When I first bought my new 350z in January ’04, the first thing I noticed was how the car is plagued with understeer. With wider rear tires, softer rear springs, a small rear stabilizer, and a 53/47 weight ratio, it almost seems like Nissan wanted this car to suck.

In November ’04, after reading a lot of reviews, I decided to buy front and rear Cusco stabilizers from Z1 Performance. Thanks Adam! I couldn’t believe the difference. My confidence in sharp turns increased dramatically and it felt like I could maintain turns for longer. However, something was still off about the suspension.

In June ’05, I began my search for the perfect springs. I decided to purchase RS*R springs. Unfortunately, I was never happy with the Cusco stabilizers and RS*R springs together. Although the car seemed to handle better, something was off and the car would slide (understeer) at the limit. I believe that the stiffer rear stabilizer combined with the increased rear spring was the reason. They weren’t meant to be together. I decided to use only the springs and was pretty happy with the performance. This experience taught me that I needed to quit guessing. Basically, throwing more parts at the car doesn’t make it handle better.

Last November, I decided that I wanted the coilovers that were designed to work with my sway bars. I bought Cusco Zero-2 coilovers from my friends up the street at CarV2. Most coilovers have identical rates like 12kg front & rear. Cusco did something different. Their coilvers have a 10kg front and 7kg rear spring rate. Combined with an adjustable front swaybar that is 120% or 137% stiffer and the rear that is 173% stiffer, the car handles phenomenal. I guess that the hard front spring rate combined with increased rear roll resistance is Cusco’s secret.

Here is a picture of the coilovers at the suggested height. As you can see, it looks perfect.







Notice the large amount of corrosion on the front and rear stabilizers in the pictures. However, in their defense, look at all of the rust on my rotors. I do live in Delaware where they salt the **** out of the roads every winter. BTW - They were as bright as the coilovers are now when I bought them.

Adjusting the rear dampening sucks and takes about a half hour. With only five settings, I debated for a long time whether to get the Zero-1 or Zero-2. If the dampening on non-adjustable Zero-1's is equal to the middle setting on Zero-2's, then maybe I should have saved the couple hundred bucks.

All instructions are in Japanese. It's tough going to the local Japanese takeout while you and a guy that only knows English food words try and figure out what the directions say.

The construction quality and performance of all Cusco products (I have the strut brace too) is excellent. I would definitely buy more Cusco products.

Anyhow, I'll write more and include some more pictures later. Questions and Comments are definitely welcome.

 

Thanks for the review and I'm glad to see that you waited awhile to get some seat time before you wrote your review.

 

holy crap, that's a lot of rust for such a short period of time.

 

Those stabilizers have been on there for 2.5 years and 40,000 miles. It seems like most aftermarket products corrode severely fast. I wish people would chime in about other manufacturers too.



Here is a comparison of the drop compared to a stock suspension.

BTW - I bought the non-pillowball upper mount version. Also, I paid $1740 for the coilovers and $605 total for the stabilizers & strut tower bar.

P.S. Your welcome Gsedan35!

 

it's a hunk of steel...what do you expect?

Considering the environment sways live in....they will never stay pretty for long unless you never drive the car

 

How is the ride?

 

good review!

 

Exactly, I love the performance and could care less if there's a little surface rust on them.

The ride is fantastic, when set on one or two. Three is a good compromise of handling and ride. However, I usually leave it on four. Five is pretty bumpy. I like five. I'm sure that the good ride quality has more to do with the fact that I'm using the stock 17" wheel & tires.

 

thanks for the review! I found it very helpful..especially so since i'm looking to put on the swaybars and coilovers in the future.

 

nice write up, gives me something to think about if I ever decide to go coil-overs.

 

None of my suspension components rusted on my other hondas after 4-5 years of use. I guess living in Hawaii takes away the 4 seasons of torture on the car.

 

Hi Lawn Dart,

I hope I'm not jacking your thread here (if I am, tell me I'll start a new one, hopefully with pics too).

I noted you were using RS*R springs before switching over to coilovers. I just installed my RSR Ti recently (1 wk ago). Like you I found the car to handle better. Over the weekend, I went on a freeway cruise (my first with the springs installed) and found the car to be bouncy!!! Ok, granted the roads weren't great but I experienced far greater bounce this time compared to stock springs. I was averaging around 80-100mph.

It was annoying to say the least and after an hour or so it gave me a headache and mild backache! But the car was never at any time unstable.

The strange this is I don't have this problem with daily city driving (note the roads are better and I don't drive at those speeds)

Is there something wrong with my install?

I'm on stock 17".

Cheers,
B

 

lawn dart, did you do install yourself? I have new coilovers on the way but i'm concerned about instructions not being in english. when you said you took the instructions to have them translated was that to find out how to adjust them or how to install?

also, when adjusting height how bad does that throw your alignment off? did you get a camber kit? i guess you get alignment set up for whatever height you use most often, and then don't change height very often?

 

Very typical, especially if you are on stock tires, which have a very soft sidewall. The RSR springs are stiffer than stock but not by much. I had them on my car as well for awhile (2004 model), and found that while the bounce was still there on the highway, it was about 50% reduced vs stock springs.

 

Coilovers are a very straightforward install....honestly no instructions are even needed, as is very intuitive.

 

"Is there something wrong with my install?"

No.

You've increased rear spring stiffness by 25% and front stiffness by a lessor amount to the tune of 10%. Even though you don't have a USDM vehicle that I can tell, I believe you have the same shocks that a 03 Z would have in the U.S. While we've never really seen a 03 or 04 owner here mention what you have that installed RSR springs, knowing the history of the shocks and having actually owned and used them on my car. I am not surprised, to me it's well within reason. Your best bet is to kick your oem shocks to the curb and invest in Tokico D-specs or if you want rebound only tuning, Koni sports.

 

Yeah, I did the install myself. You have almost nothing to worry about as far as the translation of the instructions. I just wanted to make sure that I didn't miss anything. Basically, all I learned from the instructions was the recommended height settings, which were indicated in English, and what the dampening levels mean, which you could figure out yourself. I got all of the torque values for the bolts & nuts from the factory manual.

I can see that the car has a lot of negative camber now, which I'm sure has a lot to do with the perceived handling increase. Jay at CarV2 told me not to get an alignment (at the sacrifice of tires) until I have the coilovers set to about where I want them. I'm still playing.

Currently, no I don't have any adjustable camber pieces, other than the factory bolts. Remember, if you can't get the alignment back in spec, you can always raise the car. Otherwise, if you can't afford a couple hundred dollars in camber parts, maybe you shouldn't be buying coilovers. Personally, I could care less if I'm destroying the inner edge of my tires with so much camber, as long as the car performs. It's not my daily driver.

 

Z1/Gsedan,

Many thanks for your comments.
If its ok, I would like to pm you guys separately to avoid jacking LD's thread. I have some more questions on my RSR Ti.

Cheers,
B

 

bleachberu - When I had RS*R springs, I never noticed any extreme bouncing.

 

Hi LD,

Which year is your Z? Mine is an 03 and they apparently have harder oem shocks.

Did you pair your RSR with stock shocks too?

I don't think the car was bouncing up and down the freeway but inside, we felt strong bouncy vibrations. Imagine the passenger's legs bouncing gently up and down as I travelled. After an hour, it started to give me a headache.

This is also my first freeway trip after installing the RSRs a week ago. Hence I'm wondering if its meant to be like that or something is not right somewhere.

Appreciate your thoughts.

Cheers,
B