|
Question: What's the better suspension set up?
What's up guys I have an 07 G35 coupe w/ sports suspension. I got an alignment recently and was told that I couldn't adjust the front camber anymore (off by 3°) and have to purchase aftermarket front upper control arms. I plan on refreshing the underbody components while I'm at it and I work at a bodyshop so I have somebody willing to help me with the install. My question is this list substantial or is there anything else you guys recommend? Keep in mind my car only has 58K miles ATM.
SPL PRO Front Adjustable Upper Control Arms V4 (was told these come with bushings so I wouldn't need to purchase any?) Energy Suspension Inner and Outer Front Lower Control Arm Bushing Kit Whiteline Rear Subframe Bushing Kit & Whiteline Differential Bushing Set (heard these were hard to install so do these need to be replaced yet?) SPL PRO Titanium Rear Camber Control Arm Links SPL Toe Link or Midlink *dependent on if I choose "true" or OEM-style coilovers Hotchkis Sway Bars SPL PRO Front & Rear Sway Bar End Links I have always been interested in the idea of giving my G a mild drop but I've never really dealt with car suspensions before and wanted your guys input. From what I've heard a coilover setup is superior to just a set of shocks and springs, correct me if I'm wrong. But there are two types of coilover setups and I can't find any reason to chose one over the other. I do understand that a true setup has the spring on the shock in the rear while the OEM setup keeps these separate while reusing the factory spring bucket arm. What are the PROs and CONs of each? I don't really plan on slamming my car to the ground especially driving on these bay area roads and I ride on OEM 19" Rays. My budget for the coilovers is ideally less than $2k, but willing to spend maybe a few hundred more for something thats worth it. |
Those SPL Pro items are well built but they are EXPENSIVE and unless this is a track vehicle you really don't need something that stout. If it's a street car that's driven aggressively with mild track use then I recommend looking into the Z1 Motorsports front/rear kit. It's like $550 and will give you all the adjustment you need for a mild drop.
https://www.z1motorsports.com/z1-pro...e-p-12166.html If you get TRUE coilovers then it will replace the rear spring bucket and will be adjustable, if you go with a coilover that uses the spring bucket you will need the SPL camber bolts to replace the OEM ones on the spring bucket. Basically the advantage of coilovers is you get to pick an EXACT ride height for your vehicle, and you can go VERY low to the ground. However they're also very EXPENSIVE and if you just want a 1/2" drop then get yourself a set of 350Z revised springs and cut down the big rubber pad at the top of the rear spring 1/2" to match the drop. The Hotchkis sway bars is a great option, start with the mildest setting on both bars until you decide if you want it any more firm. The mildest setting is stiffer than the stock sway bar and if you go anything stiffer than that setting you will want to upgrade your end links because they will have a LOT of stress on them. Whiteline bushings are good, personally I use the Z1 ones because I deal with them a lot and they make great products. The rear diff bushing isn't that hard, people make it harder than it needs to be because they don't have a good method for removing the existing bushing. Use a holesaw on a drill and hog out the rubber in the middle of the bushing, then take a sawzall and carefully make a couple slices in the RACE of the existing bushing, make the slices about 1/2" apart and be careful not to cut into the subframe. The race is made from aluminum so it cuts VERY easily. Then take a flat blade screwdriver and a hammer and get that 1/2" piece of race knocked out, then simply use the hammer/screwdriver to "fold the race in on itself and it pops right out. I've done 3 of them now and it's very easy. New bushing basically pushes in with hand pressure, tap the center sleeve in with a hammer, super easy. The two front bushings on the differential are a different story, either press them out of hammer them out. If you decide to hammer them then put a rag directly on the bushing and then use a large socket on top of the rag. All 3 of the differentials I've done had one bushing that still had oil in it and I splattered the first one all over myself and my car lol. https://www.z1motorsports.com/z1-pro...t-p-10356.html Subframe mount bushings are just as easy but it's more work because you have to drop the entire thing off of the vehicle, there is always the option of the subframe collars instead of a full bushing replacement. It's not quite as stiff as poly but it's a LOT more firm than stock. https://www.z1motorsports.com/z1-pro...r-p-12008.html |
Here's a couple close up shots of how the 350Z revised springs look on the coupe, they have EXCELLENT ride quality for road use and are not too stiff or springy at all. I previously had the Nismo S-tune suspension which sat about 1" lower and it was incredibly stiff, I wouldn't go back to either that LOW or that STIFF but this car is just a fun weekend warrior now. Ignore the shitty tires on it I was doing a slalom in-town and it's been dumping rain all weekend (Washington yay!) and my Michelin cup tires are really shitty when it's that wet/cold and pushing the car hard.
