As far as the highway the only thing that MAY become tiresome is long sections of expansion joints. Otherwise they are butter.

 

Get these tires and don't ask questions: http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....e1=yes&place=1



If you don't mind your car the way it is now, you should be fine on Ksports. They will make impacts a little harder, but once you set the damping correctly you won't get as much bouncing.

As far as your long trips... If your concern is that a long trip might tire you out, Fr33way is right on the money. Ksports are not fatiguing at all for long trips except when the road is really rough for miles. If you're concerned about driving in NYC, it's not really a pleasant experience. But again, if you can stand your current setup there, you'll be fine on Ksports.

 

dam i wish i read this yesterday... i just ordered some rikens zr rated tires i think i should be fine cause a buddy of mine put them on his bmw and he says he loves them.... but i see alot of bad comments bout the k-sports are they really that undependble?

 

You can't go by what you see in this thread. The only reason that you see so many posts about the bad stuff is that nowadays people only post here when they have problems. If you count the actual number of incidents, you'll see it's something like 15. Now, consider that there were at least a couple thousand kits sold to people on this forum. 15 problems out of a couple thousand kits ain't so bad.

In fact, based on what I can tell, they are more dependable than any other full coilover kit except maybe the Teins (which might not be the best thing if you're going for a really low drop) and the Progresses ($$$).

That said, they WILL blow out on you in a hurry if you do any of the following:

- Drive fast on rough roads in super-cold weather without first letting them warm up (by driving like a granny for the first few minutes)
- Set them up badly (too much preload, setting ride height with the spring perch instead of the lower mount, etc.)
- Let the pistons turn too much in the shafts

Also, it's not a good idea to just install them and forget about them. If you don't check on them every few months and clean them up a little, they might seize up and prevent you from adjusting them in the future.


But yeah... As long as you don't expect the whole damn world for less than $800, they're great.

 

Word up d00d
90 percent of these forums is people posting with problems and asking for help. Its not just a ksport thing...

 

Hi people...

When installing my rear ksports, i overtightened one of the nuts on the top studs and it broke. I need to have my car back on the road ASAP, how do i fix this? I would prefer not to go anywhere for this and fix it at home, if possible.

 

I'm not sure what could be done besides sending it back to Ksports. but You could/would be fine riding on it as long as the other one has a bolt on it. With a loaded suspension on it, your at a very low risk of something happening. . .

just interjecting a little info.

if Ksport send your a replacement stud, you'd have to compress the spring and remove the top hat then replace.

 

No need to compress the spring. Just move the spring perch down until you have as much space as possible to grip the damper piston. Then, grip the piston FIRMLY and take off the top nut with an impact gun. The mount will come off easily -- under the nut, it's a washer, a bushing, the mount, a bushing, and a washer.

The only tricky part will be pressing out the remains of the old stud and then pressing the new one in, but I think a torch and the proper tools could make short work of it.

If you ABSOLUTELY HAVE to drive on the busted top mount, drive CAREFULLY. Drive like you're TRYING to **** off the people behind you, who really need to get somewhere.

 

hey here are my rear struts that are BOTH leaking. I know there are only a handful of people w/ problems but i have the same problem as everyone else....it's my daily driver. What would be a good solution for me?

 

sorry i30drv I hope you have your stock shocks around, and can put those on while Ksport rebuilds your current ones.

It would be nice if Ksport could handle situations like this in this fashion.

xxx org member's rear ksports are leaking. xxx contacts ksport USA. They offer to send out replacements but charge say $400 to send the replacements. They sent them out, but with a return label so that the customer can put their blown Ksports inside and ship back to Ksport USA. Once they receive the old leaky struts they credit the customer back their $400. This way everyone is protected. I know $400 is a lot and some but this would be an effective way to get replacements out to org members and Ksport would Protect themselves also.


just typing out loud. . .

 

They do that already, except the deposit is something like $150 per damper and you have to spend like $5 shipping the old one back to them.

 

Really? They will send out the new ones and refund your once your send back the old? If that the case then that good. I know some may not exactly have the money laying around. Plus I'm not if they fully examine the coilover before refunding or if as soon as they receive it and verify its bad and from the specific person they will refund.

