I've had my suspension checked out several times to why my suspension bottoms out hard over imperfections in the road. I've had my outer tie rod ends replaced recently and switched over from Tein S-Techs to Eibachs since that is the most popular suspension setup I've seen here on the org. Nissan and several other techs have inspected my front suspension and they have all told me the same story, "nothing is wrong with your suspension, your struts are not leaking and everything else looks fine." Has anybody here on the org had their Illuminas more the 40K+ miles that has softened?

 

i dont' exactly get the "suspension bottoms out hard over imperfections in the road" - does it do that over large potholes/dips? or it just crushes over pavement joints and things like that?

 

Generally large pavement joints between say the freeway pavement and a concrete paved bridge, the section between the two.

 

Are your bump stops cut?

 

I replaced my factory bumpstops about 20K miles ago and they are not cut

 

That's prob your cause for bottoming out constantly. With uncut bump stops the shocks don't have enough travel.

 

doubt it. I've had this setup for a while now and this had just happened recently.

 

In my experience with my blues I was bottom out tons more until I cut the bumpstops. After then, I didnt have a problem.

 

Most people I've talked to that has the Eibach/Illumina setup have not cut their bumpstops. On my 2000 SE I had Eibach/Tokico Blues setup with no bottoming out.

 

I have illumina's for about 40k miles now, maybe slightly under and never had a bottom out issue and I have been riding with rear at setting 5 since I got them. Not sure about cut bumpstops. Nilesh aka djfrestyl installed mine and I havent had an issue since. Maybe it would be a good idea to compare installs? Maybe he can chime in if he see's this thread...

 

My bump stops are also not cut, and I do bottom out on big pot holes.

 

what springs are you using?

Meccanoble...The Illuminas are set to 3F/5R

 

Eibach, mine are 3F 3R

 

My front illuminas feel soft. I think I've been running them with lowering springs upwards of 60k miles or more. I think the H-Techs I ran for a long while (too soft up front) helped accelerate the wear on them. They felt better when I switched to H&Rs up front, but they're still definitely softer than when they were new. I've just been progressively turning the dial up (stiffer) on them.

I've been collecting parts to overhaul the front suspension anyway, so I was planning on replacing the front illuminas and see if they had in fact given some over time.

 

mine too.. Illuminas and Maxspeeds....3F - 5R

 

I have only had my illumina/eibach combo for about 10k - so my comments may not be worth much.

Anyway, I can say that I very rarely bottom out. Mine are set at 5/4 IIRC. I personally didn't like the Illuminas at 3f - they felt too bouncy. Even then, though, I didn't bottom out much. I also have factory bumpstops cut according to eibach's instructions.

Are your bumpstops factory? The reason I ask is that the replacements I first bought did not fit correctly. In fact the first set I test fitted did not fit into the top cap at all and it looked like if I did get them in there, they might fall out. Also, when I first assembled the strut, the bump stop liked to wedge itself a bit sideways. I ordered the factory replacements because I was afraid of a problem. So, I'd check that - perhaps something like that happened.

I know the bumps are different on the 5 than on the 5.5, so maybe this doesn't apply.

 

the bumpstops I replaced a while ago are Nissan OEM.

 

I see that was 20k ago - how long since you first started having the suspension probs? i.e. is it possible that the problem is related to the factory bumpstops not being cut?

 

I doubt it. I've talked to other members here on the org and they haven't trimmed their bumpstops either. I started having the suspension issues maybe 5-10K miles ago. I looked at the bumpstops myself when the car was in the air and fully inspected the suspension myself with the tech. The bumpstops were on properly. I did finally find my receipt today and will call one of our distributors that my company works with and hopefully get the front struts replaced.