nissansource

iTrader: (10)

Looks like Ksport isnt posting here now...... wonder if its true.... btw you can change the Spring rates all you want... get ready to blow the valving thats not ready to take advantage of the aggressive springs. also you can buy the springs anywhere. if you guys want to look i was part of a traders group for a Korean website where companies posted their products for you to slap your label on them just gotta find it. and there is where i found the D2 ksport brands unlabled. notice its just a sticker..

knight_white99

iTrader: (5)

I installed my D2 Racing suspension installed this past weekend.

Here's what I have learned:

There is no welded nut on the bottom of the rear suspension like there is with the stock units (or evn the Tokico D-Specs). I had to scrounge to find a nut to fit so the bolt would have something to screw into.

The range of travel of the suspension seems heavily weighted toward RAISING the car rather than lowering it. At first, I set the car up with about one inch of thread left from full lowering on the units. After installation, the car's ride height was as high as stock, if not higher. I then took off all four corners and reset things to full lowering. Things were better up front, about as low as with my Eibachs and Tokicos (E&T), but the rear is still too tall, about 3/4" taller than with the E&T. It doesn't look right, especially when the front is dropped. Still, I expected to be able to lower the car a good two inches at least from stock.

As for handling, well, get the car aligned first. Handling was very squirrely at first once installed. Took it in to my local alignment shop, and the rear was toed in 3/4"! I had them reset back to the spec that I like (about 0.0015" toed in), and it got better.

Currently, with the 15kg/mm springs in front and the 13kg/mm springs in the rear, and dampening set two turns from full hard (there are about 6 turns maximum range), the ride is very bouncy over any substantial object (like drainage runs, etc.). On a smooth road, the ride is okay, but very firm (which is fine for me). Certainly much more firm than stock or with my E&T's.

The faster you drive, the better it feels. A few short freeway jaunts to about 90mph felt good. At low speeds, finally, there is virtually NO BODY ROLL. This is what I was looking for. The front end feels stiffer than the rear. In some simulated slow speed slaloms on a back road, the side to side and quick transition movement felt solid, but initial turn in is still not quite as crisp as I would like. After initial turn in however, the control is very good.

There is a very bumpy freeway on ramp not far from my home. I did a hard acceleration on this on ramp today, and the car was a real handful, bouncing all over the place. Rebound dampening is the real problem - currently there is not enough, and the car wants to rebound off the pavement. I will try this again after I reset the shocks to firmer dampening.

I called Noah at CNG; he is going to have a tech guy get back to me tomorrow. He tells me that this is the first that he has heard about any issues with these units. My real issue this point is the ride height adjustment range. If all else fails, I will need to cut about an inch off of the lower shock body - a severe but effective solution.

I still need to try them on a racetrack. Probably can't do that until September (too hot for any track days here in AZ this time of year). I think the heavy spring rates will work better there than on the street, so long as they are properly dampened. To be fair, the units are labeled "for racing only."

More to follow...

JETPILOT

iTrader: (51)

Please... no offense inteded at all. But.... you did remove the stock springs right? My D2 shocks are much shorter than my factory units. I just went outside and compared the legnth of the uncompressed D2 units with the compressed stock shocks installed on the car and the D2 units at full drop are about 3 or more inches shorter uncompressed.

Respect
JET

Triple8Sol

iTrader: (218)

Didn't feel like reading the entire thread, so forgive me if this has already been hashed. K-Sports are either made by the same people as the D2's, or at least use most of the same components. Serious noise issues with both on Maximas. Features look good on paper, especially for the price, but apparently quality is not up to par. Hopefully the units for the Z/G is a different story?

knight_white99

iTrader: (5)

Yes, I removed the stock springs from the rear. I agree that just looking at the shock length when off of the vehicle, the D2 shocks look much shorter. However, once placed on the vehicle, the drop is less than expected. I believe this is because the spring rates are so stiff that there is hardly any compression due to the vehicle weight at all.

