Suspension Input

[kerosene]

Well, after a long wait I've decided that I'm going to start putting away money for some suspension parts...

#1 - Coilovers Damper Kits
#2 - Racingline Performance Endlinks - I've read GREAT things - $180

See now the problem lies in the fact I have a limited choice on coilovers... cost is around the same

Tein SS - 1,200
Ksport - 900
D2 GT - 900

I know teins are stiff (or atleast their springs are) I don't know how ksports and D2's are. I've felt in the passenger seat how the ksports feel but have not had the opportunity to drive on them myself.

What are your recommendation?

[chiquae07]

what are you trying to do? just a slight drop or actually have the spring rates be useful in terms of autox or road racing?

[kerosene]

autox in summer, but a stiffer ride in general I hate how my car feels like a boat in corners and since I try to take tight turns the body roll on the car just BLOWS, additionally the drop does help the overall look of the car.

[Xmax]

Well I have Ksports on my 240, and they are pretty stiff. And you feel just about every bump on the road. But a forewarning, Hector can put his 2 cents in as well, make sure if you are going to drive your car year round, you have to take the Ksports off for the winter and go back to stock, because they tend to leak or blowout, same goes with D2's because I believe they are the same manufacture as the Ksport. Tein's and Megan's seem to have better reviews than Ksport and D2.

[kerosene]

I'd say 10% of the reason I decided coilovers was so I can adjust them during winter, and raise the car....

I saw Megans, but I've never heard of them so I disregarded them, are they same quality range as teins?

[Xmax]

Pretty much, unfortunately there is not much of a large selection for coilovers for the Altima application. You best bet is just research, research, research, might be better off asking the guys on the Altima forums to get the best suggestion.

[kerosene]

I've done research, no one ever mentioned megans, oh well guess I get the same answer here as any other forum... k

[walec05]

well if you going to ride with the coilovers on the altima in the winter. good luck. they will definately blow on you. many members as well as many people on other forums change their suspension out in the winter to save their coilovers.

but peronally on an altima. you should put on active tuning adjustable struts with eibach sportline springs. its what i had on my altima when i had it and it was freaking great. perfect drop, little to no bounch and way less body roll.

[Grzesiu]

just get Eibach Prokits and good shocks if it is your daily driver, ad sway bars, endlinks and you are set

[Xmax]

Oh yeah one more thing, coilovers tend to seize, the adjustable collars seize to the frame of the shock/strut of the coilover. My buddy had $1200 coilovers on his Neon "S"RT 4 (swapped a SRT4 motor into his RT) and they seized on him after two winters. So as a lot of people recommend here is to put your stock suspension for the winter months and have your coilovers during the summer months. I know its tedious, but its better than paying $100+ for rebuilding each of your coilovers. Good luck.

[kerosene]

So coilovers are for actual racing, I see...

Walec are you referring to http://www.activetuning.com/products/nissan/altima/NI-AL-02KYBRSHX/gallery.php the koni fronts were discontinued a while ago.

Originally I was looking into going just with KYB GR2 Struts and Eibachs but i was worried that t he drop will fuck me over in the winter.

[Kowalski]

autox with a 2.5, honestly, what's the point... paul, put some info on here when you took your car to autobahn... car was in high revs the whole time and barely keeping it's position in line...

[kerosene]

that's alright with me, I want to see if my driving is actually decent and I'm not just full of myself

[Kowalski]

well, in that case, i would do what many here have stated:

coils - don't know the brands but they would without a doubt be swapped out for winter

springs/struts - illuminas with whatever you like after reading reviews... i had s-techs and those were a stiff ride. didn't bother me though... it will be your best bet if you do not want to swap in the future and the illuminas allow some customization for ride comfort...

[kerosene]

I've had S-techs too, and I liked how they felt, but according to reviews I've read I think the Eibach Sports are better but I'm doing some research on struts now

[Mr Grey]

Lots of good info in this thread that I won't repeat, but I will clear some.

The Eibach Pro Kit on the Altima will not be low enough to damage the car. It is one of the best springs in terms of ride quality, and responsiveness. The ride does get slightly stiffer, but not really bone jarring. Eibach did come out with the Sportline Kit which I'm not sure if it's available for the Altima. This kit dropped the car about 2" but it's hard to find for many other cars.

Teins makes a good product, in general. The exception is the S-Techs though. For a while the market was flooded by S-Tech knock offs, that were hard to distinguish. The drop is great to look at, but the ride suffers as the car gets bigger. They become bouncier, stiffer, and can get bone jarring. Most people complaining about S-Techs are usually people with a car heavier than my Maxima.

I agree with everything said about coilovers. I know from experience that mine blew withing the year driving during winter, and I have seen it also on the boards. Those with no problems usually live in areas that don't see temps dip below 40*, or take them off for winter. Raising the car doesn't stop them from leaking because the seals contract and expand with the weather causing leaks.

Konis are great, but can get pricey, and usually need some customizing for some cars.

Illuminas are usually preffered because they seem to hold better with 2" drops and the dampening of them is responsive. They are also adjustable in terms of ride firmness. They are also cheaper than Konis.

AGXs if available for the Altima are a slightly cheaper substitute for the Illuminas. They hold almost as well, they are also adjustable in terms of ride firmness but are stiffer.

GR-2s are pretty much stock replacements and are not really meant to handle a drop
greater than 1.5" inches. They are not adjustable, and somer people have complained that they are not very responsive, and have a much more firm ride. It's a good strut for the price though.

Tokico Blues are also a 'stock' replacement. They are more in terms of price than GR2's more responsive, but not adjustable. Can handle the same drop as GR2s

Hope this helps some.

BTW, I have owned the following suspensions.
K-Sport Coilovers
Tein H-Techs with GR2s
Tein S-Techs with AGXs
Progress with AGXs

All of them in a 95-99 Maxima which is slightly smaller than an Altima, but very close in terms of weight.

[kerosene]

Grey thanks for all that info

Sportline is available for the Altima (and thats the route I want to go, I think)

The teins I had on my Celica were purchased directly thgough a reseller

Anyone know a local place I can get Illuminas? U've looked and got some info regarding the illuminas and that it might require some modifications (bending the U at the strut, it also requires some sanding down of the metal.

I've actually read up on the gr2s and I decided I wont go the unadjustable strut additionally I've read of failures with them 2k miles... and the fact that it's noot meant for such a extreme drop would explain why the strut got messed up so quick (6mths)

[Kowalski]

illuminas are hard to find locally... maybe car boutique in schaumburg has them (or maybe can order them for you) but most people here just order them from performancepeddler.com. they have the cheapest prices on struts...

[walec05]

i didnt know that the fronts were discontinued. but then agian. ive been out of that altima group for over 3 years now.

anyway, make sure that when you take your car to the track you have hawk pads or something other than autozone or nissan brand. i fried mine in one lap of driving.....car handled ok with the suspension, but the brakes freakin over heated and warped on me....its a heavy car, so it takes a toll on them.

hm, other than that, for your application id just go with the eibachs and some good struts then.

[kerosene]

They have no struts at performancepeddler.com for the altima :(

Walec what struts were you running with the eibachs?

I was planning to upgrade to some sportbreaks, matter of time though

[Kowalski]

whoops... that sux... they only have it for the 1st and 2nd gen...

[walec05]

just buy some new kyb's at like murrays or online...they are the same thing, but you can find them cheaper online than at a store

[kerosene]

I can get KYB's from one6motorsport in schaumburg for 180 I just like the idea of being able to modify the stiffness of the struts...

[walec05]

eh, no need to play with that, you dont have a race car. and it doesnt make that much difference. get some good struts/shocks, front and rear, rear swaybar (front is a bitch and you have to drop the front frame of the car), eibach springs and your done.

