I haven't seen a DIY with pics, so I thought I would put this together...

I have lowered MANY cars. This is by far the EASIEST one of them all. Good job Nissan.....

DISCLAMER
1. I do not take responsibility for anyone's actions besides myself. I am just telling you how I did it, whether it is the right way or not is up to you to decide. If you use these methods and damage your car, don't call me crying.

2. My interperitation of "tight" may be different than yours. When I say to snug a bolt, it may need to be really tight. I'm 5'11" 200 pounds and work out everday, so you judge tightness. Once again, this is my way, just an example.

3. USE JACK STANDS OR BLOCKS!! I can't stress this enough. NEVER trust a jack.

4. I don't claim to be an Infiniti mechanic. I may call things by the wrong name. For example a stabilzer bar may end up being a front end link or something. My bad, tell me and I will correct it.

OK, on with the write up.


First I jacked up the car, PLACED JACK STANDS, and got the tires off.

REPLACING FRONT SPRINGS.......


Take this nut off of the front end link. It is at the bottom of the strut assembly towards the front of the car. Pull the link out of the bar


This is the other end of the link that goes through the bottom of the srut assembly and attaches it to the lower arm. Remove the bolt and then completely take the link out and lay it off to the side.


Remove the nut that holds the brake line to the strut. Also remove the other lines on the front of the strut. They just press in.


Remove these 3 bolts that hold a plate that captures the bottom of the strut. You removed the link from this earlier.


Remove the 3 bolts inside the engine bay that hold the top of the strut in the car.


Be very carful when removing the strut assembly. Feed it THROUGH the brake line.


This next part you need to be very careful and know what you are doing, or take it to a shop. Use a spring compressor to remove the coil from the strut. Be sure to mark where the top hat bolts are in relation to where they lines up with the bottom of the strut. It has to be very close when you put it back together or you will have a hard time putting it back in the car.



Follow these directions in reverse to put it back together. Simple huh?

 

The rear springs are so easy it isn't even funny.

Jack up the car, place your jack stands and remove the tires.

Use a jack to support the bottom coil assembly here and remove this nut and bolt.


Just lower your jack slowly and remove coil.



Then you just have to put in the new one. Hard huh. Jack it back up, put the bolt and nut back on and you are done.

 

For those adding a rear camber kit, this is what I did. Easy too.

Remove these nut and bolts, remove old arm, install new one. Easy cheesy.



The new toe adjustment bolt would go here, but it was not needed. We had PLENTY of adjustment. One for each side of course, this is just the driver's side.

 

That's it. I hope it helps......

 

about how long did it take?

 

You might want to mention that when you remove the bolt off the top hat, that you should put a hex key into the top of the bolt to keep it in place while turn the bolt with an open ended wrench.

Otherwise, the rest of it will just be spinning and spinning

Also, some Torque settings would be great when torquing everything down.

 

About 2.5 to 3 hours. I did it alone, having a friend there would make it much faster.


If they can't figure that out by looking at it, then they should take it to a shop. Thanks for pointing that out though.

I don't know, I just tightened them down good and tight. I would suggest buying a manual if you want to go that in depth.....

 

cool, looked like it was fast and simple.

I think i'll probably buy some springs now and toss them on... it'll be easy to swap back if i don't like them.

 

I have the service manual somewhere. I'll update you with the numbers if you would like. I think torquing down to spec is always recommended when you work with a car's suspension.

 

I agree but when tightening down 14,15, 17, and 19mm bolts, most people don't have the arm strengeth to over tighten.(as long as they don't use a 5 foot cheater bar!) I was very suprised at seeing how beefy everything is on this car. They really went all out when making this thing. I like my car more now that I have really seen what it is made of....

 

If you wanna be really quick taking the front springs off, don't use a spring compressor at all. Lay the stock assembly on the garage floor and stand on the top end where the single bolt holds on the top hat of the strut. Hit that nut with an impact gun until she lets loose. The spring will shoot the strut out a few feet when it lets go but not with much velocity. You could wrap everything in a blanket if it makes you feel a little safer. You may need the compressor to get the new spring down enough to get the top nut back on the hat. Some springs you don't need a compressor at all. I did my car in about 1.5 hrs.

 

Never heard of that method, sounds kind of scary, but makes sense. I'll have to try that when I do it next time......

 

i did that with my 240 springs because i needed the top mount, that thing (the spring not shock) shot a good 25-30 ft over the lawn. that was scary...

 

nice work, thanks for taken the time.

 

I have probably done this 5 or 6 times with different cars and never had that kind of launch. You don't want to aim the strut assembly up in the air. You are keeping the spring in the same position with your foot. If you wrap the assembly in a blanket or just place a blanket piled up in front of the assenbly before you release the nut everything works fine.