Hey everyone, I have a 2002 Infiniti I35 with sport package. I have noticed after driving some other cars that it does not handle as sporty as I would like it to. I want the car to handle more like a G35 in terms of grip and feel. I do not know too much about aftermarket parts and was wondering what the easiest and most inexpensive way to do this is. Any thoughts would be appreciated! Also, sorry for kind of posting this in the wrong forum but I figured people in this forum would be more adept at this kind of question. Thanks again!

 

After market front and rear sway bars and maybe a drop would make it handle better

 

Hi there Bluezul75,

I'm feeling generous today. So here it goes.

I'll kinda give you a few possible routes to take to make your car handle a little better. Being that the I35 has a FWD chassis, it is going to suffer for the typical FWD characteristics. Also, after some quick research, the car weight distribution is 62/38 which also is going to make it a bit more difficult. There are routes of tuning despite this, but that is research you can do yourself. My first suggestions would be to upgrade to some stiffer aftermarket adjustable sway bars. Secondly, depending on budget, a set of fully adjustable coil overs. If this route is too expensive, you can look into aftermarket springs. Don't go it's too radical on the drop. Although it will help effectively lower your centr of gravity, it can deprive the suspension of proper travel and balance. When picking out a spring, progressive style are decent depending on what the final spring rates are. For example, I'm running Tein 350z s-techs which are a progressive style front and linear rear. The initial spring rate will allow the car to ride smoother and absorb more road feedback at lower speeds and under normal driving. However, once compressed beyond that, that's where the magic happens. Do NOT choose a spring that is lower than OEM spring rates. Again, the Z s-tech springs are 23% stiffer in the front and 18 % in the rear versus my OEM springs. This gave the car a much more planted feel, especially in long sweeper type corners. Moving on, with any spring choice a good shock is necessary to achieve optimal handling. Again, coils are the best bet, but they can be pricey. Look into Tokico D-spec shocks, or even their HP blues. The d spec are adjustable in the dampening and rebound. Koni also makes some pretty good shocks. Look to see what's offered for your vehicle. Moving onward again, one of the most important aspects of a cars handling is good tires. Since it is your only link to the ground, a great set of tires can dramatically improve handling, grip, and overall control once you hit the twisties. I'm running Hankook Ventus Evo V12 tires, they are great for the price, but really lack a stiff sidewall. Do some research online and pick out a tire that fits your needs and budget. Tirerack.com is a good place to do this. Next up, you can stiffen up your chassis with some braces. For the G/Z, GTspec makes some of the most popular braces. See if they offer parts for the I35. Keep in mind you can make a car too stiff. The body does need a bit of flex but too much can negatively effect handling. There is a somewhat fine line in this aspect. Lastly, explore the strengths and weaknesses of your car. Learning how to really drive a car will help you highlight areas you want to improve. The driver mod is the most effective mod you can do next to tires. So with this book of info, I hope your questions are answered. Feel free to ask more questions! Best of luck!!

-Sean

 

Thank you both for your quick replies. I apologize on replying so late but I was out of country for the past month with very little access to the internet. I have done some research in the meantime regarding sway bars and am able to mostly only find universal kits that supply only the front sway bar for this particular car. However, I read that the understeer produced by a FWD car is best offset by a rear sway bar which I am not really able to find. With that being said, do you think it is worth it to only add a front sway bar or would that not really help/exacerbate the understeering problem? I was instead considering getting stiffer shocks and springs that slightly drop the car. How would that compare to getting a sway bar? Finally, tires are definitely an easy upgrade that I could do but given that the body roll is so great on the car currently, would stickier tires even help that much unless I could find a way to reduce body roll? Sorry for the plethora of questions but this is my first time upgrading a car beyond stock and I want to make sure I am not doing anything incorrectly. Thank you again for the informative responses.

 

To be honest, while you do have an Infiniti, it's a completely different platform from the G35/350Z, and is shared with the 5th Generation A33 Nissan Cefiro/Maxima, so you'd be better off asking questions on a Nissan Maxima forum, specifically one that deals with the A33 platform (which is the same chassis as your I35).

Here is some more info to help you get started:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinit...ti_I30_and_I35
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nissan_...0.E2.80.932003

http://forums.maxima.org/5th-generat...on-thread.html

http://www.thenismoshop.com/Suspension_c_496.html