Here's a suspension question for you owners out there:

The suspension at low speeds is truly horrible on my Track Z. I've driven pickup trucks that felt exactly the same. Not sure if this is normal for rear wheel drive cars or not. I'd rather have a firmer more punishing ride to this sensation of ripples, porpoising and bouncing. I've noticed that once the speed builds (above 35), the ride is much much nicer.

Is anyone else having this problem or could it be I have a bad shock or two?

Fly

 

It happens with all models. It all depends on the road surface. There have been times when I've actually bounced in the seat it's so bad. There's nothing that can be done except soften the suspension......NAH.

 

I think the porpoising is due to a combination of stiff springs and low profile tires. My one minor issue with the suspension is that it feels to me like the car takes a few extra rebounds to recover from a single bump. I still consider the ride to be acceptable for a sports car.

 

Sounds like you bought the wrong car.
Trade it in or take 3psi out of the tires. Your pick.

 

Now come on, let's not get snotty.

Remember I driver a track car with full roll cage, no interior, sparco racing seats, a mixture of steel and polyurethane bushings, 400lb springs and shocks that leave nothing to the imagination. I think I know what "sporty" feels like.

 

....NAAHHH

 

Actually, I now think stiffer shocks (especially rebound) will make the biggest difference at low speeds. I had the same issue on my track car until I cranked up the shock settings. Now the ride is more consistent and I'm far less aware of porpoising etc.

I like the car to act as one unit. The problem with the stock suspension is that each corner is too independent if you can have such a thing. In other words, you can feel each corner bouncing independently (different oscillation). The car ends up rocking from side to side and back to front. A stiffer ride would flatten out this behavior.

Don't get me wrong. This is not a major problem, just something to improve on. I'm sure Nissan had a specific target audience in mind when they tuned the supsension and that's fine.

Flaming is not necessary as I find the Z totally wicked.

 

Flyingscot,

I totally agree with your description of the oscillating effects of the suspension on the Z. I too was wondering if the shocks were a bit too "soft" for this car. I am just waiting for some one to go ahead and swap a set of stiffer Konis, Bilstein, etc on and see if there's a difference .

 

Well, any takers?

 

I would go with the NISMO set up (see the recent review on Freshalloy.com). I can feel a large dent about to form in my checkbook next spring.

 

I'm lookin into a set of Koni's if i can find them, of course, need to get my car delivered first