This method saves people down time, it will cost them but in the end it wont hurt their pockets.

 

Yeah, man. That's what all the talk about advance replacement has been about.

 

ooopps. . . I've been a little narcoleptic when it comes to this looong thread. the Advance placement sounds like the solution, to most or all of peoples problems.

 

Advanced replacement worked very well for me. Although I was origionally not happy that they leaked so quickly, it should only take about 20-30 minutes to R & R the rear strut. Maybe a few more if you clean the oil off/out of the origional body. My issue now is with the poly spring isolators at the top of the front struts. They are splitting. They seem to be split right where the end of the spring pig tail is on both sides. I'm going to be putting the origional struts and shocks on for the winter so I am going to fab up a full diameter flat spacer to go between the end of the spring and the poly isolator. I'll let everyone know how they work out.

 

Finally got everything pretty much figured out and adjusted. Getting very very slight noises but i really don't care about stuff like that.

The car rides better over bumps then my old setup, which was stock shocks on cut megan racing springs with 1.5 finger gap in front and 2 finger gap in rear. I did not get an allignment yet, but i will soon.

As far as the handling...i'm getting an ungodly amount of understeer, MUCH more than my old setup. The front tires make noise on corners soooo much sooner than they did with old setup. This MAY be due to not having the camber adjusted correctly. Preload is 0, i can spin the springs with my hands if the car is jacked up. I tried numerous settings on the shocks and it seems like no matter what i try, i get more understeer than my old setup. I even tried full soft up front and full hard in rear, and that improved things, but still not to the point i was expecting.

Can anybody give some insight on my understeer situation? I read page 1-38 of this thread over the past week, and didnt really find a solution, maybe i wasnt looking hard enough.


Also another question i have. I plan on buying a stage 2 LTB sometime soon, will this help handling a lot, or would a stage 1 give pretty much same results? It makes the front end tighter, so wouldnt that cause even MORE understeer? I'm sure im not understanding something here, so somebody please explain!

 

Get the Stage-2 LTB. If it does end up giving you more understeer, that's only because it has stopped the front end from flexing in such a way that the inside wheel doesn't lift as much. Grip due to chassis flex is like sex due to alcohol...

If you have more understeer, it may very well have something to do with your alignment. Get it aligned (I recommend -1 to -1.5 degrees camber and zero toe) and see what happens.

If you still have more understeer after that, it may have to do with spring rates -- maybe your old cut Megan Racing springs ended up having MUCH higher spring rates in the back than in the front (easy way to reduce understeer), which is the opposite of what you have now. If that's the case, you can always add a little preload to the rear springs (remember to also increase damping if necessary). Raising the ride height in the rear can help a little as well.

 

Ok. I'll get an allignment and see if that helps, if not, i'll crank up the preload a little bit. Thanks!

 

i'm here to report that my front right coilover has blown. I feel like its only a matter of time before another one blows. My ride has felt bouncy lately and when i went to check there was oil all over the strut. So now my other one will probably blow because its been taking all the weight of the front end......teriffic....im getting disappointed....i just want them to last a long time.
i cant tell if its inevitable that they blow or it was just a design problem they have fixed.
this is a front strut so now im going to have to PAY someone to mount the top mount on there to keep the piston from moving around and all that.. the rear ones were fairly simple but...the front ones i think im gonna have to go to a shop for.

 

How many miles were on em and what settings did you use?

 

for the most part i kept them at full stiff all the time.
i've had them about a year and probably put over 20 thousand miles on them.

 

I wonder if its easier on the shocks if they're ran on full soft or full stiff....less movement when they're full stiff. Any ideas? I've been running mine and its quite bouncy, but my car is really light due to being a completely barebone gxe AND some good weight recuction. I drove the car with 5 people in it, and it felt absolutely perfect. Trying to figure out a way to simulate that effect wihtout concrete bags...

 

Lower spring rate....

 

I'm thinking your toe is out. That MURDERS turn-in and initial bite and leads to long uncontrollable understeer. What is your camber like in the front?

 

My car is light, will the typical 7/5(or whichever ones were safe on stock valving) really be enough to fix the bouncy ride? I figure 5 people=600lbs...i'm not sure if the softer springs will be enough to simulate that ride. The handling around tight corners felt worse obvisously though, so will the softer springs make it much worse?

