Does anyone have the 2004 Z suspension on their sedan? All of the searches I performed referenced the 2003 Z suspension. I know the 2004 Z setup is supposed to have improved ride quality, so I'm curious as to whether or not there are still substantial handling gains over stock, sport suspension. For those of you with the 2004 Z suspension, what was your stock setup (standard or sport)? How does the Z setup compare?


Thanks!

03.5S DP / Prem / Sport / NAV
18" Coupe Rims w/ S-03 245/45/18
Eibach Pro Kit
Injen CAI
Z-Xtreme Grounding Kit
Upgraded sound (Infinity / MTX / Alpine)
Crawford Plenum (next)

 

I have the 03 350Z suspension, a significant improvement performance wise vs the oem sport suspension. Stellar turn in performance, vasty improved weight transfer performance, on throttle and on braking. And improved inside wheel traction. But, bounce is a issue, though less so strangely enough with the 255/40-18 GS-D3's I have on the rear now. The whole issue about 03 vs 04 Z suspension has been hashed out over the net. It's said to be softer, more compliant. Some Z owners that have driven both a 03 and a 04 Z have said the 04 rides better, yet other's that have driven both year's, have said they ride the same.

I've been curious, having thought about getting a 04 Z suspension for no other reason but to test it and truely see if their is a differance, to see if it perform's as well. If it is softer, so I have reason to believe it won't measure up performance wise to the 03 setup. But, I'm not so curious that I'm willing to spend much money to find out. I had a member at my350Z.com pm me offering me his 04 suspension, seem's he thought I didn't have the Z suspension and would I like to buy his 04 setup. I pm'd him back saying I was slightly interested and as such I'd offer a token amount vs him tossing the stuff out. I only paid $150 shipped for my 350Z springs and struts, I'll be darned if I'd pay more than that just to satisfy a slight whim. If you would like, I can try and broker a deal for his 04 suspension on your behalf, for the same $150 I paid. He didn't bite on my offer, which was a lot lower.



"All that's necessary for the forces of evil to win in the world is for enough good men to do nothing.”
Edmund Burke

G35 6mt

 

Gsedan35,

If milesh11 isn't interested in your brokering offer, I would be. I've been toying with the idea over the last few months. I can sneak a $150-175 upgrade past the wife. Let me know.

Thanks,

DEJim

 

Well, their is another member that has pm'd me the same request this morning, so he would be next in line. Thing is, their have been several attempts to sell oem 350Z springs and struts on my350z.com, none of them have sold, not even a posted reply of interest. This is why I got mine at the price I did, so their are other's to be had. You might want to wait and see if milesh11 get's his 04 setup (looks like he will) and give him some time to give a review and find out if the 04 setup got rid of the 03's bounce.

"All that's necessary for the forces of evil to win in the world is for enough good men to do nothing.”
Edmund Burke

G35 6mt

 

yea i got my 03 for a tad more than 150. the bounce is slowly becoming an issue and i too was about yay close to buying the 04 for the same reason. turned out that the suspension the guy was offering me was with aftermarket springs...that were progressive. the heck with that i say.

G35S 6MT
Technosquare ECU
350Z Springs & Struts
JWT popcharger + Z-tube
Stillen True Dual Exhaust
6-wire ground kit

 

I'm not sure the springs are different for the 04's. That was part of what I would have done had I gotten that 04 suspension, check the springs to see if their rates are different. I have a extra set of of 350Z springs, would be interesting to see a member run them on sport suspension shocks to see how they work out. Would be a way to lower 1" on linear springs.

"All that's necessary for the forces of evil to win in the world is for enough good men to do nothing.”
Edmund Burke

G35 6mt

 

Gsedan35,

I have always been closely following your suspension projects. After our socal meet today and the spirited driving on the Angeles Crest Hwy I really found out (with Clin't help) how poor my eibach suspension handles. I would like to ask for your help on that, and I would really prefer the 04 suspension.

So, you know the specs of the springs? 8 kg, 9 kg? I am sure the shocks are matched up well... Also, how much did it drop your car. I would love to keep that 1 inch drop that I have now, although i inderstand that the non-progressive springs may make it less comfortable. I would love it if we could sowrk smth out, if you can broker a deal that is.

