all sedan owners thinking about lowering.
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From: Kalifoania
all sedan owners thinking about lowering.
If you own a sedan regardless of the year and are thinking about lowering your vehicle, make sure you get shocks along with the new springs. I have a sport suspension 04 6mt sedan, and I initially lowered it with 350z springs and after 10k miles all my shocks were blown. Then, I checked with cerritos infiniti, and they told me it is a guarantee blow if you lower on factory shocks. Yes, it even applies to the sport red factory tokico shocks. You may not notice it first, but it will blow eventually. Blown shocks dosen't necessarely need to leak fluids either. So ure gonna have to buy new set of shocks down the line anyway. Mine as well buy tokico d-spec shocks and use them and sell them down the line. They cost the same as factory shocks.
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If you get a full 350Z suspension (springs&shocks) you should not have any problems with shocks prematurely blowing out. I've had revised Z springs on my 05 sport sedan for about 16k miles and have yet to have a problem (knock on wood) but i'm switching to Tein Basics next week so that shouldnt be a problem for me.
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I think it depends on which Z springs you get. I thought the revised Z springs had the same lb rating as the G sport and coupe? Therefore the shock requirement should be the same?
This is known news IMO. On my previous cars I was lucky to get 15-20k before the shocks were complete crap. Even going with OEM springs and identical spring rates....whenever lowering using a shorter spring it will cause premature wear. Its not cheap, but this is the first car I did not want to hassle with "doing it later", thats why I emptied my pocket and got them at the same time as the springs.
A shorter spring will only cause problems if the shock rod bangs up against the end limit of travel IMHO. I don't think the Z 1" or coupe's .5" drop will do this.
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Not sure what you mean by added pressure. Shock should be under the same pressure regardless if the travel. Assuming the oem shock is a gas pressurized unit.
Originally Posted by Nickk6
I think the shock wears just from added pressure. I never had anything banging on my stock shocks with lowering springs.
if you have any type of lowering springs and hit some big potholes you're going to have the struts blow out. either way --aftermarket with stiffer springs or struts will go a lot faster than OEM made for the car... but who leaves their G stock anyways?
Originally Posted by Nickk6
I think the shock wears just from added pressure. I never had anything banging on my stock shocks with lowering springs.
I'm curious as to how people are gauging these "blown" shocks. It's always been my experience that worn shocks on a sport-derived suspension results in a stiffer ride because the purpose of shocks is to dampen the movements of the springs hence the term "dampeners". The only ways to really tell if the shocks are gone are:
1) visible leakage, very rare occurance
2) harsh ride
3) removal of the shock and measure the response time of the shock on a full compression release.
I have had my H&R springs for over a year with the stock sport shocks. I am going to change them out in the next two weeks for some D-specs but they are still just fine.
Guess I am lucky.
Guess I am lucky.
the unrevised Z springs match the spring rate of the sport shocks on the sedan. shouldn't cause any problems inspite of the shorter spring.
revised Z springs have a DIFFERENT spring rate than the sports springs so that may be why the OP had problems
revised Z springs have a DIFFERENT spring rate than the sports springs so that may be why the OP had problems
From the guru himself:
Originally Posted by Gsedan35
Not a fan of progressive springs or the compromise they ask against performance. They numb the car's reflexes and can make at the limit behavior dicey as you yaw between differing spring rates, which is all the more likely the closer you get to at the limit adheasion level's during peak G's. If your not into performance and or your after nothing more then looks, then it doesn't matter in the end. Still, the chassis engineer's didn't resort to progressive oem springs for a reason.
