Glad you like your PSS10's, I can't wait to install mine!

I know my shocks are worn. It nose dives hard when applying the brakes and the ride quality has gotten really bad. The car leans slightly to the right on flat ground. I'm guessing the right side shocks might be completely blown out.

Every little mod to the suspension has resulted in a noticeable improvement in ride quality so far weather it be new ball joints, bushings, or sway bars. I cant wait to feel the difference in ride quality with the PSS10's.

 

Sweet!!! I've said it here before but it IS irrational when a grown man like myself can look at a bunch of hardware just delivered to my house (or yours for that matter) and get all weepy and emo.

Z-parts-****!!

 

It might be irrational for grown men to do, but damn If it doesn't make me feel young again! Feels like Christmas

I hope to start the install tomorrow afternoon!

 

No suspension install this weekend. The rack and pinion that Nissan replaced a few weeks ago is leaking...

 

Damn aw'ready!?!?

 

I saw you posted this in two threads...ride height has nothing to do with blown shocks.

 

Yeah its not surprising to me anymore. It took Nissan three visits to correctly fix and replace my driver side window motor.

I switched dealerships after the window motor and had Nissan fix my AC and Rack and Pinion. Took two visits for the AC to be fixed and tomorrow will make it two visits for the rack and pinion to be fixed.

I have an mechanical breakdown insurance, otherwise I would have replaced the Rack and Pinion myself. AC systems... Ill leave to the pros.

 

Yes your right a blown shock has nothing to do with ride height. Binding Shocks can effect ride height tho. Its rare, but it does happen.

From agcoauto.com

The most common causes for a leaning vehicle include:

a binding shock absorber or strut
a bad spring or torsion bar
bent suspension parts
a twisted chassis

 

How much did the PSS10s and the whole setup to change your suspension out run you?

 

B16 Pss10 kit from THMotorsports.com for $1709 shipped.
Hotchkis Sport Suspension Sport Anti-Roll Bars Front and Rear (tirerack.com $333.00)
Cusco Upper Control Arms (Forged Performance $469.00)
SPC Nissan/Infiniti Rear Camber Kit (zspeed $152.00)
Powergrid Endlinks front and rear (ebay $320)
Tein Inner and outer tie rod ends 200.00
Whiteline bushings Front & Rear Vehicle Essential Kit $299.00
Duralast balljoints right and left $100.00

Total $3582.00

It seems like a lot of money. But the way I see it. My car has been paid off for 4 years now and $3600.00 is far cheaper then taking on another car payment. After these upgrades she drives better then when I bought it. I hope I keep interest in the car and keep taking care of it so it lasts for another five more years. Maybe by then the 2015 Nismo 370z can be had for a good price.

 

^^ I understand your point about the revitalized interest you have after upgrading a part of your car. It’s fun modifying a car, and you have a “new car” feeling.

Purchasing a new car is very expensive, especially when you consider how much the initial depreciation costs. If you borrow to make the purchase, you add a lot of interest cost to the price of the car.

 

What a great thread! Tons of useful info here guys.. thanks. I was thinking about picking up the motordyne sway bars for my 04. I am currently running the tdx2 and I read here that some sway bars will have clearance issues with some true dual exhausts. MD claims that their sway bars are made to fit around their exhausts. I know the motordynes are adjustable as well but I haven't really seen any reviews on them yet. Any inputs anyone?

 

It is my undrstanding that the revised OEM of 04.5 on is only 1% different to the NISMO kit.
Is it still advisable to replace it with aftermarkets to better the roll stiffness?

 

Clarify? Revised OEM what? The bars? And which bars, the stock OEM 07-8 Nismo or S-Tune Nismo bars? Fair diff between them.

In any case, aftermarket bars ARE almost always stiffer (non-adjustables) and will DEFINITELY be stiffer going with adjustables like Hotchkis, Eibach, etc.

 

Yes, this is what I found on the web:

Group A

03-04 350Z all trim levels (car's without the revised suspension ONLY)
03-06 G35 coupe (all USDM production with oem 17 and 18" wheels)
03-04 G35 sedan (sport and non sport suspension's
All group A car's have the following oem sway bar specs
34mm front 21mm rear
hollow wall construction 5mm in thickness (courtesy of tomsn16)
Torsional rigidity Front: 1130lbs Rear:385 (courtesy BJ EVO350)

Group B

04.5-06 350Z all trim levels (car's with the revised suspension)
05-06 G35 coupe (all USDM production with oem 19" wheels)
04-06 G35 sedan (sport and non sport suspensions)

34mm front 21mm rear
hollow wall construction 7mm front (courtesty tomsn16) 5mm rear
net change in front bar strength from 2mm increase in wall thickness
+17% (courtesty of tomsn16)


I was comparing a 04.5 touring with OEM bars to the Nismo S-Tune sway bars. The s-tune increases stifness by 18% in front, and -1% in the rear. However this system was out pre 2004.5+. The newer z's have a revised front sway bar that is 17% stiffer than the pre 04.5+ z's. so I am thinking that the if this is correct information if you have a newer z, the sway bars really will not make that much of a difference, 1% change in stiffness, is nothing.

