It has come to our attention that with new coilover companies flooding the market, they are providing little support as to how to use their product properly. We do not endorse many of these new brands as we know their roots are not based around quality or customer service, but non-the-less, they still do appear here and there. To chime in, we just came back from KW Suspensions in Germany and have a broader knowledge of suspension and suspension theory. If you guys are having issues with your coilovers please state your questions like this:

"Car: 2003 Infiniti G35 Coupe"
Coilover: KW Variant 2"
Additional Suspension Pieces: Hotchkis Sway Bars, SPC Camber Kit
Lowered: 1.5" f, 1.3" r
Problem: The car is too rough over bumps..."

We are in the midst of creating a custom coilover for the Z/G Community that will trump all those that are offered. We need your feedback, as well, we would like to help with your common symptoms.


Edward

 

Car: 2004 Infiniti G35 Coupe
Coilover: Cusco Zero2
Additional Suspension Pieces: Cusco Sway Bars (front at stiffest), GT Spec Rear Lateral Arm Bar/ F+R Lower Tie Bars, Relentless Auto Front Strut Bar
Lowered: 1/2" f, 3/4" r
Problem: Originally I did not have the coilovers or the front strut bar, only the sway bars and GT spec bracing. After the coilovers (set at 3 stiffness all around) and strut bar, my car handles very poorly, my tires lose traction at about 40 mph, which is 10mph lower than before through a turn I take daily. Tried setting front shocks to 2 and keeping rears at 3. Helped a little bit, but front outside slip at around 45. Removed strut bar and set shocks to 3 all around, front outside and rear inside slip around 48.

 

Your problem is those Cusco coilovers, not my favorite, follow what most "japanese" coil overs do. They are oversprung. The springs on there are too hard for the damper. Your damper cannot do its job, as the springs don't let it. You are skipping around and losing contact with the road. When you took off the bars, you let the cars chassis become a bit more loose, and it helped as you need some flex.

To many people think really stiff is really good. Thats a large misconception that many cheap coilover companies bank on. They make a crappy shock, but a really heavy spring so you have a feeling and sense of stability, but in reality, nothing is happening. As they say, the magic is in the shock. THe only purpose of the spring for a street car is to hold the vehicles weight up and support certain boundaries of travel.

My suggestion. Cusco uses Swift for springs. You can buy any coilover linear spring with lower rates. This should help dramatically. I know this sounds stupid, but take off your sway bars. Sway bars are helpful, but you need more contact to the road.

LEt me know how it pans out man,



Eddie

 

How did it work out?

 

OK, tried the car with no sway bars and both with the front strut bar on and off. Car handles much better than before. With the front strut bar on, I was slipping around 47-48 mph (compared to 50 w/ only sway bars and gt spec). Without the front strut bar, I was able to take it to around 51-52 before the front outside tire slips. I feel a lot more body roll but its definitely doing better than with everything on. I still have all 4 dampers set at 3 out of 5.

Anything else I can try to improve this more?

 

There you go . Just keep playing with the dampening settings.