Many people here on org have mentioned that a setting of 2 is a soft ride, but to me it seems very harsh. My passengers have also noticed that the ride is much harder than other cars. Even a porsche that i drove in with 19 rims had a softer ride. Could there be other factors contributing to the harsh ride? Setting at 1 gave similar results.

 

what springs are you running?

 

Yah, considering your location that could absolutely be the problem. Boston roads suck. Unless you have Tein S tech or Eibach springs which would explain the harshness.

 

It may just be personal preference and tolerance for harsh rides. What is "soft" to most of us may not be the same for you. Unless you have hard springs or blown struts.

 

ya gotta give us a little more info....what size wheels are you running, and tire series, and yes, what springs are you running? all those will factor into a rough ride. i cant comment on passengers, cuz i never put people in my back seat, but my as Joel said, what constitutes a "soft" ride is subjective.

and remember, the Porsche, or whatever else, was engineered with large wheels and a aggressive stance in combination with ride comfort, our cars were never intended to have tight springs and lowered stance, you can only do so much.

 

I live in Boston too, my setup is H&Rs and KYB GR-2 and when I drive into Boston with a couple of people in the back seat, the ride comfort is really bad. Our cars are just designed really badly to work with harder springs. Our stock suspension is very soft, and you can still feel the bumps sometimes really badly. I have a friend with a 2003 325ix without the sport package and the ride on that thing is amazing. The handling is very good on a flat road, and when you go in the city the bumps you drive over are very firm but still very very comfortable.

This just shows you how the ride in that porcshe was much better. You have to understand that our stock suspension is crap and when you lower, its very uncomfortable but very stable. On the highway the setup I have is amazing.

Thats why you pay the extra 15k for a german sedan(audi, bmw...etc) for the ride comfort combined with a very good handling, and the built quality(try closing an audi's door and see what I am talking about)

 

Don't know if this helps, but I've noticed my illuminas damping ability varies considerably with temperature. On really cold days (~25 F), it feels like I've got the struts set on a '2' or '3' if they're on '1'. The ride might smooth out with increased temps.

 

yep, the cold makes the springs/struts more stiff then they already are

 

Have you played around with the settings? I always had mine on 5/5 (with eibachs) and never minded the ride except on REALLY $hitty roads. I dropped to 1/1 one day and the rode got bouncy as hell and felt uncontrolled.

If you get a lot of bouncing I'd try a stiffer setting.

 

I think he mentioned in the first post that the issue is a "harsh" ride and that he feels every bump in the road and not that the ride is bouncy, unless that's what he means, which is possible. Too bad we still don't know what springs he's riding on.

But your observation is right because lowering the settings will lower the dampening of the struts. When you have hard springs like Eibachs, the struts will not have sufficient rebound and compression damping and will in a way be at the mercy of the springs and bounce ya around, instead of being able to function properly and "regulate" the movements of the springs.

I get the same feel with anything lower than 3 on the Illuminas and my Progress springs. I also found it really bouncy on my HP struts with Progress springs.

 

I have a feeling he's running S-tech springs.

 

He has H&Rs: http://forums.maxima.org/showpost.ph...7&postcount=18

H&Rs ride almost like stock. Maybe he has a blown strut.

What is even more baffling is that according to that post, he used to like it.

 

People from Massachusetts are weird

 

M*******s....

 

yea S-techs suck i got it but the ride looks clean im running off stock struts i dont think his is harsher then mine...but when i put my gle stockies people said my ride is kinda smooth weird

 

theres one thing people overlook and it can mean a HARSH or SOFT ride...TIRE PRESSURE........ I have tein basics which are very comfy, more comfy than Ksports ..... for some reason I had filled my tire pressure up and never looked at the guage...after MONTHS AND MONTHS of harshness I decided to check the tire pressure, and it turned out I had way to much air in there...after I corrected it to 33/32..it was so comfy ! ... make sure everyone to check your tire pressure often!..it can mean a harsh or soft ride

 

That post I made before was when i lived in New york , would mostly drive on highways , now that i live in Boston , i drive mainly on streets that have unbelievable amount of potholes.
I have stock gle rims and toyo tires with h&r springs.
I have drove my friend's g35x today, and it absorbed all the potholes very well.
Is the 6th generation suspension similar to g35?

 

Just get used to it im running illuminas with eibachs and ride on the street at the stiffest setting why cause i dont care. thats why i bought this setup for its harsh yet stable ride. im running on new yoko avs es100 in 235/45 on stock 17's and i feel every bump, but whatever thats why i have them

 

i was trying to mimic the stable yet comfortable ride, guess maxima is not the car for that setup.

 

I am currently running Illuminas(3F/4R) with TEIN S-techs and 245/40/18 tires. The ride is just slightly stiff. I guess the roads down here in South Florida are good.

 

I know it was suggested earlier in the thread, but have you possibly tried setting the Illuminas stiffer? I know when I initially installed my illuminas that I had them too soft, and mistaked the uncontrolled ride for a rough ride. I stiffened the struts up slightly and came away quite pleased.