That said, I am not really looking for more than a 1" drop. I have enough trouble getting over the lip on my driveway even now. However, I might want to stiffen the rear a little more relative to the front (the current rates stiffen the front to a much greater degree relative to either stock or my Eibachs). I am thinking about trying the rears WITH the Eibachs also installed to see if that stiffens the rear spring rate enough (that is, once I get the drop problem solved). Also, I would feel much more comfortable having the other springs in place to support the car, since right now, the entire rear weight of the car is resting on just those two rear suspension bolts. If one of those breaks...

JETPILOT

iTrader: (51)

Something doesn't make sense. If the D2 shock is shorter than the stock shock when installed and compressed on the car then the car has to drop. . My D2 is about 3 inches shorter than the stock shock when compressed . So even if the D2 shock doesn't compress on the car it's still 3 inches shorter.

And you agree the D2 shocks were much shorter than stock before installation?

I'm more than a little confused.

If you cut the lower shock body you would lose more than a little of the thread portion which would seem dangerous to me.

Respect
JET

knight_white99

iTrader: (5)

Are you sure that the D2 is shorter when the stock shock is COMPRESSED? I know that it looks shorter when the shock is removed from the car, but you would be amazed how much the stock shocks compress on the car.

Do me a favor, if you would, and measure the length of the rear lower shock body of the D2's. Mine is 10.5" from the very bottom of the shock to the top (where you can see the black threaded part). I am concerned that this part might be too long on mine - maybe they sent the wrong bottom end or something.

I don't believe that I would be losing much strength if I cut the lower shock body. There would still be several inches of thread engagement, since I would be screwing the lower shock body all the way up. Certainly this is no worse than if you adjusted the shock body to have a higher ride height. I think the idea of all of the weight of the car resting on the two single bolts is more dangerous (just my opinion).

JETPILOT

iTrader: (51)

The stock shock is on the car now, and is being compressed to some degree by the weight of the vehicle. I adjusted the D2 to the lowest ride height and compared it to the length of the stock shock under compression installed on the car. The D2 is at least 3 inches shorter without any compression.

My lower body is 10.5 as well. The rwo rear bolts only receive compression force, no shear so I'm not worried about the 2 bolts.

What the hell is going on here?

Respect
JET

knight_white99

iTrader: (5)

I wish I knew what was going on too. All that I have is measurements to go by.

With stock size wheels and tires (18", 245/45s) on the rear, the height to the rear fender gap at it's highest point is about 26 5/8" with my Eibachs and Tokicos. With the D2's installed (fully threaded up to give lowest drop), the height is 27 5/16".

BTW, I agree that the two upper shock mounting bolts experience either compressive or tension forces, depending on what the car is doing. However, the single bolts holding the lower shock ends to the hub carrier are under some degree of shear stress (like twin guillotines - one on each end of the bolt) from the shock mount. Having the stock springs or other springs in the stock location greatly reduces the load on these bolts.

I will be very interested to see what fender height values that you get once yours are installed.

knight_white99

iTrader: (5)

Okay, JETPILOT, I am going to save you hours of aggravation.

I just got off the phone with Martin, apparently the tech guy at CNG (D2) in CA.

We discussed the issues. The main point is that the instructions are WRONG.

The instructions essentially say (I am paraphrasing since I do not have them in front of me) NOT to put any additional preload on the springs, that they are set at the factory, and that adjusting this will prematurely wear out the unit.

Per Martin, the shocks do NOT come with the springs preloaded, and that you need to add 18-20 turns of preload onto each spring!!! (I can see how this would give you additional travel, since now you have 18-20 more turns available to thread the lower shock body upward.)

The bummer is that now I am going to have to remove all of the units, AGAIN, to make these changes. Arrrrgh.... I am not a happy camper.

JETPILOT

iTrader: (51)

Good luck getting the springs pre-loaded. I managed 6 turns by hand with the spanner wrench and that's all I could manage. 18-20 turns?

They will have to be put in a vise and get some leverage on the spanner wrench somehow.

Thanks for the info.