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/g35driv...775b0527a5.jpg I'm parked on a little dirt hump in the ground, the car isn't actually as low as it looks. https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/g35driv...78f72959ab.jpg Front https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/g35driv...1b93222e4d.jpg Rear |
Thanks for the detailed response. I was kinda skeptical on the prices of the SPL parts and it would be kind of a waste if I got them because I have no plans to track this car ever. It's mostly a DD that I want to lower for some better handling but mostly looks. The .5" drop on your G looks good, something I would probably go with. I already scrape on steep driveways on stock sport suspension so afraid if go any lower I could run into some problems. Where is the best place to pick up some 350z revised springs? And how is the difficulty of installing those compared to coilovers? Should I think about changing shocks too? Hope the rain goes away... my car was originally from Washington too! :JAMIN:
|
Spring installation is very straightforward, front is a strut, rear is a shock and you can simply unbolt the spring bucket from the chassis (put a service jack under it just so it doesn't fall down onto the ground) then swap the spring and bolt the spring bucket back up.
With only 60k miles on the struts I think it's a coin flip whether you want to just swap the struts/shocks now or wait until 100k. If you have the extra money laying around then swap them now I guess since you will have nearly all of it disassembled for the camber kits. As for FINDING the 350Z revised springs, first you need to figure out the color dot codes. I think mine were 1 pink dots front and 2 red 1 violet on the rear. Then it's easy to look through ebay or other listings and check the colored dots on them. |
Thanks for your help. I think for now I am going to get some SPC front upper control arms & Energy Suspension bushings for the inner/outer front lower control arms. Before I decide on coilovers or springs I am going to focus on getting my front camber specs even. Then after due time I will have enough money and knowledge on this subject to create a killer suspension set up. So I'm sure I will have more questions for you in the future!
|
Originally Posted by cleric670@gmail
(Post 7177286)
Those SPL Pro items are well built but they are EXPENSIVE and unless this is a track vehicle you really don't need something that stout. If it's a street car that's driven aggressively with mild track use then I recommend looking into the Z1 Motorsports front/rear kit. It's like $550 and will give you all the adjustment you need for a mild drop.
https://www.z1motorsports.com/z1-pro...e-p-12166.html If you get TRUE coilovers then it will replace the rear spring bucket and will be adjustable, if you go with a coilover that uses the spring bucket you will need the SPL camber bolts to replace the OEM ones on the spring bucket. Basically the advantage of coilovers is you get to pick an EXACT ride height for your vehicle, and you can go VERY low to the ground. However they're also very EXPENSIVE and if you just want a 1/2" drop then get yourself a set of 350Z revised springs and cut down the big rubber pad at the top of the rear spring 1/2" to match the drop. The Hotchkis sway bars is a great option, start with the mildest setting on both bars until you decide if you want it any more firm. The mildest setting is stiffer than the stock sway bar and if you go anything stiffer than that setting you will want to upgrade your end links because they will have a LOT of stress on them. Whiteline bushings are good, personally I use the Z1 ones because I deal with them a lot and they make great products. The rear diff bushing isn't that hard, people make it harder than it needs to be because they don't have a good method for removing the existing bushing. Use a holesaw on a drill and hog out the rubber in the middle of the bushing, then take a sawzall and carefully make a couple slices in the RACE of the existing bushing, make the slices about 1/2" apart and be careful not to cut into the subframe. The race is made from aluminum so it cuts VERY easily. Then take a flat blade screwdriver and a hammer and get that 1/2" piece of race knocked out, then simply use the hammer/screwdriver to "fold the race in on itself and it pops right out. I've done 3 of them now and it's very easy. New bushing basically pushes in with hand pressure, tap the center sleeve in with a hammer, super easy. The two front bushings on the differential are a different story, either press them out of hammer them out. If you decide to hammer them then put a rag directly on the bushing and then use a large socket on top of the rag. All 3 of the differentials I've done had one bushing that still had oil in it and I splattered the first one all over myself and my car lol. https://www.z1motorsports.com/z1-pro...t-p-10356.html Subframe mount bushings are just as easy but it's more work because you have to drop the entire thing off of the vehicle, there is always the option of the subframe collars instead of a full bushing replacement. It's not quite as stiff as poly but it's a LOT more firm than stock. https://www.z1motorsports.com/z1-pro...r-p-12008.html Everything that cleric has said on here is spot on about the sway bars and bushings I too have hotchkis