 

That's really interesting information, SoCalSurfdude (). Never knew that before. Yeah yeah, I'm slipping....

But here's something to consider... it ALL depends on what you are trying to do. If you have a particular desire/need (like I did), a set of adjustable bars (through lever angle adjustment) is the way to go. It's a great way to fine tune your car to your needs GIVEN other mods, be they altered alignment settings, tire/wheel changes, e.g. larger/stagger, square, etc.

In my case, I wanted more oversteer - because I can - and it suited my driving style/abilities to dial in a bit more rear roll stiffness to accomplish this given all my other changes.

So, the amount of stiffness increase is academic and somewhat irrelevant until you establish the handling criteria you're looking for. In the case of the S-Tune bars you mention, if your desire is to increase oversteer (decrease understeer) and you've just installed a new set of RPF1s with some sticky gumballs in a stagger config, they're probably not the way to go given the relative lack of roll stiffness comparatively.

Just FYI, here are the spring rates of Hotchkis adjustables so you can see that there's a pretty big jump in roll stiffness F or R depending on which attachment hole(s) you use:

Hotchkis Sport Bar Rates:
350Z & 03- 05 G35 Front
Hole 1 = 1525 lbs/in (22% Stiffer than stock)
Hole 2 = 1845 lbs/in (48% Stiffer than stock)
Hole 3 = 2270 lbs/in (82% Stiffer than stock)
Hole 4 = 2855 lbs/in (129% Stiffer than stock)

06 G35 Front
Hole 1 = 1525 lbs/in (5% Softer than stock)
Hole 2 = 1845 lbs/in (15% Stiffer than stock)
Hole 3 = 2270 lbs/in (42% Stiffer than stock)
Hole 4 = 2855 lbs/in (78% Stiffer than stock)

Rear:
Hole 1 = 520 lbs/in (80% Stiffer than stock)
Hole 2 = 655 lbs/in (125% Stiffer than stock)
Hole 3 = 840 lbs/in (185% Stiffer than stock)

What I find interesting NOW, given the info you posted, what the actual increases are for post-04.5 cars. Yeah, I could do the calcs but.... naaahhhhhh. Heh heh.

In any event, sway bars (not just IMO, but empirically proven) ARE beneficial and frankly, if for some stupid reason I had to, I'd give up every other suspension tweak (besides tires/wheels) I have BEFORE giving up my Hotchkis bars. (Or Eibach or.....)

I hear someone in a Hestonesque voice booming: "Try and take them out of my cold, dea....." You get the drift.

Good luck, hope this helps some.

Mic

EDIT: Forgot.... I run a hole 1 FRONT and hole 2 REAR setup on "Z33 Oh Three" and the car is perfect FOR ME. YMMV. (And would NOT hesitate to run this same setup on my box-stock Niz if I thought it needed it.)

 

Hole 2 front and hole 1 rear on mine. Used to run the front staggered , one side on hole 2 , the other on 3 but upped the front spring rate a lot.

The 04.5 and newer bars will be the same or close to the above 06 G35 rates

 

Thanks for explaining in detail what you're doing with your setup, I agree numbers are just numbers and one need to see which is best in his current setup.

So:
OEM 04.5+ should be 1340 lbs/in. (17% stiffer than 03/04)
Given all the data is accurate these are the % increase of the Hotchkis compared to OEM 04.5/06 revised bars.

Hole 1 = 1525 lbs/in (13% Stiffer than stock)
Hole 2 = 1845 lbs/in (31% Stiffer than stock)
Hole 3 = 2270 lbs/in (51% Stiffer than stock)
Hole 4 = 2855 lbs/in (72% Stiffer than stock)

Yeah about 200lbs is quite a difference, I'm sure I'm better off with adjustable bars anyway.

So you need the Z to oversteer more? DK much?? Which shocks/springs are you running? I scored the nismo s-tune kit (shocks/springs) for nothing and going to have that mounted asap. I'm just trying to correct/eliminate the body roll and improve the responsiveness.

 

I'm interested too. I know the Z is an under steering pig in OEM form, but most people are just trying to get it neutral

 

First question: Did you buy that kit off of craigslist? I've been trying to contact a guy down in SoCal.... If you bought that, excellent!!

My '03 is on Koni Yellows (sport)/Eibach ProKit/SPC alignment/Nismo bushings. With current lightweight wheels, have been able to dial the shock rebound down to softest setting and it works very well.

Not nearly as comfortable as my former Bilstein B6s (long story) but still happy with the ride now that I've turned 'em down.

And yes, I wanted to dial out the plow and give me a little more flexibility with the tail so yes, oversteer was called for. I never complained too much about the original plowing (understeer) until really pushing the car and at the limit the thing felt like trying to steer a sow.

But yeah, I was trying to buy a Nismo shock/spring setup from a guy local (well, Sacramento) but I think he sold it. Would have liked to try that out on my non-Nismo and/or just have it as a spare setup. That set up is on target! (See my Nismo suspension commentary OR Nismo-Enthusiast Comparo) for the details if interested.

Anyhow, keep us apprised of how it all goes. The S-Tune shock/spring setup is very nice - maybe not at the MSRP but discounted, to under a Koni/Eibach setup, it'd have been on my list of contenders.

Mic