I still have JIC A2s for my 5th gen. which are sitting in my basement due to the following reasons. It's about to get pretty cold in Chicago, and from my understanding those coilovers are not too friendly with cold weather. Although Maxima is not my everyday car, but still I am not sure if I want to take that chance. Another dilemma which I am faced with is an understanding on how the alignment works after the coilovers go in. I've contacted BlackBirdVQ because I was told that he can do alignment. That is true, but the car can not be dramatically slammed during the alignment he said. He needs at least an inch of clearance between the top of the wheel and the fender. Which is fine, but after the alignment if I slam the car, all of the settings are not going to matter. Please help me understand this portion of an alignment process since I've never owned a set of coilovers. Thank you very much in advance.

Andrei

 

He might mean if its too slammed it won't make it up a ramp on an alignment rack but I'm not speaking for Mike here. So if you wait to install the JIC's til next spring when it's warmer what you gonna do next winter?

 

Friend of mine works at town fair tire, we couldnt get my car up the ramp when i had my tiens, we had to use wood planks as extentions . Then my exhaust got hung up on the way down , but we made it off. They had the planks there.

The alightment will be bad, but you can still drive around for a few days without really hurting your tires or your car.

 

Making up the ramp is one concern which we have to take into consideration, but the second major issue is that the equipment will not be set up properly due to the clearance. I did mentioned that I don't drive my Maxima everyday, so it'll be sitting in the garage during those couple of cold months.


If you do the alignment & drive the car at the same set height, why is it going to be bad? From my understanding the only way you are going to be shredding the tires is if you change the height of your suspension to anything other then what it was set at during your alignment.

Andrei

 

So your puttin on some JIC coilovers but keeping the car same height ?

From what i understand it will still need to be aligned just because the suspension was worked on and things get moved and etc.

 

I am installing JICs and planning on lowering the car approximately 3 inches. But if I am not able to get the alignment done with a 3 inch drop, then it will have to be set at a reasonable height in order to the the alignment done. After the alignment is complete, I will lower the car once again to the desirable height. So if the height of the vehicle is set on different numbers then it was during the alignment, still there will be an issue with tires. I just want to make sure that I got the story straight.

Andrei

 

When lowering more than 2" or so the alignment equipment must be optical in design; otherwise the beam between the front tires is obstructed by the front crossmember. As for lowering after aligning you can do that and get away with it. Just set the camber a bit more positive and the toe slightly more in? prior to dropping it more.

 

Any recommendations on which shops around Chicagoland area have optical alignment equipment?

Andrei

 

if u align and then lower the car itll throw the alingment off again. any adjusting to the height, even little ones can really throw the alignment off.

i went up and down almost 3 inches when i first got my jic's just palying around and my alignment was pretty good, then i moved it like 1/2 an inch and it threw everythign off, liek the steerting wheel was 90degrees off.

i have JIC a1s and if uve ever seen mikes car uve pretty much seen mine, but im a tad lower in the front than he is, and tiny bit higher in the rear(least for now). and he aligned mine last week, all that had to be done was my lip taken off so it could get on the lift. other than that mike said it was tight but doable, and didable, now my alignmnet is awesome. i wanna say im dropped about 4-4.25inches under stock. id have to go measue to find out for sure

as for the cold weather thing, my cars not driven alot during the winter, only when we get those random warm days in the dead of winter days and when theyres no snow. i havent blown anything yet, but the first couple of minutes when its could it feels like i have no suspension at all, then they warm up. altho i havent had any problems i still wouldnt suggest it. i believe the a2s are worse in could weather due to theyre mono design. but i could be wrong on that.

 

How many inches are you dropped in this picture?



If you were able to get alignment done with this set up, then I shouldn't have any problem since 4 inch drop would be perfect for me. I am in the same boat here, Maxima is not going to be driven that often during the winter months. Also what are you camber setting, please get back to me once you get a chance.

Andrei

 

yup, u should play around with the hight and find exactly what u like then mark it with a permanant marker and have it aligned. then u can raise or lower it, and go back to the original alighned setting. i had A1s in a new york winter and it wasnt so bad, oh i did blow one pillow mount and there were noises everywhere. these COs are nothing short of amazing for handeling but super unpractical for everyday use.

 

I have the A-1s, and the ride is ROUGH. no doubt. and having 40 series tires dont help either. I will Sacrifice ride over handling, but thats just me...

 

that pic was taken when i was still playing around with the settings, id say thats about 4.5 inch drop, its nearly as low as it can go. i dont have it near that low anymore. it bottomed out all the time. and u can prob see in that pic my camber was crazy off. i added a lip and sideskirts since then,

from my front lip(stillen style) i have 2.75 inches of clearance between the lowest part of the lip and the ground. yet since i added the lip i havent scrapped it yet. and i hit a raccoon a few days back and my lips still good. maybe im just lucky.

im runng now on 40series tires and i dont think my ride is harsh at all, and i have every es bushing out there

im gonna try and get some pics of my car up soon, maybe ill snap soem pics tomo, once i get my headlights back in(blacked, cleared, dde'ed, hid hi beam hid'ed o2 hids), ill post asap