I'm so sick of the conflicting information in the threads about the best spring/strut setup. Anyone ever seen a magazine or web site article comparing struts and springs? They have the money to perform various suspension setups and do a real comparision test.

 

 

Although springs differ between cars, H&R supras ride way different than H&R maximas. I don't think the magazines would focus on a lesser modified car like a maxima.

 

Bump!

 

So what are you looking for in a suspension setup? Looks? Softness? Stiff ride? Handling? Perfect slalom carving? No dive under braking? Neutral handling?

Where to you plan on using it
Street? Drag? Road Course? Autocross?

There is no "perfect" suspension. There is only what you want from it. Let us know what you want, and maybe we can make a suggestion. But in general, when you lower your car, you will have a harsher ride than stock, it comes with the territory. Lots of people are switching back to OEM springs because they can't handle the harshness, along with the increased handling, cornering ability, less body roll and greater traction in cornering, acceleration and braking. Just make sure you weight all the pros and cons.

A site I'm putting together with information about springs and shocks and settings which you might find useful:
http://drewm.dyndns.org/~drew/maxfaq...ximaSuspension

 

I'm just a street driver. No, dragging, road course or autocross. I enjoy the soft ride the way it is now, but I need handling I can trust. I'm sick of car body being thrown around in curves and such. I can live with losing the cream puff ride of the GLE, but harsh I don't want. Grandma would take the bus instead of riding with me to church on Sunday. Seriously, I just want the lower the body and get better handling.

I've already purchased the AXG's and now have to buy the springs. My first budget choice say Maxspeeds, which some members say are close to H&Rs. But, I could maybe stretch over to H&R. But, I've read good and bad things about these too. The conflicting opinions of the org member have my head spinning.

I'll take a look at your site for some hopefully reassuring information.

It would be great if Max Org regional groups and clubs could all do a ride comparison test of their different suspension setup and rate them. Then, we could create a thread sticky that says for example recommendations:

DC Maxima.org" recommends:

• Street. Closes to stock
• Best Street Handling
• Best Drag Track
• Best Autocross
• Road Course

West Coast Maxima.org" recommends:

• Street. Closes to stock
• Best Street Handling
• Best Drag Track
• Best Autocross
• Road Course

And so on....

Let's have the groups come to a consensus and give us their opinions.

 

That's a good idea! Post this idea in the DC forum This DC .org member recommends H&R's. There are a lot of different setups among the DC members; ask your question and they will answer.

 

I'm in the DC Max group. They are already showing me some love and going to assist me in installing a bunch of new gear. I'm just now getting some feedback for the DC members about my strut/spring choices.

For a "Maxima.Org Struts & Springs Comparision Results" thread to be successful,we'll need support from all of the Max Org regional groups and clubs. This is an off topic idea, so I should spring this idea into a new thread.

The results would be too late to help me, but there are many people looking, as I was, for this type of infomation. Say tuned to the Org.

 

If you are looking for the best ride possible and yet good cornering ability, I'd put you with H&Rs (anything softer wouldn't corner for crap) AGX (any adjustable struts are fine) dialed around 3/5 to start. Aftermarket springs need a decently high setting to dampen them. And definately get a rear sway bar. Personally I'd invest in the rear sway bar first and see if it does exactly what you want. You might be able to get away with just that one item, it really makes a huge difference.

I'm a big believer in big name company springs. (Eibach, H&R) They have tracks where they fine tune spring rates, front/rear spring rate bias, and ride height based on track performance. Their engineers really know their stuff.

Another option (if you can handle a little rougher ride over the rough stuff) is to go with Eibachs. I believe the handling is much improved over the H&Rs. I really do believe it's the best handling non-coilover spring, and if you saw the way my car held that right hand 90 I did about 10 minutes ago, you'd believe it too. Hopefully you can find someone around your area to give you a ride.

The reason I say "non-coilover" is because of the far superior JIC FLT-A2s. But that's about as rough of anything you'd ever want to run on the street. It's a very unforgiving, hit your head on the ceiling type of suspension. My brother has that setup, tuned by an advanced road course veteran and out cornered and passed up a full race modifided 750hp Porsche turbo at Willow springs a few weeks back.

Also I've got a great writeup on harshness and what you can do to reduce it, you probably saw it on that site earlier, but I'll post the exact page here:

http://drewm.dyndns.org/~drew/maxfaq...nsionHarshness

 

Thank you so much for your clean, concise comment pertaining to suspensions. Couple that with the info in the link you've provided and I've received a lot of information in a few clicks of the mouse.