Need your inputs:
1st, After installing AGX in my 97GLE (Stock springs, 15" rim, not lowered), I realize that car is much tighter at all settings but the car bounces (not like worn shocks, shocks travel very little but bouncy) at all settings except 1/1! Anyone has similar experience or solutions?
Second, The rear shock's spring holding cup on my AGX is different from the OEM (90 degree ratate) on both rear. I had to roatate the top seat to make them fit. Called AGX, I was told that it was possible they made a mistake but shocks should function fine. I got the shocks from Nick in CT.
Opinions are greatly appreciated.

 

I've installed about 5 AGX setups. Never had a problem. It doesn't matter where the lower perch is positioned on the rears, I never even bothered to see if it was exactly the same as the OEM shocks.

As far as your bouncing, are your sure it's a bounce your getting or the firm strut making your "feel" more of the road?

I ran AGXs on stock springs for a year, the ride and handling is fantastic.

 

It's probably your tires. There is a lot more sidewall in a 65 series tire than Tom's 45 series tire. When you go above the 1/1 setting the the struts get so stiff that when you hit a bump, the spring/strut unit doesnt compress much, so the bump is absorbed by sidewall flex in the tire. This flex rebounds like a spring, but it is not damped at all by the stut. Undamped spring action is what results in the "bouncy" feeling.

 

Good point!

 

How much pressure do you have in your tires? To much pressure lots of bounce. Like a ball; more pressure, the higher it will bounce.

 

silly, they havent even been out for year. and i know you have been on H&Rs and B&Gs too

 

It feels less bouncy when the car is fully loaded. Should I get bigger rims???

 

That is a good point. I don't have them on my MAX yet (hopefully soon), but when I had AGX on my G20 (a smaller and lighter car with 14" wheels), I ran tire pressures of 32/30 instead of the pre-AGX pressures of 35/32 to help with bounce on rippled pavement.

Also from what I've read way back when, the settings on the AGX only effect rebound; compression remains constant. I observed this by manually compressing the strut and observing the time it took to extend. #1 settings were faily quick and got progressively slower the higher the number. The compression resistance didn't feel any stronger to me as I went up the dial. But that's my uncalibrated monkey method.

 

That's not only uncalibrated, it's totally useless.

Anyway, I'm pretty sure that AGXs adjust for compression and rebound simultaneously. I know Konis only adjust rebound.

 

They do.

 

Thats correct. Cattman did a comparason on the two struts. The AGX came out superrior.

 

After doing a search, here's part of what was discussed on the SE-R list a couple years ago. Maybe that AGX application for a Maxima is a totally different shock design than a SE-R or G20? Too bad the graphs are not on the page anymore, but Glen describes faily constant compression no matter the setting. He has had many different suspension setups on his P10 chassis G20.

http://www.se-r-list.org/archives/20.../msg01665.html
http://www.se-r-list.org/archives/20.../msg01166.html

 

DOH! Sorry those urls don't work from the outside. Glen's also got some nice AGX install photos at http://photos.yahoo.com/alterzgo

Here's part of Glen's quote, and others state there wasn't enough rebound damping to keep from bouncing:

> But the GABs and the AGXs adjust both
> compression and rebound and are single adjustable.

Are you sure about that? Everyone has been saying they are, but from looking
at Kyle's shock dyno comparison sheet between the GABs and AGX struts, it
looked like there were significant differences in rebound adjustment but
little to no difference in compression damping between all the adjustments.

Another thing... I never understood why anyone would want a single adjustment
for both compression and rebound. For example, if you decide to increase your
spring rates from 300 lb/in to 600 lb/in springs, you would definitely need to
increase the rebound damping to control the increased spring rate. However,
if increasing rebound also meant increasing compression damping, that would lead to a super ridiculously stiff compression stroke. To me, logic seems to dictate that it is best to maintain compression damping at a set rate and
allow adjustable rebound. Thus, you could choose a certain spring rate for the
compression stroke and use the rebound adjustment to match whatever spring
rate you choose.

Glen

 

Yesterday after driving home from work, I parked the car and tested the tires. I pressed down one corner of the hood hard with hands and let go both downwards and sideways, at front settings 1 and 4, respectively. At setting 4 after I took the force (hands) off, the car bounced as the tire bounces (3 to 4 bounces everytime before it stoped). The strut (at 4) was so much harder than the sidewalls of "H" tires, it was hardly compressed and was unable to absorb any of those tire bounces, resulting in the uncomfortable bouncy ride. However, at setting 1, much of the tire vibration was absorbed by the struts. The less hard struts compressed when tire bounced. I did this many times yesterday (the H tires also bounces sidways when car was pushed on the side). To confirm this finding, I increase the front tire preesure from 29 PSI to 35 and took a test drive on the same road. Now the tires are less felxible and the bouneyness was much reduced...

To summarize, I think the sidewalls of my 215/60/15 H tires are too soft too match AGX front settings of over 2. If higher settings are used, the tires bounce will not be absorbed so will the ride. If tires with harder sidwalls (or bigger rims)are used, AGX struts will likely absorb tire bounces better to allow higher settings.

I may look for some Z rated 215/60/15 tires. Or, the good thing is that AGX 1/1 or 2/2 settings don't seem to give up much control for me, only a little cornering flatness. So I don't feel too bad using lower settings.

Your opinions are greatly appreciated.

Good Day!

Jerry

 

I assume that you have stock 15x5.5 rims. You can go to a 225/60/15. I have them on my Max and if you are interested in speedo issues...I have none. I have driven by the signs that the police setup to show your speed and my speedo is right on the money.

 

The stock GLE rims are 15 x 6. That and the widest tire you should put on a 6 inch rim is 215.

 

Uhm, this isn't exactly the best way to test anything, especially given incline, inconsistent force (there is no way you can know if you are putting the same amount of force into each time you "press" on the car), temperature, etc. However, I would consider that the tires are part of the "problem." Springs are also an issue; the stock springs aren't exactly made for AGX. No offense to Tom or anything, but the stock springs allow a lot of sway and are "comfy," allowing a lot of travel.

 

Ok so I am not the best at typing. I meant 6.5 not 5.5

95/96 stock GLE/SE rims are 15x6.5

 

Not quite:

95-99 steel rims: 15x6
95-96 GLE rims (honeycomb): 15x6
95-96 SE rims (sawblade): 15x6.5
97-99 GLE rims(sawblade: 15x6.5
97-99 SE rims (5 spoke): 16x7

 

Gotta disagree on the GLE...which I have. The honeycomb is a 6.5 this is per the Nissan manual and my shop manual.

 

What size is stamped on the rim?

 

I have not looked and it is raining here...so will look later. I have 225/60/15 on the car and have no fitment issues. Additional info
http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/9289/maxspecs.html

 

From the Factory Service Manual:



I stand corrected.