 

my stupid azz still hasn't gotten an allignment...im waiting till i change my axles, and then do it....will changing axles effect the allignment, if i allign it now?


My camber looks to be very negative, judging by the camber plates and wear on tires when i did my rotation.


Edit: also, i raised my car up to the highest safest setting that the ksports go on, and the control arms are almost horizontal, and the turn-in is amazing, the car just feels nimble as hell.

 

What are your damper settings like?

 

I'm just annoyed because, lets say the left side shock blows now due to taking all the weight the right side wasn't supporting when it was blown. Then I gotta call in again and its like an endless circle and my struts aren't even covered by warranty anymore and I'm trying to see if they'll still be nice enough to give me a break since its only a month past the expiration.
I love coilovers..I just want something that's gonna last....I can't be replacing these things every couple months.

 

generally, softer settings will help w/ longevity..

 

I second the idea of softer springs. As a rough rule, the lighter your car is, the softer your springs should be.

Try playing with your damper settings, too.

I don't think Ksport has a 5 kg/mm spring, so the next one down would be 4, which may be too soft for the amount of piston travel in the dampers... I can't say for sure because I don't know how much of your weight reduction affects the rear suspension, but I know 4 kg/mm is definitely too soft for a stock car. FWIW.

If you want to cut down your spring rates, first be sure that it's [b]bounce[/i] that you want to fix, and not stiffness. If it really is bounce, you may be able to fix it just with your damper settings. Stiffness is the only thing that will definitely require softer springs to fix.

Next, be sure which end is behaving in a way that you don't like. Is the front end or the rear end kicking too hard? Do you get a lot of see-sawing when you hit bumps with the front and then the rear? Depending on the problem, you may be able to get away with changing only the front or only the rear springs.

I can say for sure that extra weight won't have the same effect on your handling as lower spring rates, so don't worry about that. They both increase body roll and cause your suspension to absorb bumps more, but extra weight also adds inertia to your car. All else equal, a lighter car with softer springs will generally handle better than a heavier one with stiffer springs.

The only thing involved in changing axles that might hurt your alignment is how the spindle bolts to the strut. I got around that by unbolting the struts from the strut towers instead of the spindles. That made the operation a bit tricky, but at least I know that nothing that affected the alignment was changed.

 

I've tried all settings, now i run full soft all around.

 

I'm pretty positive that its stiffness, and not bounce. The car does not bounce when i put all my weight on the back or the front, as a matter of fact it hardly goes down/up. On the roads, i'm also pretty sure that its not bouncing but just following every dip/bump in the road and not absorbing anything. After all, the car did ride pretty much perfect with the extra estimated 600lbs inside. Preload is 0 on front, and a little bit on back. I tried it with zero on back and it was pretty much the same thing.

I think its both ends of the car actually, not one or the other. It seems like if the road is 'wavy', the car follows those 'waves' and doesnt absorb hardly anything, even on full soft. This is especially noticeble at lower speeds below 75 mph. I dont usually travel above 75 so this is a problem for me. There are hardly any cracks on the roads around here, so i can't comment on that. It's been like this ever since i installed them(new) so they're not blown.

 

Doesn't work that way. Trust me. I drove for a while on a dying front damper in NYC in winter when the other one was something like 28k miles old. That other damper is now 45k miles old and it's still 100% fine.

Do you want something that will hold up very well in relative terms, or do you want something indestructible? Coilovers are really, really hard to make durable. Companies like Koni, H&R, Bilstein, and TC Kline can do it, but their kits cost two to three times what you paid for your Ksports -- not that they'd be an option anyway because they aren't even available for the Maxima. Of all the other companies that do make kits for the Max, none has proven to have a better track record for reliability than Ksport.

The only thing that might be better is JStutter's trademark setup: Shortened 3rd Gen Koni Yellows in front, 4th gen Koni Yellows in back, Ground Control adjustable springs all around, and camber plates. Long-travel rear shock mounts and KYB dustboots/bumpstops would be a big plus. But that's a lot of work and a lot of money for something that isn't as adjustable and doesn't provide an iron-clad guarantee of better reliability.

 

Softer springs would definitely help, then.