Respect
JET

RedLeader

iTrader: (9)

subscribing

knight_white99

iTrader: (5)

Last night I was able to get 15 1/2 turns on the spring preload on the rear shocks. I got back about 1 3/16" of thread to use for further height reduction. I used about 3/4" of that to get back to where I was with the Eibachs (ride height wise). I was able to just keep the shock in the car to turn the perch ring (easier than having to remove it and put it in a vise).

It will be interesting to see the difference in ride quality.

Tonight I will tackle the fronts. Then I can take a test drive tomorrow.

knight_white99

iTrader: (5)

I was able to get only 10 turns on the fronts tonight. But the effort was about the same as getting 15 on the rears. Maybe that's because the spring is stiffer or perhaps it is just not as easy to turn the cog in the current location. I was able to get about another 3/4" of thread in the front for possible additional lowering. That means I could potentially get down to about 24 3/4" for the front fender height - pretty low IMO.

Hopefully, if we don't get the remnants of Hurricane Emily here this weekend, I'll be able to do some driving and give a better report.

GregGSC, did you get yours installed yet?

Jetpilot, I'll be interested to hear how your install goes and your opinion on handling, especially after Sebring (I have a fair amount of time at the track in several types of cars, so I will be able to relate to whatever you have to say about the handling). Sebring is a rather bumpy track (especially on the concrete sections), so it will be interesting to hear how the heavy spring rates affect things. I will be testing at Firebird Intl' Raceway in Chandler, AZ, but will not be able to do so until September at the earliest (no track days in this 115 degree heat!).

ihatethatbobbarker

same logo, and thats why ive avoided this thread, because i know their crap and all the people here are gonna say i spent too much money on my coilovers, because I actually bought for quality.

JETPILOT

iTrader: (51)

Hey Knight,

Thanks for you updates. It made my install go easier. Here is the latest. I preloaded the springs with 18 turns front and rear. With the front springs pre-loaded and dropped 1", which is the drop I wanted, there are no threads left to back off on the spring pre-load if I want to adjust it. The bottom locking ring is up against the spring perch locking ring. No good in my opinion.

The rear @ full drop will only lower the car 1" with the spring preloaded when I want it dropped 2.5".

I called Noah @ D2, and he says he will send new lower shock bodies at shorter legnths so we don't hace to cut the ones we have. The ones we have are 10.5. I imagine we need about 2.5 inches shorter rear shock bodies, and 1.5" shorter in the front. If Noah can't provide what I need I will have the machine shop cut the shock bodies on a lathe. Noah has been very accomodating. He even offerd to accept the shocks back and refund the money. He asked me what size I wanted, and said he will send them overnight as soon as I provide the info. Get in contact with Noah.

Respect
JET

protocav

iTrader: (3)

jetpilot,
i hate to say i told you so, but i told you so. is this hassle really worth the money you would have saved on a reputable set of coilovers?

spare me the insulting reply, because this seems unacceptable for someone to go through this much trouble for coilovers.

Chad

knight_white99

iTrader: (5)

Jet,

Thanks for the update. I am still curious and anxious to hear about how you feel the shocks perform. I have not had a chance to drive on mine since I made the changes (hopefully tomorrow). The car is still on jacks at the moment so I haven't been able to confirm the new drop yet (I will do that tomorrow morning).

I will definitely call Noah on Monday. I agree that we might need some shorter lower shock bodies to get the drop range that we are looking for. My front drop seems okay for the moment, but the rear range definitely seems more limited. It might take some experimenting to get things perfect, but that's part of the process.

At least Noah and CNG are being very customer friendly. I doubt seriously that you would get such service from HKS, Tein or JIC.

ihatethatbobbarker

zeal makes your service look non existent, and tein is also incredibly friendly when it comes to service.
thankfully nothing ever goes wrong with my zeals, i only haveto use their service for the custom specing im about to do.


tein makes blah coilovers but at least they support the hell out of them

JETPILOT

iTrader: (51)

knight white99... PM sent

Respect
JET