Gurgen

 

Gurgen,

That must be some fun driving on Angel's Crest. I've been out to Jet Propulsion Labs many times; one of my JPL pals took me up to AC in his Integra GS-R and holy crap!

Funniest thing was: on our way back down the Pasadena end, we were tailgated all the way by a 80's-ish Tercel. The guy had that thing squeeling all the way down. My friend said that people that drive it to work every day are maniacs because they are used to it.

Very cool place...unfortunately, it's very flat here in Delaware.

DEJim

 

DEJim

It was great. Pushing your car to its limit is always fun. I just didn't like where that limit was, lol. But, it wasn't a surprise, I have always made engine performance my first priority.

Gurgen

 

Well, remember. I'm not past the 50/50 mark that the 04 setup get's rid of the bounce. Their is a chance it will not. I put up with the bouce because I paid dirt for the setup and it delivers what I wanted, recapturing much of the handling prowess from when I test drove the Z before I bought my sedan.

The spring rates you quoted are for the Nismo S-tune suspension, the oem Z, G35 coupe and I fully believe the sport suspended sedan are 5.6K/6.1K (314/340) The Z get's much more aggresive strut valving.

Curious, is your car by chance a non sport?

The Z suspension lowers the sedan 1" front and 1 1/8" rear.

"All that's necessary for the forces of evil to win in the world is for enough good men to do nothing.”
Edmund Burke

G35 6mt

 

Gsedan35,
Gurgen has the sports suspension initially and has been riding on the Eibach progressive springs for a while now. When I test drove it briefly at about 9/10, it presented quite a bit of steady-state understeer. It also felt softer than the stock sports setup 'initially' from my recollection and likely the doing of the ‘softer’ 1st-stage of the Eibach progressiveness. My impression may be partially skewed (although I tried my hardest not to be), however, as I may have grown accustomed to the much more aggressive Tein Flex setup.

Your ‘latest’ estimate of the sedan ‘sport’ spring rate is very interesting. 5.6 kg/mm & 6.1 kg/mm seemed more believable. Do you happen to know what the spring rate is for the Eibachs?

I told Gurgen I really like the way the 2004 Z suspension rode and handled. He should be quite happy with it. It will also be interesting to see how it would work out if he'd used the Eibach springs with the Z dampers. Unfortunately I had to settle for no less than the Tein Flex with independent height adjustment and pre-load settings required for corner balancing.



Gurgen,
Hehe. Sorry to have gotten you started on the ‘Handling’ mod bug as well You asked for an assessment, so I kindly obliged. I hope I didn't make you sweat too much while doing so. So much for “I don’t care about the ‘handling’ eh?” Heh heh.



Clint (THX723)

 

I have a set of Z 2003 springs and struts that I bought and then decided not to install. If anyone wants them, they can PM me. I'll sell them for $150 + shipping.

--Steve

 

When upgrading the springs to the Z springs/struts, wouldn't I also need new shocks unless I want to bounce around? Does the Z use the same shocks as the G35 6MT/sport shocks?

Drew
2003 G35 Sedan 6MT / Black / Graphite / Prem / Aero<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small"><EM>Edited by andyranck on 03/23/04 08:07 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

Clint, you can corner weight regular coilovers and sleave coilovers, some pretty respected people do it all the time, Grassroot's motor sports is one of them, the independent adjustment is not a requirement to do that. Yes the independent adjustment has it's benefit's.

Eibach sedan spring rates are,
259/334 front 359/413 rear

Also, Eibach's developement car was a non sport sedan.
Non sport spring rates are 280/315 (about 10% softer)

"All that's necessary for the forces of evil to win in the world is for enough good men to do nothing.”
Edmund Burke

G35 6mt

 

Andy, if you wanted to kill the bounce, yes you'd have to upgrade the shocks. Single adjustable Koni sports are due out in a few days. Double adjustable Tokico D-spec shocks are due anytime and Bilstein eventually have their Monotube H.D. shock and a PSS shock/coilover out.

The Z's shocks are valved totally different than the coupe with the Z's being much more aggresive. The valving in the coupe mirror's the sedan with sport.

"All that's necessary for the forces of evil to win in the world is for enough good men to do nothing.”
Edmund Burke

G35 6mt