Yep I dont know how much your dropped but if you got a 1.5" extender and your dropped 3" it would be like having a 1.5" drop but your dropped 3". Get what I am saying? lol

 

Most likely.

 

No this will do nothing for your axles. Unless you raise the car, or raise the engine and tranny youre screwed. The ball joint extender will fix the control arm angle, and the bump steer kit will fix the tie rod angle. There is no way other than raising the car or the drive train to fix the axle issue. Youre one of many who think lower is better.... which is just not true. It looks cool and thats all. There are no other pros of being that low. Your suspension geometry is totally out of wack.

 

Thanks for the replies guys. Some nice information!

 

I agree with the suspension geometry comment, but there are some advantages of lowering (as long as it's not excessive or "slammed"), including a lower center of gravity and reduction of wheel hop/launch squat (assuming that there are no "performance springs" that sit the same height as stock, which there aren't).......oh, and the ability to drive underneath truck trailers like they did in "Fast and Furious"

As to BlackMaxima...yeah, there are NO PROS of being THAT low....at least in terms of ride and handling. Must be bumpsteer like a ****....

 

I think one important factor that no one really thinks about is the relationship between the look from outside (i.e., the height and shape of the wheel wells) and what's inside. No car is going to ride or handle well if it's dropped 2 inches below what the engineers designed the suspension for. However, just think about how the Maxima would look and handle if the wheel well sheet metal came down a little lower (eliminating ugly wheelgap but keeping clearance nice and high) or if the suspension had been designed to be low like a sports car in the first place. You'd have no problem with ride/handling except more frequent scraping.

So yeah, if you lower simply with lowering springs, you're messing up everything else. To fix everything else takes a lot of work and possibly custom fabrication. It wouldn't be so much of a problem if the wheelgap and ride height weren't so high stock, but that's the nature of the beast.

 

Sooo., the extenders with my Eibach springs would be almost like putting the geometry back to stock? If so, definitely count me in.

 

essentially yes.....i am expecting an email form the company sometime today....

 

Hello folks,

Javid here from 6Gun Racing. There seems to be a good bit of discussion already about lowering, geometry and handling. Most of you seem to understand why our kits would make a MacPherson strut car handle and or brake better. By moving the control arm the kit "prevents as much of a loss in camber during roll or bump". The improvement in camber will depend on your wheel/roll rates, geometry, and tires but most apps will see 0.75 to 1.5 deg of camber 'retained' at full roll.

In my time trial car I reduced the static camber somewhat to improve my braking. My car already had tremendous amounts of lateral grip but needed more stopping grip. Many other Impreza owners are focused on improving front lateral grip and are running similar amounts of camber to before.


We at 6Gun Racing are excited to expand this kit to other chassis's and we look forward to working with the Maxima community.

Javid Kelley
Engineer / Co-Owner / Driver
6 Gun Racing
www.6gunracing.com

 

Thanks, we look forward seeing the outcome and trying out this kit.

 

Interesting.

 

Javid, thanks for posting, it's always nice to hear it direct from the company (and the engineer!). Given the sheer number of modified 4th and 5th gen Maximas I think you would have quite a market for a reasonably priced ball joint/tie rod extender kit.

So this kit would pretty much eliminate control arm problems, and shortened strut bodies would eliminate travel problems. Only thing left is the axle angle, right? But that doesn't seem to be a problem with a 1.5" drop.

 

WELCOME.....thanx for posting up....by the way this is Chris....I am the one that emailed you about this to begin with...i dont think I told you my user name in any e-mails

 

I dont know why you guys are having axle problems, my car has been lowered 2.5" for the last 150K miles and I still have the original driver's side axle with 170K on the car. My pass side axle needs repleacement- was repleaced at 100K due to clicking and now the inner boot is ripped after 70K miles.

I want the ball joint extenders but I need something like a 2" kit, my car is lowered approx 3" in the front and 2" in the rear. You can't put in a aftermarket ball joint into a 5th gen control arm- they are part of the control arm and if they go bad- you repleace the control arms.

BEJAY- as far as your swaybar question, it pivots on the 2 U shapped brackets that are mounted onto the subframe of the car. When the car is lowered the sway bar tilts and it compensates for the drop, if one side of the car corners and the wheel is pushed UPWARD, the swaybar acts as a torsion bar and brings the outside wheel downward to help the car controll body roll better. As long as both controll arms are mounted the same, and the car has even drop/height across the front end you have nothing to worry bout in temrs of sway bar. Its a bit hard to explain this without pictures etc...

