just the shocks at first, then when the damping capabilites of the oem shocks wear out...you'll be bouncing around and bottoming out. do it right the 1st time, and buy coil overs.

 

You dont need coil overs per say.... any good shock and spring combo with do just fine.

I mean how often do the guy who buy coilovers adjust them in a year.

 

I'd be one of those tiring myself tuning it. Once you figure out it's static sag, per a given height and give yourself enough shaft travel on the preload, all there is to do is fine tuning damping rates.

 

So your saying that the 350Z OE shocks are different because the springs are shorter. Well, I disagree. The Z OE shocks are different b/c Nissan wanted the Z to have a more aggressive suspension than the G. They did this w/ the shocks while basically using the same springs as the G.

There may be some truth to what your saying, but I doubt the life of an OE G shock would be compromized much if you cut 1/2" of your OE G spring. This would essentially give you a Z spring.

I don't want to argue, but I think I'm right.

 

this is why there's so much stress on matching spring rate to damping rates. so solve all problems, just swap out the whole shock/strut and spring assembly altogether from a 350Z to a G35.

installing a 350Z spring on a G35 strut would be like reducing preload on a coilover, reducing the shaft travel. 1/2" could be a lot in terms of adjusting preload and not so much height.

Maybe if someone volunteered the time to put their shock on a shock-dyno, G35 vs 350Z. I dont know if the shocks are progressive, linear or digressive either. so a dyno reading will help a lot.

Just to add, it's "damping" not "dampening"

 

I don't want to argue either, but Z shocks are shorter in addition to being dampened differently. Please reread my post:

Even the after market Tokicos have a G35 and 350Z D-spec with different part numbers (DSP-7 and DSP-9) with the 350Z D-spec being shorter to accomodate the shorter spring even though the Coupe and 350Z have the same rear spring rates. I should know because I have Tein S-Techs for the 350Z and Tokico D-specs for the 350Z.

The S-techs on the 350Z should lower it .7/.6 inches, but on the Coupe it lowered me 1 inch all around. My OEM shocks lasted about 1 year after install. Yes, I could've driven around on those shocks, but it was unbearably rough. You shouldn't necessarily give the OEM G shocks credit for being a quality piece. In this case, after-market is well worth the money and you won't wonder if it's effective...you'll definitely feel the difference.

 

Cheap short-term solution: complete 350Z suspension (springs and shocks)

Expensive short-term solution: Tein flex or any other coilover really. The price will range from $800 for the Tein Basic up way past $2k.

 

ScottR - Thanks for the Tien Basics recommendation. I think your right. Do it once and do it right. I'm not going to play around w/ springs. I'm just wondering if the basics are good for a drop of 1" or less?

Deang - The suspension Guru's told me I would have no problems using the Z springs w/ my stock shocks. I didn't come up w/ it myself.

FS: 03' OE Z springs used for 1,500 mi on a Z. I did not install them on my G. $50 + shipping.