My recommendation is that you save your some money for springs + shocks at once, or coilovers (even better).

i dumped my car on Tanabe GF210's (made for 350z), 1.4/1.6". i think that is the drop for the 350z, it seems like almost 2" on my car - after it settle i can only fit my index finger between the fenderwell and the wheel on 18" stocks.

the ride was not great, even at the beginning. I didn't notice how much it degraded until I had the whole front suspension replaced in an accident last November. My car felt soooo much better after the new suspension was put in. Ironically, my car felt better after the accident!

I am getting some wheels and a camber kit put on within a couple weeks, but the VERY next thing I'm getting is Tein Basics.

Then again, it was my choice to go so low. You can get something like the Tein springs and still stay in spec, and only drop your car 1". THe ride wouldn't go that bad then.

But I like the LOW look of the car - it is really agressive. I was willing to sacrifice the ride at first, but looking back, I should have just saved up and waited.

Remember, if u wanna lower ur car more than 1", ur talking SERIOUS investment. spring + shocks or coilovers, camber kit, front a-arms. that doesn't even include rims!

 

I think there is some truth to the theory that lowering your car with just springs will cause your shocks to wear rematurely. But then so will driving on bad roads.

Changing your shock when you change your springs will give you better handling overall. Going with coilovers is a good solution if you like to change your ride hight or damping. I too had a civic that I installed coilovers thinking I was going to adjust the suspension... I never did. I lowered my G with esplir springs and tociko d-specs. I'm happy with how it turned out.

Just a warning... lowering too much will cause camber issues with your rear wheels.

NOW.... having said all that....
You guys in socal have it SOOOOOOO easy. I live in Toronto Canada and I've seen my fair share of expensive aftermarket suspension components wear prematurely due to salt corrosion. Salt is just not good for your car. LOL...Dampers leak and coilovers seize.

just my two cents

 

I think what everyone says is right. If you're changing out the springs, might as well get aftermarket shocks. Tokico D-specs are awesome. I love mines.

I know that with the stock sport shocks, you get tokico shocks. Those should last you at least 60k miles.

 

how much for the basic set up of toiko d-spec with z springs?

 

Where's the performance theory in this thread?

 

A Civic owner stepping in to tell us what to do. You realize you are talking about 2 different cars here right?

Anyway, no matter the car, aftermarket lowering springs will indeed deteroriate stock struts. Struts are designed from the factory with one spring rate in mind. When you move to a more aggressive rate you are causing your shocks to do more work that they are not designed to do. Case in point, shocks wear out quickly when paired with aftermarket lowering springs. I've seen it so many countless times with so many different cars that it holds true for most any car out there.

 

I also own a Honda (actually an Acura, but same thing) as well as the G, and I did lower my Acura without aftermarket struts, and after about one and a half years my left rear strut went out, and the fronts seemed to be loosing a bit of their damping power...so I would say from personal experience that lowering springs can prematurely wear down the OEM struts. And that makes sense since the OEM were designed for the OEM spring rate, so when you introduce a different spring rate, it's not working like it's supposed to.

And on an entirely different note...I hate to be the one to say it, but if you can't afford a set of $1400 coilovers, or $800 spring/shock combo, then you probably aren't ready to lower your car yet. If you can afford a mid 30K car, you should be able to pay the price of not only owning the car, but paying for it's daily expenses. Like someone said above, you gotta pay to play. People on here talk so highly about how precision a machine the G35 is, yet are willing to take that precision and chop it up by adding and modifying parts here and there.

I see people bash on "ricers" and "honda owners" for doing things half assed and what not, primered body kits, cut springs, other ghetto stuff... But if you are lowering your car with only springs, then you are kind of doing the same thing...taking a half *** approach to modifying your car.

I guess I am just taking my old motorcycle mentality of "if you can't afford the full motorcycle, full leathers, nice helmet, insurance, cost of replacing the tire every 9K, etc...then you can't afford to ride a motorcycle (response given to all the newbs that just want to buy the fastest shiny bike but only drop $100 on a helmet that barely passes safety standards). Because to me, the suspension on a car is meant to work as a system, shocks, springs, sways, bushings, etc. were all meant to work together, so when you modify one, you throw the whole thing out of balance.

Now true, when I was yonger and I fixed up my Acura piece by piece over time, it totally screwed up the car here and there, but I learned my lesson on how not to mod a car. In fact I spent the last year or so putting my Acura as close back to stock as possible, and now I realize that the stock setup actually wasn't that bad!

Anyways. Off my soap box. To make a long story short, my humble opinion would be: if you can truly afford the nice car, then please mod it correctly.

That is all.

 

^ Word

 

you got to look at the safety issues behind it as well....like it has been mentioned by people who clearly KNOW what they are talking about the stock shocks are adjusted every which way for the particular sping rate the stock springs have....

I own a civic I got a hold of some coilover sleeves and installed them with the stock shocks, the car becomes waaaay too bouncy, i switched to a full coilover setup that had the springs and shocks matched, so you get the look you want, performance, and no premature wear.

I've seen guys with a stock shock and aftermarket lowering spring just spin out for no apparent reason...why? because you're riding on springs, your car is bouncy, your car well for certain lose grip when going over a dip or a slight bump, now if this happens on a turn, you're ****ed, or an on ramp or off ramp...

plus it looks like **** watching a car riding around bouncing over every dip and bump, especially if its a sexy G35

 

but are the d-specs specifically made for spring that lower your car? you do guys think theres a limit on how much you should drop with the d-specs?

bikesbikes- how far can u drop b4 having rear camber problems?

 

i think you're confusing d-specs (shocks) with springs (like Tein H or S). shocks are not "tied" to any limit on how much you can drop - that's the spring. they're used to dampen the springs' tendency to bounce (compression/rebound). They are tied how much they can dampen the spring's "stiffness" or spring rate

 

My last car, I lowered it with a set of Eibach pro springs on stock shocks.The springs dropped it by about 1.5" in the beginning. The car looked great for awhile, then came the problems. The shocks went bust and the car bottomed out on the freeway over a slight ramp. The result was a cracked fuel line, cracked power steering reserve, cracked transmission casing, busted shocks and thousands in repair bill.

 

Wake up, it was only a nightmare.

 

That is the exact setup I'll be running on my car. Seems like good compromise between ride quality and performance

Anyway, changing the spring rates cause premature wear on shocks. However, as long as the spring rates aren't very different, I'm assuming you can use the OEM shocks without much drawbacks as there are some aftermarket lowering springs that are designed to work with stock shocks although I don't know if there are such products for G/Z.

 

SO even with a half inch of a drop you going to have problems?