Matt's LTB and ES bushings installed!!!!!!
 

After a month of waiting for the right time to get these installed, it's finally done. I got all 3 sets of ES bushings and the stage II LTB. I did some aggressive driving today and I'm happy with my purchase. From reading other people's reviews, I think I may have been expecting too much from these mods, but there is certainly an improvement. The front of the car feels more solid, and road imperfections are less noticable. From my testing, the faster you go the more these mods make a difference. Steering feel is also improved and a little heavier.
My tires are pretty much bald, so at this point I think my suspension can take a lot more than the tires can deal out....if that makes sense. I took a sharp corner a little too fast at around 50 or so and the car started go off course, but a correction was easy. I'm sure that when I get new tires the improvements will be more noticable.
I'm happy that I got these, but now, aside from coilovers, there isn't anything left to do to the suspension. My car is probably riding and handling just about as well as a 4th gen can. I don't have a RSB yet, but I'm not sure it's necessary with all the stuff I have on my car now.
I don't have pics of them on my homepage, but I did update it a great deal, and have some cool info on page 6. Check it out.....

:woot:

You don't "think" an rsb is necessary but if you had one you wouldn't want to give it up. Add an rstb while you're at it. I didn't notice how much my rear end was loose (even with ST rsb AND matt's rstb) until installing the blehmco rear parallel links. Read my review in the 3rd gen forum. Just hope he starts making them for you infinity/4th/5th gen guys.

4th gens don't have an independent rear suspension, so 4th gens don't have parallel links, so 4th gens can't experience blehmco upgraded parallel links. :hat:

Why oh why didn't I buy a used '94 :bawling:

get the rsb and yu will be happy i assure yu

Bejay, come to Maxus '05 and I'll let you tool around in my car for a little while and experience what a Maxima should handle like. ;)


have any of you 4th and 5th gen guys tried filling your rear suspension bushings with poly? I did that with one customer's 5th gen a few weeks ago and he noted a HUGE improvement in the rear end sticking to the ground... only did it because Nissan doesn't sell the bushings new, and his had torn and was leaking fluid. (stupid fluid filled bushings. they're nice and squishy, but insane $$ to repalce)

which bushings are you referring to?

Beam-axle type? That's new to me. Didn't the recent models (>2000) come with the independent rear end? I wonder what genius thought it was a better idea to leave it out from the 4th gen. It's cheaper but basically a downgrade from our gen.

4th and 5th gens use solid dead axle-beam.

6th gen (2004+) and 3rd gen (1st/2nd too?) use independent rear suspension.

look at the videos of why Nissan designed it the way they did and it makes a lot of sense. of course, the entire thing is slanted more towards decent handling while maintaining ride comfort and still being cheap to produce...... the video plainly says that independent rear suspension is better, but not without pouring tons of money in it and using stiff springs.. use the beam and you can keep the rear wheels planted on the ground while the rest of the car tosses and turns. (the way I see it is 150+lb of unsprung weight!)

Thanks for clearing it up.


Point taken, but I test-drove two 4th gens when I totaled my second 3rd gen (thought it was bad karma), and they clearly lacked in the handling department in contrast to the 3rd gen. I think it is in so small part due to the rear suspension.

I have driven a 3rd and a 4th gen and I don't think the rear multi-link beam is as bad as people say.

Yeah, I'm gonna pulling mine apart this morning. I see 2 bushings on the lateral link, one small one on the control rod, and the 2 on the trailing arms. I WD40'd em a few weeks ago and none looked liquid filled. A couple Sentra guys said the NISMO bushings made a big difference; but I don't have FSM's and specs on theirs to compare. This is their kit.
http://www.nismoparts.com/catalog/nismo/SERC-ARMS2.jpg

I've got the video hosted on my site :)
http://www.maxmatrix.com/?c=nissan+videos+%E2%80%A2
(bottom of the page)

Ok, after driving around more I got a better feel of the mods. These make me realize just how bald my tires are, so I'm looking to get new ones very soon. However, driving the car on back roads made me realize that the car felt better the faster I went. The front end is real planted, and sudden movements/corrections are easy. If my gauge cluster worked, I'd be willing to say that the car feels as stable at 70 mph as it does at 120. I can't wait till the new tires are on and I can really see what this car can do....

Link does not work. Does anyone know where to find this video online? I'd love to see it. Thanks.

I noticed a nice difference :)

The bushing on the rear trailing arm are liquid filled. I've replaced those bushings with Cattman's groupdeal on Energy Suspension ES7108 Rear trailing arm set 2000-03 Maxima - $64.95 (MSRP $95). These bushings do make a difference in the handling of the car. I have a writeup that Polo is hosting for me:
http://polo.lxanyc.com/2002MaximaSE/...ngArmBushings/

steve...

4th gen GLEs SEs and I30 should have liquid filled ones, I don't think the GXEs did, I've been looking for NISMO parts for Cefiros and Maximas alike, and they're pretty much non existant, certainly haven't found bushings, I guess if you got them for a vehicle that used the same size bushings they might work.