adjustable sway bars as well as Z1 diff bushings. for my front upper control arm, I use the adjustable arm from megan racing. Their arm is produced by the same people who make HardRace products and comes with hardened rubber bushings. They are more firm than stock rubber, but won't transmit as much noise/vibrations as poly bushings. However I'll add a bit to the blurb about true-style coilovers and OEM-style divorced spring setup. This is going to be a bit of a rant, but I feel like not many people think about this when deciding on which to buy. If you are looking for aftermarket suspension for street performance, go with the divorced spring setup. I don't know if the true style allows you to get lower or whatever, or if that may be your ultimate goal, but regardless of all that... you should know that true-style coilovers are placing a significant load on those shock mounts which it was not engineered for. About 4-5 years ago while shopping for suspension, I had a conversation with fortune auto because they only offered the true-style coilover for our cars at the time, there was no option yet for a divorced spring setup. Their rep told me that I should reinforce the shock tower if I planned to race the car and ride curbing because they understand the fact that this shock mount is not designed for the spring to be there. Now I don't care how many people have done it or how Company X offers this blah blah whatever, but the fact is this rear shock tower was not engineered to be bearing this extra load. Just take a look at how beefy that frame is at the oem spring location under the car, and compare it to the wimpy shock mount behind the trunk liner. Any reputable suspension company always offers a divorced spring setup for their street level products (HKS, Ohlins, KW, Bilstein to name a few). The only real reason to go with a "true-style" coilover is so that you are able to have an adjustable toe arm which can lock in your alignment settings and not have the eccentric bolt slip while racing. Otherwise, there really is no good reason to go that route. I have seen E36 M3's have their rear shock mounts fail (completely punched out) after repeatedly hitting curbing while at the track. Maybe you'll never run into this situation while putting around town in your lowered car, but I feel like everyone should at least know the physics behind this conversion and not just do it because it is offered. |
Originally Posted by calvinc
(Post 7177964)
OP,
Everything that cleric has said on here is spot on about the sway bars and bushings I too have hotchkis adjustable sway bars as well as Z1 diff bushings. for my front upper control arm, I use the adjustable arm from megan racing. Their arm is produced by the same people who make HardRace products and comes with hardened rubber bushings. They are more firm than stock rubber, but won't transmit as much noise/vibrations as poly bushings. However I'll add a bit to the blurb about true-style coilovers and OEM-style divorced spring setup. This is going to be a bit of a rant, but I feel like not many people think about this when deciding on which to buy. If you are looking for aftermarket suspension for street performance, go with the divorced spring setup. I don't know if the true style allows you to get lower or whatever, or if that may be your ultimate goal, but regardless of all that... you should know that true-style coilovers are placing a significant load on those shock mounts which it was not engineered for. About 4-5 years ago while shopping for suspension, I had a conversation with fortune auto because they only offered the true-style coilover for our cars at the time, there was no option yet for a divorced spring setup. Their rep told me that I should reinforce the shock tower if I planned to race the car and ride curbing because they understand the fact that this shock mount is not designed for the spring to be there. Now I don't care how many people have done it or how Company X offers this blah blah whatever, but the fact is this rear shock tower was not engineered to be bearing this extra load. Just take a look at how beefy that frame is at the oem spring location under the car, and compare it to the wimpy shock mount behind the trunk liner. Any reputable suspension company always offers a divorced spring setup for their street level products (HKS, Ohlins, KW, Bilstein to name a few). The only real reason to go with a "true-style" coilover is so that you are able to have an adjustable toe arm which can lock in your alignment settings and not have the eccentric bolt slip while racing. Otherwise, there really is no good reason to go that route. I have seen E36 M3's have their rear shock mounts fail (completely punched out) after repeatedly hitting curbing while at the track. Maybe you'll never run into this situation while putting around town in your lowered car, but I feel like everyone should at least know the physics behind this conversion and not just do it because it is offered. Sorry if it seems like I have so many questions, I'm only 22 and pretty new to the car scene but the G35 coupe has always been my dream car since I was younger. Really interested in doing some work to it to make it really my own. Recently I painted the OEM grille black and left the emblem on and it looks sick on an IP. Very grateful to have this forum theres so much knowledge to be spread around and am glad you guys take the time out of your day to answer my questions. :biggthumpup: |
