Man I am sorry guys. I have been swamped with work (a good thing). However, I have been doing a bit of research and it seems that some sedan owners say that the rear of their car sits lower than the front with OEM Z springs. I've been giving this alot of thought and I think I may do the Tein H-Techs and the Tokico D-Specs. My main concern is ride quality. In my opinion, the car rides kinda firm (not that bad mind you), and I would like to maintain that feel without getting too harsh. THe S Techs are definitely too low of a drop for me as I carry clients in the car from time to time.

Gsedan35, you have been most generous with the offerings of OEM parts. Paticularly the top mounting hats for the front struts. I may take you up on that offer so I can assemble the D-spec/Htech spring assembly off the car and then simply do a swap. That way if things don't fit right, I can just put the OEM strut assembly back in. The rears look easy. After this weekned (Mother's day) is past, I plan to get my a$$ in gear and get some stuff ordered. EverythingG35 has a good deal on the H-tech/D spec combo so I may just do that.

 

thanks gsedan35, anyone have the d-spec pics?? those struts will definately not fit unless you can cut off the bottom from a little under the bottom brake line mount and sit it in the x fork.... so if the d-specs are built like those, they will not fit....

rich, if the d-specs look like those stock struts, they will not fit. if you jack up your car, you will easily be able to tell they will not fit. i would call tokico again and send them a pic(if you have a digital camera) of the x front suspension and let them compare the difference. the axle for the awd connects to the center of the rotor and runs parallel to the lower control arm to the transmission. the rwd front suspension as shown in gsedan35 pics does not have the axle and the strut goes straight down to the control arm. on our x's there is a fork that hooks around the axle and the strut sits in the seat at the top of the fork above the axle.... i wish i had pic's, it would be so much easier to show... it's really easy to take apart both the front and the rear suspension in this car and should very quick if you have the front setup and ready to swap... good luck if you do decide to go through with it and let me know if they fit... =)

as for people saying the back looks lower, i think a lot of people think that it's lower because the rear fenders come down lower than the front fenders. most aftermarket springs have a lower drop on the front to even out the fenderwell gap to the tire... i think??, just my toughts

aaron

 

Rayron, I see what you mean. I went out to my car and took a good look. It looks like the X shocks are shorter due to the piece that the shock mounts to and curves around the front axle. I am really bummed about this. I am definitely not going to lower the car without doing a better strut. I'd like to only take it apart once. I just aquired a coupe midpipe and that is next on my agenda. Us X owners need a darn strut package!

 

i agree rich, pm me when you get that midpipe installed and let me know of any gains/losses. are you just doing the midpipe or exhaust and intake also? i was looking toward upgrading to z-tube/k&n drop in and browsing around for exhaust options.

thanks,
aaron

 

I have the UT polished Z tube and the K&N drop in filter on the car. I don't think it added anything except for a much nicer sound at WOT. Around town it sounds stock. It does SEEM to pull better at higher RPMs (4K +) though. I went with the UT polished Z-tube to dress up the engine bay a little. I am also going to send out a few things to the chrome shop to get dipped. Brackets, bolts, and a few other things. That should dress up the engine bay nicely.

I am just going with the coupe midpipe because I don't want the car loud. The coupe midpipe is supposed to add a nicer exhaust note at WOT, but sound basically stock around town and on the highway at cruising speeds. I am not a fan of the droning that most aftermarket exhausts produce while on the highway.