I have a 95 SE and it has 109K on the dial. My question I want to level the ride without sacrificing the ride quality. I also want the car to handle better. My proposition replace the factory struts and add the Eibach Pro kit. I may upgrade the wheels and tires to the 16' 97 SE wheels in due time. MY PROBLEM is that I live in Northern Virginia, and I drive the car alot. I don't want a car that looks much different that stock, WILL THIS KIT MAKE IT LOOK LIKE A GROUND SCRAPER?? Please help me in my time of need.

Much appreciation

 

And you can barely tell it's lowered. Al it does is close the wheel gap some. I love my Eibachs. I don't notice any ride quality difference, just stiffer than before, and it handles much better.

 

I have Intrax and had to cut the coil 1.75" cause every max I have seen including mine sits lower in the back

 

I have H&R, which are a little lower than the Eibachs, and most people don't even notice that my car is lowered. Plus, and I know this sounds weird, but I scrape less now than I did before.

 

Do I also need struts? I currently have the stock suspension on my 95 with 111,000 miles. I am not sure even what non-adjustable shock and strut(if needed) that would work best with the Eibach pro-kit to give a near factory ride but much improved performance without breaking the bank. Thank you for any help anyone could provide...

 

If you go with the Eibachs, it'll drastically cut down on your wheel gap. The good thing (to some) is that others won't really notice it being lowered (when compared to the slammed HonDuhs). Handling improvement will be a good improvement. Yes, I highly recommend swapping out your stock shocks, which are valved too soft to begin with. The Pro Kit isn't a drastic increase in spring rate, but a higher valved shock will be better suited to work with the higher sprung spring.

 

You really need to replace the struts when you get new springs. Stock struts are not good enough to handle stiffer springs. Without new struts, you will bounce all over the road... boing, boing, boing, boing!

Tokico struts dampen my Suspension Techniques springs very well. My car sits ~1.4" lower. It's been 3 years since my installation, and the combo is still working very well. I have *NO* complaints whatsoever. Reminder: Don't forget to have a wheel alignment done, too! (If you have your front wheels adjusted to a 1-degree negative camber, you will be able to corner better without significant added tire wear.) Have fun with it, and goodluck.

 

If you have 111,000 miles, you need to replace your struts even if you don't get new springs. At this point, even ultra-stiff aftermarket struts will give you a ride improvement, and the car will feel so much more controllable. I know, because that's about when I changed mine.

 

what about coilovers? How is the ride with the cattman coilovers? I'm going straight to coilovers for when I lower my car.

 

First of all, mine sits pretty level. My allignment was off a hair when I bought car and after cutting the front spring one coil, it is the same. car sits better...
My friend has the cattman coilover kit and basically, you can do whatever the hell you want to it. He's got one of the first gen's that cattman made and you can adjust them to your preference... ride height/softness...

 

so with the car 1.75 lower you dont get any tire wear just on the inside?...i want to lower mine but dont want to replace the tires every year

 

There is NO WAY to lower your car and still have ride similar to stock. I have the H&R/Tokico combo, which is supposed to be one of the smoother rides. But with 17" rims, my ride is absolutely punishing. I can't imagine how jarring the ride with Eibachs would be like. I love the handling with my setup, and feel that the tradeoff between ride and handling is acceptable.

So if you do lower your car, don't expect a smooth ride. But do expect great handling. You should ride in a modified Maxima over a really potholed road before you make the decision whether to lower or not.

 

Bullseye,

How is the ride with the Tokicos and Suspension Tech Springs vs stock. Is the handling that much better than stock? One last question where did you get them and how much?

Thanks
95Max

 

Will the ride be better with the stock 15" rims? I really want to keep a nice ride but get better handling. I understand I will have to sacrafice some, in do not want the ride to be "punishing". Ahhh, just when I thought I had things all worked out...thanks for the info...

 

I just put H&R springs on my 95 max. I still have the factory 15's. I won't lie, it's not a stock ride. But coinsidering that the maxima's have a very smooth ride to begin with I didn't loose much. Everyone said that the H&R spring are about 20-30% stiffer than stock, and thats about right. So ,there is a little differance but the way it handles now is awsome. My2cents

 

No, I don't get any tire wear on the inside... believe it or not, it lowers pretty evenly. you don't get the effect like hondas do where you see the tire pitch inward... I've had mine lowered this way for over a year and it's been fine. The ride is definately stiffer, feels a lot better during take off and it corners well.