I am down for tie rods and ball joint extenders. I need 2" minimum.... I over come bump steer with oversteer Why I have stiffer rear springs ! I also like the look of a lowered Maxima, and I hate rasing the car up and having to realign it before any major racing event. I have an aligment machine so its not hard to do....

ETA on the parts please ?

 

Any updates??

 

The 4th gen control arms are the same. Although Nissan does not sell replacement ball joints separately, you can certainly replace the ball joints with aftermarket ball joints on a 4th or 5th gen. It's called a ball joint press. I've done it.

But that's kind of beside the point because these ball joint extenders attach to the stock ball joint, meaning (duh) you don't have to replace the ball joint....

 

I know you can put aftermarket ones in there... but aftermarket ball joints suck, I've repleaced enough of them on my 3rd gen.

I know you dont need to repleace the ball joints to install these, but it would be a wise idea to have fresh joints in there when doing the extenders. I got 170K on the original ones with zero play !

 

Any updates?

 

updates ???

 

Hmmm, the MOOG ball joints on my VE are doing just fine after 5 years and 70k miles- including some hefty road course duty..

I've 'improved' the geometry vie spacing the control arm down and the tie rod ends relocated as well. the steering is MUCH better, but it's still not where it needs to be. my car is dropped about 1.5" in front and I've moved the control down about 1". the tie rods APPEAR to be at the same angle as the control arm, but the control arms are basically level when at static ride height. they need to be pointing down a few degrees, but I don't know what the proper angles should be.. it's not shown in the FSM and I don't know anyone with a stock 3 gen to measure off of.

anyway, the kit you guys are talking about is a great idea, assuming you relocate both the ball joint mount AND the tie rod end. If/when it's completed, I'd be interested in test-fitting a set on my VE as well. Even though the ball joints are different, I believe the necessary dimensions (diameter, thread pitch, taper etc)

 

hmm...I raised my till the control arms are almost parallel to the ground...I felt much improvement in grip up front since I wasn't loosing camber under compression...I don't think I would need this extender...as my car feels tons better and is still much lower than stock given that I have 2" shorter strut bodies (progress CO's)...my arms are nearly parallel the way it is...plus I enjoy the extra little clearance for bad roads and driveways...

 

mine are about 80deg vs 90- flat with the ground.... and when going around a corner at slower speed car hopps around the corner like I have a welded differential. If I go through the corner very fast then nothing happens as the car just kinda rotates through the corner.... stiffer rear springs FTW !

 

unfortunately no updates as of yet...i am actually going to send them an email today

 

About how much of a drop would you say you have now?

 

hmm...I'll have to go measure it with a tape measurer after work...any idea of what the stock ride height is?

okay, so I did a search and it looks like these are the stock height specs for a 5th gen:
Front: 28"
Rear: 27 1/4"
with the stock 17's and 32psi of pressure all around...
now I have to go measure mine and take into account different pressures, 18" wheels, and different profile tires.

 

Alright cool. I was just curious as I want to increase my handling. I am dropped like 2.2". Just looking for a way to increase handling some.

 

You avoid any inaccuracy due to those variables if you measure ride height properly: from the top of the wheel well arch to the center of the wheel. You can get the stock values of this measurement from the FSM.

 

Correct. Don't measure from fender to ground as tire sizes, profiles, are a pain to compare.

 

I think this product is pretty dead..... I mailed the company a few times and got zero response.

Not cool.

 

That's annoying! Well, this seems like the kind of thing that an Org member with access to a machine shop (or eMachineShop.com?) could design, test, and build and sell for a nice profit. And there are plenty of other companies out there we could approach.

 

Deff dead now. I tried mailing the company a few times now as I really would like to get rid of the bump steer..... no response.

Basically promisses promisses, creating excitement, and then they vanish from the face of the eart.

 

I would be very interested in these.

 

im interested in this also.

 

This deal is dead..... someone should just close this thread.

 

yea i have been emailing atleast once a week and not getting any response

 

bump

 

I'd be interested in this as well, but since they haven't gotten back to anyone, I'm sure someone else would have to step up and do it.

MXRider52, would you still be interested?

 

I have to get a set of OEM control arms and a knuckle along with a tie rod.... send those out to a company to see if they can make us something that would work....

I am not promissing anything. I just know I have to have these.

 

Mike, you gotta do that ASAP! Let us know when you do.

 

Keep me posted as I'm interested.