Okay, just thought I'd give a quick review of the improvement my suspension mods made on the quality of the 350Z ride. To start with Nissan should have built the car this way. I had been suffering from the typical 350Z "bounce". I know that it's a sports car. My last car was a 2003 vette so it's not that I don't like a hard riding car.

Anyway on to the mods. After much research on this site (thanks everybody) I selected what I thought was a good combintation for what I wanted to achieve. I went with:

Hotchis Adjustable Sways
Koni Adjustible Shocks
Tein-H (Luxury) Springs

I first did the sways. I didn't think they would produce a noticeable difference but wow the car was MUCH tighter on the freeway (set to medium). Next came the springs and shocks (set to soft).

It is just stunning the difference these three mods have made to the car. It's now a joy to drive. I've taken it to the track once so far on the car is just perfect on the turns. I have taken the time to play with the shock and sway settings and I don't know if I will.

Anyway I can't say enough about how the car has been transformed. It's just amazing. If anyone would like to improve the ride quality, while improving handling at the same time I would recommend this combination. I know it sounds contradictory to have a smother ride ad improved handling but it's true. I think this just points to how mismatched the original Nissan setup is coming from the factory.

 

Sweet man, how much did all the suspension mods cost?

 

We need more specific's (model or product #'s, source, price, etc.)

Hook your boys up

 

There's not much else that you need (as far as model/product #'s) as I believe there's only one version of everything below for the 350z. There was a typo (not Hotchis, but rather Hotchkis). In other words...

Hotchis Adjustable Sways for 350z
Koni Adjustible Shocks for 350z
Tein-H Springs for 350z

 

Do you have an 03, 04 or 05 model?

 

I have a 2003. I'm not sure but I think the 2005's have a better ride. The earlier post above. There is only one version of each of these parts e.g. one model of Koni's for the 350Z, one model of Tein-H for the 350Z and one model of the Hotchkis sways.

Rough costs were:

$350 for sways
$160 for Springs
$600 for shocks

I had all of this installed so I forget exactly how much I spent but it was around $1200 or so.

 

what would you say made the bigest difference in drive quality?

 

Yeah, if we don't have the whole 12 hundred to spend what do you think made the biggest difference?

 

I only have the Hotchkis sways on mine, and I must say that they were definitly worth every penny. The Z feels much more planted in turns and demonstrates much less body roll (front=medium, rear=stiff).

 

I've gone the same route as Autobahn, but used RSR springs instead. I'd have to say the Koni shocks were probably the best single item for every day driving. They get rid of the weird damping that the stock shocks had. On certain technical backroads I often take, the stock suspension had a weird float to it that made me uncomfortable. The Koni shocks eliminated that and just feel more "right" in general. I originally tried them on 25% stiffness, but later backed off to full soft and they feel better. (25% felt over-damped.)

My springs and sways, on the other hand, reduced body roll and understeer significantly. The RSR springs keep the front spring rate about the same (only a tiny bit stiffer) but stiffen up the rear quite a bit. This reduces understeer. Matched with the adjustable sways I'd say it's a great combo to dial in the handling you want. This is good for the track or other hardcore driving. Most people won't notice the Z's understeer on the streets, but the reduction in body roll can make those freeway on-ramps much more fun.