Stepping down to 7 kg/mm in front would be good. If you have a lot of weight reduction, 5 kg/mm in the rear would probably be fine. Since Ksport doesn't offer a 5 kg/mm spring, you could just measure your current ones (inner diameter, outer diameter, free length) and get what you need from the Eibach Race Spring catalog.

 

Is this 'heave' motion (where the whole car rises and falls but remains essentially parallel to the road plane) or 'pitch' (where it alternates between nose-down/tail-up and nose-up/tail-down)?

Unless it's a rather specific combination of vehicle speed, wheelbase, and road condition that gets your car to move in some resonant mode or other, the first is most likely a problem with damping that's not adequate for the springs (given that the description means that it really is stiff in terms of lb/in wheel rate relative to the wheel loads and not just a matter of subjective feel). The second is a front ride frequency vs rear ride frequency vs road speed issue. Making one end either stiffer or softer will probably reduce this more than any reasonable amount of additional damping will. Driving either significantly slower or faster can reduce this effect, although this is not normally an effective alternative.

FWIW, most people tolerate heave better than they do pitch.


Norm

 

alright well Ksport decided to be generous and cover this one last shock. i'm happy but i've also just been informed that they dont do advance replacement anymore. I put my stock suspension back in this evening so i could send it out ASAP and get all of it back on.
After returning to stock (i ahvent driven it yet) i feel kinda good about it. I mean....i know parts wear out but...i ALWAYS felt paranoid about the ksports...it just didnt feel like a solid car. It felt like the car was too heavy for the suspension, especially in the front. Hopefully with the 3.5 swap and possibly a 5 speed swap i can lose alot of weight in the front. Everytime i went over a bump i felt like the shocks were dieing. Ive been giving it some thought and considering trying to get another set up or something....something thats gonna last. But i still want coilovers.
I'll probably end up sticking with ksports...im just going to be very disappointed when and if another one fails. I understand i go over some bumpy roads occasionally but i need a practical suspension in terms of longivity and reliability. The handling was great, the ride was fine with me.
I feel like the excuse is "well if one is blown out your going to have all the weight on the other one and then that ones gonna blow because its had too much of a load on it". So wtf do i have to do ? buy BOTH fronts? so i dont continue this vicious inevitable circle of blowing struts?

i saw d2's website has some type of external nitrogen coilover set up...D00d you have any input to help my situation? (i know you do!)
anyway i'll be back later to check up on the thread..time to go drive my lifted suv of a maxima.

 

Norm, it feels like a pitch. First the front goes over the bump, then the back does the same thing when it goes over the bump, not at the same time as the front. Dood's suggestion of softer springs seems like it would help, but it would be great if the problem could be fixed simply with dampening. About a month ago, i ran with 3 turns from full soft in front and 3 turns from full hard in rear for a while. The car handled very well on a SMOOTH surface, but i still had the bump problem, therefore i can't really think of a good setting that will fix the problem, just seems like the car is too light for the springrate. Shoot me some suggestions, because i dont want to spend more money than i need to.



As i come to think of it, the coilovers have always been like this, no matter what setting. Earlier i thought that they were just breaking in, so i didn't feel the need to address the problem.

 

not sure if anyone cares to hear about my little transformation but i'll blabber about it anyway.
wow...the car rides so nice. I felt like i could fall asleep on the drive tonight. I havent gotten used to it...but pulling in driveways is so easy.. it feels like a damn truck or somethin. You can definently feel a stability difference at anything above 50. The body roll wasnt as bad as i expected for some reason. I cant tell if traction is different. The steering is different, although i cant really say its easier or better. My transmission seems to feel harder when it shifts for some reason, but then theres times when everything feels softer.
I donno...its kinda exciting. although i'll admitt i feel rediculous driving around sitting so high. Despite all the modifications i have..i feel like i fit in with all the other cars on the road or somethin.

 

http://forums.maxima.org/showpost.ph...postcount=1393

External reservoirs don't really do much for durability in a street application.

If you really want more durability, again... http://forums.maxima.org/showpost.ph...postcount=1393

 

What Norm Peterson is describing as a "pitch" could also be described as a see-saw or bucking bronco effect. It's not just each end kicking up as it hits a bump.