It's the circumference of the wheel that affects the weight of the setup, not the overall circumference of the wheel/tire combo. If anything, a larger wheel setup will smooth out the ride as bumps will seem smaller to the setup, but will take more power to turn, hindering mobility. A larger wheel only worsens ride quality if you get low profile tires that won't absorb as much of the impact as a tire with a fatter sidewall would. But the smaller sidewall in turn offers better handling since it responds better as it won't flex as much as the larger sidewall, but the same can be had on smaller, lighter wheel, which will actually perform better than the larger wheel. But performance of a wheel and tire setup is very objective. The firm sidewalls are better for handling, but meatier tires are better for acceleration. Overall, it's a give and take, although you lose a bit more handling with the larger wheels. While this all makes a much bigger difference in smaller FWD cars, it still affects these cars in the same manner. You won't notice too much of a difference going from 17s or 18s to 19s or 20s. But after driving on the larger wheels for a bit, you will feel the improvement when you switch your wheels back out to the smaller sizes. IMO, the perfect size wheels for these cars are 18 or 19s. Anything larger will be too heavy for performance.

Your car is a balance of weight, engineered to perform. The suspension has to be matched so the ride is neither too bumpy or too bouncy, although a firmer sport suspension can ride a bit harsh. While many coilovers allow adjustment, realistically, the struts are usually either too firm to be balanced with the springs and the weight of the car, or the springs are just too soft for the weight of the car. I can talk about adjusting the suspension for performance, etc... but realistically, you want a suspension that allows you to adjust rebound separately from bound, and since most suspensions adjust both with the same ****, they won't handle as well. At the least, it's rebound that you want to be adjusting. I'm not saying there are no coilovers out there that can handle better than a good spring and strut setup, just that most of the cheap options just aren't truly R&D'd to make the cars they are fitted on handle better. The only R&D they really seem to do is about fitment, to make sure the ride is not too harsh, and to make sure sh*t don't break. If you want coils, I'd suggest looking into something like KW for a "cheap" option.

 

Instead of a full CO system (just cost too much), I went with the 350Z springs in front and G35 Coupe springs in the back (I don't think this applies to an X), to get the ride quality and road holding that I wanted, I went with the Tokico D-Spec adjustable shocks ($700 I think) and I was able to adjust what I had pretty well. I don't know if the D-Specs will work with an X, but it's worth considering.

 

You can use the word "compression" but "bound" and "rebound" are more accurate.

Technically, you want a low bound so the strut can take the hit of the bump, and a high rebound so the strut can immediately re-extend itself to keep your tires to the road. If the bound is too stiff, think about it - you might as well replace your struts with a pipe.

Now if we were discussing what's going on inside the strut, how we are getting bound and rebound, then we can use the word compression.

 

Don't want to be an azz about this, but no, that's not correct.


The root word of "rebound" is bound, the root of bound is bind, as in to "bind up" something. Shocks do not "bind", they "dampen" They "dampen" the sinusoidal motion of the suspension.

From the Monroe website: http://www.monroe.com.sg/product.html

From an Ohlins PDF: http://motorsportsspares.com/files/g...nformation.pdf

And last but not least, this from the Tein website: http://teinusa-blog.com/compression-and-rebound/



You can call me wrong if you like, but I don't think THREE manufactures of some of the best shocks in the world would be wrong.

 

That's great. Thanks for the correction in terminology. Either way, it doesn't change what you really want from your struts. And I wouldn't call Tein "great" anymore. Their DC2 suspensions were the last coilovers they ever truly R&D'd as everything they've released after that has been crap.

 

$1500 isn't alot to work with. If you are talking about objective performance, not subjective "drive's better".

http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/articles/dialed/

just follow their list until you run out of money.

Except their wheel size one, don't bother with wheel sizes, performance difference is not worth considering for the price as dofu eloquently stated. Even their lap times didn't really change with the wheels.

lowering springs worsen the handling of the car. lowering the car and actually getting better performance is pretty pricey.

http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/art...king-behavior/
As some people have said, most coilovers are crap, and not crap ones are expensive (bilstein, ohlins, koni to name a few).

 

Thanks for the link. Objective data. I was using this list myself and some of the articles are wheels as well.
http://www.tuneruniversity.com/blog/...for-your-buck/

I have decided I'll get the front and rear Hotchkis sway bars and upsize to 18" wheels (but light ones - maybe Enkei RPF1's) and get some nice sticky rubber. I'm going to leave the shocks/springs stock for now. It's a pretty plush, soft stock setup but I don't mind it that much for street driving. I have a TSX that I lowered with H&Rs and Koni Sports and I can get a nice sporty stiff ride out of that setup. And boy do I know what you mean about the cost of that. Went for the post install final alignment last Friday and it was a no-go because I need an upper right ball joint which everyone missed and that cost me $200. Then I got the alignment today and found I the rear corners are -2.5% and I need a rear camber kit which will cost be $200 plus install plus another partial alignment. The lowering exercise has taught me that it is a costly endeavor. It could easily cost me $2K for the G35X so I'm going to leave that alone for this year.

 

I love those guys at Grassroots. What they say is spot on, but they are only talking about how lowering springs do not work well with stock struts in the part you quoted. Once you switch the struts/shocks to something aftermarket, the new struts should work much better with the new springs. If anything you throw off the car's center of gravity and more about the symmetry of the car when you lower your car, and that will affect your car's handling more than anything. But most drivers won't be pushing their cars enough to feel it to realize that's what is wrong so it's never that big of a deal.

You will be fine just getting some D-Specs without lowering springs for a much improved handling. If anything, I would suggest D-Specs for the Z for the additional adjustment. They cost the same and are exactly the same, only there is one extra notch for the Z.

And as for the cost of lowering your car if you're not doing the work yourself, just save up parts until you have everything to do it right, then have it all installed at once to save on labor cost.

 

BTW, I love these lines in that article, especially with all these fanboys and commission breathed salespeople jumping up and down screaming about how great Teins and all these other crap coilover brands are in every thread they can find about suspensions.

 

I have a G35X. I don't know of any decent after market shocks, D-specs etc, for my car. I believe there are only top options. OEM or KYB GR-2' (which I believe are basically the same as OEM spec and performance wihich isn't saying much).