 

Your Max's sit lower in the back?? Mine is the opposite. Gotta put a box and amp rack in my car so it will sit level

 

Well I had a similar story, I have 98 GLE, and after putting >58000 miles I hated the ride, cause it had become too soft and rebounced a lot on highway bumps. I had similar issues with good ride quility with performance, first mistake I made was that to buy a GLE, when actually I wanted a car like SE, but being new to MAximas, I didnt know that difference, nor was told by the dealer, he just told me that GLE is the top of the line(which it is) and is the best maxima(which was a bull, cause SE rocks) Anyway cut the story short, I had lot of discussion but never actually had a chance to sit in a car which had lowered springs. I finally settled with H&R, and tokicos, but when I was ordering them on the phone to SHOX.com , I asked them what to do, he said that just change the shocks only cause no matter what springs I used car will become very stiff and will rattle a lot. So I got tokicos HP shocks, and got FSTB, and addco rear sway bar. trust me car drives much much better and I make turns at very high speeds and have no problems, and also runs smooth like a new car. Now I dont know what made the difference, may be new stiffer shocks made the ride smoother and better, and the FTSB and sway bar made the handling better. And yes I did had to get my car realingned cause it was way out after the shocks, donno why? I hope this is helpful for you to make decision and not just to confuse you even more.

P.S. But: the car looks owesome when lowered, and my car lacks those looks. I guess depends what one really wants.


[Edited by junaid on 11-10-2000 at 09:54 PM]

 

OK, Tokico/ST vs. Stock: Night and Day! The first *second* I pulled out of the shop I noticed a HUGE difference. (BTW, I had my tires/wheels upgraded at the same time.) The car has a lower center of gravity. The springs are progressive, meaning the more they are compressed, the harder it is to compress them. The suspension soaks up little bumps well, but maintains the car's attitude under braking, cornering, and accelerating. The car is planted. After 3 years I have no complaints. I bought my Tokicos, Suspension Techniques, O-Z Racing Monte Carlo wheels, and Michelin Pilot XGT Z4s at NTB in San Antonio, Texas. Sorry, but I do not remember exactly how much I paid: It WAS three years ago... I think I paid about $1850 for the tires & wheels, and about $450-$600 for the struts and springs, including installation and a front end alignment. When you have the struts and springs replaced, do not forget to have the alignment done! If you are worried about camber, buy camber plates at the same time you have the struts/springs done. Kill two birds with one stone, OK?

 

If your suspension mod will cause too much negative camber, that is, more than 1 degree, you'd better get camber plates so you can adjust the negative camber out of there. Or, as you fear, you may experience excessive wear on the inside edge of your front tires. However, big negative camber will enable your car to make a U-turn inside a virgin quail! Good luck.

 

Hey cool, I'm from NOVA too. Try out Vertex Motorsports in Tysons if you haven't yet. They have some pretty cool stuff at good prices. Reply if you want more info.

 

Hey Bullseye, you ever seen a black 4th generation maxima in Memphis with some yellow rims on it ??? I haven't seen many fixed up at all. Mine is only moderately fixed up...gotta get some more money for some performance mods. Mine just has 17in chrome Enkei Spider 2's, hyper white all the way around, light metallic tint and clear corners...also blue/purple cornering lights. What does your Maxima look like?

 

I haven't seen you around. Mine is "Granite Pearl", which is a hard-to-describe dark grey/purple metallic color. The car looks pretty much stock, except for the tires/wheels and suspension, which lowered the car about 1.4". I don't know about you, but first, I am amazed at how many Maximas there are here in Memphis. Secondly, I'm amazed at how few of them are modified at all. 99.9% of them look bone stock! You ever go out to Test & Tune at the Motorsports Park?

 

Most of the time when you see wheels that are pitched in, this will indicate that the person has cut their springs and cut them incorrectly. always cracks me up to see that.

 

I've heard of guys lowering their cars by heating their stock springs with a propane torch until the springs sag. These guys go around and around to each corner, repeating the process, until they're "done"/exhausted/out of propane! Only problem is, it's almost impossible to get the springs to heat & sag uniformly. So not only do they have massive negative camber, but their cars don't sit level. Most of them end up buying new springs anyway...