Originally Posted by Ryan_vq35
(Post 7177970)
Interesting, from my research everybody seems to praise the polyurethane. But eliminating noise/vibrations would be ideal for me since it is a DD. So you're saying the Megan front upper control arms come with the bushings? They cost almost half as much as the SPCs do which is nice. And in your opinion should I change the front lower control arm bushings while I'm at it? If I should, please post a link on where I can find them w/ hardened rubber because I can only seem to find ones with polyurethane. Glad to meet another G35driver in the bay! We should definitely meet up sometime, I've always wanted to go to a car meet, especially a VQ one :RAISEROOF:
Sorry if it seems like I have so many questions, I'm only 22 and pretty new to the car scene but the G35 coupe has always been my dream car since I was younger. Really interested in doing some work to it to make it really my own. Recently I painted the OEM grille black and left the emblem on and it looks sick on an IP. Very grateful to have this forum theres so much knowledge to be spread around and am glad you guys take the time out of your day to answer my questions. :biggthumpup: |
Be careful when choosing your upper control arms. Most aftermarket control arms are built for the track and designed to give you more negative camber. If you look at the SPL and Megan descriptions, it says:
SPL "Camber adjustment range is -2.5deg to +1deg relative to stock arm; most cars will see actual on-car camber adjustment range of -4deg to -0.5deg, depending on ride height. Off-car adjustment of +/- 1 deg of caster can be set independently of camber." https://conceptzperformance.com/spl-...33_p_33944.php Megan "Allows adjustment of Front Camber. (Negative Only!)" https://meganracing.com/mrs-ns-0320 These wouldn't bring you back into range. I got the SPC control arms which come with shims that automatically give you +2 degrees. Some people don't even bother with the control arm itself, they just install the shims and call it a day. In your case, you would go from -3 deg to -1 deg in the front. It might be a good option for you. I would contact SPC and see if they would just sell you a shim kit without the arms. https://www.z1motorsports.com/suspen...35-p-9583.html You may want to check Z1s adjustability range before you buy their stuff. |
Originally Posted by Polishthrust
(Post 7178063)
Be careful when choosing your upper control arms. Most aftermarket control arms are built for the track and designed to give you more negative camber. If you look at the SPL and Megan descriptions, it says:
SPL "Camber adjustment range is -2.5deg to +1deg relative to stock arm; most cars will see actual on-car camber adjustment range of -4deg to -0.5deg, depending on ride height. Off-car adjustment of +/- 1 deg of caster can be set independently of camber." https://conceptzperformance.com/spl-...33_p_33944.php Megan "Allows adjustment of Front Camber. (Negative Only!)" https://meganracing.com/mrs-ns-0320 These wouldn't bring you back into range. I got the SPC control arms which come with shims that automatically give you +2 degrees. Some people don't even bother with the control arm itself, they just install the shims and call it a day. In your case, you would go from -3 deg to -1 deg in the front. It might be a good option for you. I would contact SPC and see if they would just sell you a shim kit without the arms. https://www.z1motorsports.com/suspen...35-p-9583.html You may want to check Z1s adjustability range before you buy their stuff. |
Originally Posted by calvinc
(Post 7178067)
excellent point. i totally assumed OP was not going align the car to OE spec. megan arms are negative only and definitely will not bring things back to stock alignment settings.
Front Control Arms - SPC - Eibach - Cusco (not sure if these offer enough adjustment) Out of the 3 which one is the best for me? As of now I am leaning towards SPC since they say they have the widest adjustment range |
Originally Posted by Ryan_vq35
(Post 7178906)
Just noticed this, thanks for the information guys. At first I was just getting the control arms to bring my front camber back to specs so that I would have even tire wear. But I'm also probably going to lower my car sometime in the near future. Don't know how much yet but probably just a modest drop (not looking to slam all the way to the ground). I don't want to have to do this twice so I am looking for control arms that will bring my camber back to zero for NOW and also give me adjustability when I do decide to drop my car. I've done a good job narrowing down what I think are the best control arms for my situation but would love if one of you guys could steer me in the right direction.
Front Control Arms - SPC - Eibach - Cusco (not sure if these offer enough adjustment) Out of the 3 which one is the best for me? As of now I am leaning towards SPC since they say they have the widest adjustment range Check out bulletin NTB04-043a (page 18) |
There's a TSB somewhere for the front toe needing to be set to it's maximum value of 0.08 to prevent feathering. Probably due to the front squatting at highway speeds.
|
| All times are GMT -4. The time now is 12:50 PM. |
© 2026 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands