I've been running the Z/coupe spring setup on my Sport shocks for over 3 years, 40K miles. One thing that annoyed me about this setup was the pogoing effect the suspension can have over certain undulating surfaces at speeds below 35mph or so. Over the past year, the bounce seemed to get worse or maybe I was getting more and more annoyed with it. Most of the bounce seems to come from the rear. Since my Sport shocks have 71K miles and have lived with a 1" drop front and rear for a long time, I decided to pick up a set of revised 04.5+ Z shocks.

My time is limited and the "revision" of the shocks was solely to rear shocks, so I decided to swap those in first. The revision was simply an increase in dampening. Talk about a cake install, especially with air tools. I was able to swap the shocks in about 15 minutes per side. The rear Z shocks are a crack over 1" shorter than the Sport shocks and are slightly heavier. I checked the Sport shocks and they weren't blown, but they were clearly a bit worn because they compressed a bit to easily and slowly returned to full extension.

I'm happy to report that 70% of that pogoing effect is gone with no impact to ride quality other than it's more controlled and stable. If you're going to swap shocks, get the revised Z shocks.

 

nice to hear!

quick question are the 05+ G coupe shocks the same as the Z revised?

 

Dave, Koni adjustables FTW! But glad you got the new shocks. I'm sure both sides are overdo.

 

nice! Do you feel the shorter shocks/struts respond better over the longer G35 struts/shocks? I recently dropped my car with the unrevised rears on my OEM sport shocks and I havent had any complaints yet. The ride seems the same as before, just lower. My OEM struts/shocks have 46K on them now. My plan is to replace the front/rear struts and shocks with Z ones when my sports are ready for replacement (probably around 60K), and will likely switch to revised rears too.

 

IIRC, the shocks of the sport suspension on the 05+ G Coupes is the same as the revised Z shocks. They also have the same spring rates.

 

thanks,

 

Has it been verified that the coupes use the same length shocks as the Z?

 

Yes, they respond a lot better than the old Sport shocks, but I don't know how much of that is a factor of design vs the age/mileage. All I know is the car is a lot less prone to bouncing on crappy low speed surfaces and I also notice the car is a lot more controlled in the rear when making turns across rutted surfaces. Before, the rear would rock and pitch and now it's very controlled. The best part is there's no increase in suspension stiffness. If anything, the ride is better because the Z shocks can handle both the drop and relatively rate better. Harsh rides are usually attributed to either excessively high spring rates and/or underdampened or failing shocks which can't control the spring movement. It's kind of like how BMW does it. They use soft spring rates, but really firm dampers. The result is a very sporty, yet controlled and comfortable ride. Too bad most manufactuaers haven't figured that out.

 

Good to hear. Did you swap out your rear coupe springs for the revised 427 spring rate from a 05+ Z or 05+ G35 coupe in addition to the shocks? I would assume you were running the unrevised rear 342 spring rate before right?