Of your choices. Just oem 350Z springs would work fine and give you a 1" drop, but you need to make sure you do not get ahold of any oem 350Z spring other then 2003 springs or early 2004 springs. Avoid 2004.5 and 2005 oem 350Z springs because they have a much higher rear spring rate that your oem shocks will absolutely not be able to effectively deal with. Which makes me skip to the subject of the Tein 350Z H-techs. I've had them on my sedan with the oem sport shocks for awhile now to test. While the initial impression is very good, the lasting impression is that the oem sport shocks are simply not fit to deal with the 14%/10% increase in spring rates over the oem sedan sport springs. Yes the ride quality is fine, but they allow too much to happen that should be dampned out and controlled. This are really noticeable at higher speeds when the suspension has to move a lot. Another way to describe what's going on, not enough rebound control. Only consider the springs if you also upgrade your shocks.
Should you buy a oem 350Z suspension? Only if you can locate a genuine revised 2004.5 or 2005 setup. Even then, you have to be willing to except the added frimness that the oem Z shocks will have. Still it is a very cost effective way to up the sedan's abilities, should cost in the $250 range. If your in doubt, simply go drive a 2005 350Z with either 17's or 18's and see where you stand.
Another choice to go with just springs and to try and retain your oem shocks would be Hotchkis 350Z springs, but they would drop a sedan about 1.6"/1.8" and you would not be able to adjust the alignment to within factory sedan specs without aftermarket parts, which would pretty much defeat the purpose of not spending money on different shocks for a 350Z H-tech setup. RSR 350Z springs would do about a 1.7"/1.7" drop, but they should really only be run with aftermarket shocks.
When you get down to brass tac's, the aftermarket does not offer much performance choices for the sedan, not one's that measure up spec wise or in construction. If all someone wan't is looks, then your set. But, thank goodness we can run some mild drop 350Z lowering springs that are performance spec'd on these cars.
Of your choices. Just oem 350Z springs would work fine and give you a 1" drop, but you need to make sure you do not get ahold of any oem 350Z spring other then 2003 springs or early 2004 springs. Avoid 2004.5 and 2005 oem 350Z springs because they have a much higher rear spring rate that your oem shocks will absolutely not be able to effectively deal with. Which makes me skip to the subject of the Tein 350Z H-techs. I've had them on my sedan with the oem sport shocks for awhile now to test. While the initial impression is very good, the lasting impression is that the oem sport shocks are simply not fit to deal with the 14%/10% increase in spring rates over the oem sedan sport springs. Yes the ride quality is fine, but they allow too much to happen that should be dampned out and controlled. This are really noticeable at higher speeds when the suspension has to move a lot. Another way to describe what's going on, not enough rebound control. Only consider the springs if you also upgrade your shocks.
Should you buy a oem 350Z suspension? Only if you can locate a genuine revised 2004.5 or 2005 setup. Even then, you have to be willing to except the added frimness that the oem Z shocks will have. Still it is a very cost effective way to up the sedan's abilities, should cost in the $250 range. If your in doubt, simply go drive a 2005 350Z with either 17's or 18's and see where you stand.
Another choice to go with just springs and to try and retain your oem shocks would be Hotchkis 350Z springs, but they would drop a sedan about 1.6"/1.8" and you would not be able to adjust the alignment to within factory sedan specs without aftermarket parts, which would pretty much defeat the purpose of not spending money on different shocks for a 350Z H-tech setup. RSR 350Z springs would do about a 1.7"/1.7" drop, but they should really only be run with aftermarket shocks.
When you get down to brass tac's, the aftermarket does not offer much performance choices for the sedan, not one's that measure up spec wise or in construction. If all someone wan't is looks, then your set. But, thank goodness we can run some mild drop 350Z lowering springs that are performance spec'd on these cars.
word...im on h techs and so far so good with my sport shocks...even over big dips and turns on the highway the car seems to settle fine without wobbling....
i do have some slight sqeaking b/c the springs were installed without the thin rubber trim that wrap around the end of the oem springs =/ i called my installer and they'll be taking care of it. anybody know if all 4 springs have these?? i only found them on my fronts?
i do have some slight sqeaking b/c the springs were installed without the thin rubber trim that wrap around the end of the oem springs =/ i called my installer and they'll be taking care of it. anybody know if all 4 springs have these?? i only found them on my fronts?