkill....what is the best all around setting for preload for a 3inch drop? details will be greatly appreciated!

 

That's why the first post now has a link to the noise killing post.

Use absolutely zero preload (i.e. bring the springs into contact with the top mount and that's it). The springs are stiff enough that a 3" drop will be totally fine with no preload.

I'm on a ~3" drop with no preload, and other than speed bumps and such, I actually don't even come close to bottoming out -- even in situations where the stock suspension woulda had me kissing the pavement.

 

I did the 0 preload setup and still noticed a bit of noise from the CO. So my "guide" if you will is tighten the perch that compresses the spring as much as you can by hand with moderate strength applied. Then just use the wrenches to tighten it in place.

I hope that makes sense

 

so your planning to apply some preload? aka snug fit the spring by hand?

 

Exactly.... but you know what, a few extra turns isn't that bad, and in return you're getting a snug fit spring. A few turns will not be that big a factor in how hard your ride is

 

well i got mine installed......the instal was very easy exept for one of the front strut mount bolts broke off. i have my front where the botto mount is at the the very bottom of the shock body. Is there any way it can go higher? right now i have crazy rubbing issues in the front. the backs are fine, i got alot of height out fo them.

also when i turn the car sharply at low speed it sounds like my springs are making a popping type noise. what coild this be...other than that there is very little noise.

 

Have you checked to make sure that the spring touches the top mount when the car is in the air?

Does this happen as you turn the steering wheel, and does it stop when you stop turning the steering wheel?

Or does it happen every time the car is turning, even when you're not moving the steering wheel?

 

I think he needs to loosen the top hat nut...and re-torque it....

dood - how do you adjust height on the coilover? Do you just loosen the bottom lock nut and spin the shock into the body? Or does the coilover have to be taken off?

 

If you can loosen the collar(s) and turn the shock body without removing the coilovers, then do it. Just make sure not to grip the shock body with anything metal because you do NOT want to chew up the thread.

Otherwise, you'll have to remove the coilover.

If you're worried about having to remove and reinstall the coilovers multiple times to get the height right, just measure your ground clearances at all 4 corners and see how much you want to adjust each one. That way you can tell how you'll need to adjust the height of each coilover.

 

I just bought all the necessary tools to tackle the install....got all of them at harbor freight for a great price....tomorrow I'll be taking off all the trunk liners in prep for the install on Monday...then on Monday I'll just slap on the front coilovers and tune it there...my rear coilovers will be going on later in the week...depends on when my rear hats come in from the stealership....I plan to use all new parts for the rear...I'm hoping to get the fronts done on Monday, alignment Tuesday...then install the rears next Mon-Wed...

I just got one more question though...before I can fully understand the coilover

3. Rubber spring isolators rubbing against the metal. This will give you squeaking noises as you turn the steering wheel, and in some cases might give you dull clicks if the springs start binding.

Solution: Add some lithium grease or CV joint grease where the rubber washers make contact with the metal.

Where do I apply the grease? The top (where the gasket and spring meets) or the bottom (where the gasket and spring perch meets)? Or do I just do both? Also does the "white lithium grease" that I see at autozone the right one? Or is there another type of "Lithium Grease" that I missed? Thanks!

 

Harbor Freight dominates, let us know how the swap goes...

 

You can apply it to both. You won't hurt anything. I probably would use something thicker, like bearing grease, so it will stay put longer and not tend to wash/wipe off as easy. White Lithium tends to disapate real easy. Don't go crazy which ever you choose because gobs of extra grease will hold all the crap that gets kicked up in the wheel well! One other tip. Before you start, measure your ride height at each wheel, on a level surface, from the ground to the center of the wheel well and record your numbers. This is your starting reference point for ride height. It's not critical to have, but it's good to know where you started from. One last tip, HAVE PATIENCE! trying to get ride height set, side to side and front to back, will more than likely take several hours(unless you are extremely lucky). This will probably have to be repeated after you drive it around for a while and let things settle. Good luck, and let us know how it came out.

Tommy Boy

 

I had read this entire thread in preparation for installing my Ksport coilovers (special thanks to doodfood for all of the great information and input), and I decided to just install them first without any grease or other modifications and then go back and do only what is necessary to solve the problems that I am having. Well...it's been a week now and there have not been any noises at all. I didn't even need to use a hammer or anything besides my hands and the supplied wrenches for tightening the collars. I just went back and adjusted the lower spring perches to remove any preload that may have been there as well as compensate for any settling that may have taken place and there are still no noises. Perhaps I am not getting any noises because I did not drop as far as some of the other people. I set my ride height to 26" all around. The FSM says that my stock height is 27.99" in front and 27.32" in the rear. I had measured less than that which I assume is attributable to some sag in the stock springs (at only 29k miles). I hope this information helps.

I do also have a question: What is the purpose of the upper bolt hole of the lower strut mount being slotted as opposed to a fitted hole? Is it actually meant to be used as an asjustment (that would be pretty tuff to do with any amount of accuracy)? It seems like it could possibly be a course adjustment for Camber leaving the adjustment in the upper plate for fine tuning?