[walec05]

best pic i could find of the drop. dont have any others.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y202/walec05/DSC07931.jpg

and i found another one....my car is right in front with the eyelids and you can kind of see the drop. not too agressive, pretty comfortable to ride in, handled great.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y202/walec05/meet10-9-05001.jpg

[kerosene]

Thatsw exactly what I'm looking for I found http://www.activetuning.com/blog2/2008/04/07/how-to-koni-adjustable-struts-for-altimamaxima/ (http://www.activetuning.com/blog2/2008/04/07/how-to-koni-adjustable-struts-for-altimamaxima/) (Picture DIY: http://www.druidhillroad.com/projects/koni/ ) since they discontinued the adjustables they gave people an alternative of doing it themselves.

Apperantly the Illuminas are not available for the Altima :(

After 4hrs of research I decided to go Eibach SportLine on KYB's, KYB apperantly has a lifetime warranty if they fail, so no real risk... Afterwards I'll get proper rims, and strut braces...

I'll probably order them in 2 weeks and install them 2 weeks later right before the alarm

So...

Struts/Shocks - KYB GR2
Springs - Eibach SportLine
Endlinks Front/Back - Racingline - $196.00
FSTB - Racingline - $95.00 (Theres a GB at CNC for 80, I might jump on it)
SwayBars Front/Back - Racingline

That should provide a tight feel... but than again anything is an improvement.

[kerosene]

So, I've figured everything out; I will spend a minimum of 700 for most of the stuff, since I'll do the install I wont have to worry about labor... One thing I'm missing on here is the bushings, and thats because i will get those in a kit from one6.

Struts/Shocks - KYB GR2 - $188.00 - Part #344395 (2), 335336 (1), 335337 (1)
One6motorsport

Springs - Eibach SportLine - $220.00 - Part #4.6163
importcarpartsplus.com

Endlinks Front/Back - Racingline - $196.00 - (No part #)
racinglineperformance.com

FSTB - Racingline - $95.00 (Theres a GB at NC for 80, I might jump on it) - (No part #)
racinglineperformance.com or NC.com

SwayBars Back - Nismo/SER - $200.00 (I'll do actual suspension before this, I want to see if it's worth doing)

[kerosene]

Woohoo! Just ordered some parts

Springs, Struts and Endlinks are ordered and I will order the FSTB as soon as its a for sure deal (I put my name on the list for the GroupBuy)

WOOOOOOO! I'm stoked! I've spent $592.24 on suspension and yesterday I purchased my alarm stuff for 400 :) I'm done spending money for a while... next month I'll get the alarm installed.

Guys thanks for all your input!

[walec05]

why did you get endlinks.....kind of pointless if you ask me. they really dont do anything for the car.....but hey, im not the one with $4k commin back on my return.

[RobSE]

You will love the way it drives, my friend has a 06 V6 5spd with KYB struts and H&R Springs and it drives 100x better then stock, not too mention it looks better. Its a bit stiffer the stock, but ride quality is still better then my sentra with my small drop. Rear Beam, short wheelbase, and small supspension travel FTL!

BTW, my friend just installed Nismo 18" wheels on his altima, he may be willing to unload his stock 5spokes which are painted glossy black.

[walec05]

^^^oh yeah, thats right....forgot about that dude, he rolls by my house all the time.

[kerosene]

Walec because they are about 3mm shorter which will give the car better turning, + if I'm going to replace my suspension I might as well do that too, I did it on my old car and it helped quite a bit too.

PS. my taxes were 3.2 and I only bought the alarm with that $ spent some on bills, rest stays in my bank acct... the suspension was a part of my "car collection" that i've saved up

[Kowalski]

good prices due to thorough research, nice!

if only endlinks were as cheap as they were way back when... for the first gen, no aftermarket company made endlinks (or if they did, they were expensive)... so what most people did is install miata performance endlinks :D

[kerosene]

Rooney: Yea, I did save quite a bundle.

My celicas endlinks cost only $90 for front and back, they were nice aftermarket poly's.

KYB's have been shipped! (estimated delivery date: March 11,2009).

[Oolatec]

Yeah, around here, in this kind of weather (and the potholes), I'd avoid coilovers, unless you really don't mind swapping them out for the winter.

Heck, I have Progress springs, and KYB GR-2s and the ride is stiff... brutal at times.