I recently bought a used 04 Z and noticed that my car sits a bit lower than other stock Zs that I've seen out there. Does the OEM springs sag over time to cause this "slightly lowered" look that I have? I took a look at the springs and they're red. When I looked around in the market place and seen people selling their oem springs, aren't they suppose to be black?

 

mine were black, both front & rear maybe somebody changed em out

 

tanabe's are red

 

Yup, the previous owner must have put aftermarket springs on it.

 

that's cool i guess, lowering was gonna be my first mod, saved me a mod. question now is if he/she changed the shocks too. I notice that on the highway or regular streets, anytime i go over a bump or pothole, the car have a bounce that lingers a bit longer than I think it should. what color is the oem shocks?

If I end up going with 19" rims and with typical sized tires for 19" rims, how much closer will the new tires be to the rear and front fender vs. stock 18"s and tires gap?

 

All oem Z shocks are black. Your 04 car could have one of two different oem shocks, one being better behaved as far as bounce goes. Oem shocks that have thier part numbers stamped into the steel cases are unrevised shocks and prone to bounce and porposing issues. Midway into 04 production a running change was introduced to address ride and drive quality issues. These revised shocks can be I.D. by having sticker label's that show the shock part numbers and a different style of rear shock dust shield/bump stop assembly. Here's some pics of revised 04.5-05 oem Z shocks that show the label's. And the rear shock dust shield assemblies. I have forgotten the circumstances by which a have the pics, a thank you to whomever took them.

 

I took another closer look at the springs again and found a "esplir" logo on one of the springs, so I'm assuming that it's the Esplir Active GT spring. I ran a search for them and I think they are only a 0.6" inch of a drop? Can someone show me where I can find a exact specs for the drop on a 350Z with the Esplir springs?

 

Espelir 350Z progressive springs 10mm drop F&R or .4"/.4"
Spring rates 386/515 (softer inital rates are not known)

That's a bit too much rear spring to ask oem shocks to control, aftermarket shocks are a good idea.

 

Yea, I'm looking for a set of used Tokico's with low mileage. Are the revised shocks made by Tokico? If so the only difference between the revised shocks and d-specs is that the d-specs are adjustable?
G35sedan, you seem to know a lot about suspension and just about own this area of the forum, do you mind if I PM you to ask you more questions? There's just too many variables here to really find a good, spring, shocks and sway combo here, so figure I could borrow your experience to purchase a good combo.
Considering that the previous owner of my car already installed Espelir Active GT springs on my car. My next step is to change out the OEM shocks that needs to be replaced soon. I'd probably never go to the tracks and the car is a daily driver. I normally drive pretty calm, but there are times that I like to push it a bit closer to redline and take a few turns a bit harsher than normal. What would you recommend?

 

The d-specs are a nice setup and you'll notice that they'll firm up the ride nicely. I've installed a few sets here with various lowering spring setups and everyone has been very happy with the improved dampening over the stock setup.

As for the sway bars I've been very happy with my stillen bars. The price is very reasonable and they're very effective at reducing body roll. I have mine set to full stiff all around (have a few other things done to help reduce understeer) and I've been very happy with the increased handling so far.

 

how does the revised shocks compare to the D-specs. Other than the ability to adjust the d-specs, they're identical in performance?

 

Tokico makes all oem Z and G shocks. The D-specs ability to adjust dampning is not the only differance between them and revised oem shocks. D-spec's have much improved valving that can be clearly felt very early in the very first test drive after they have been installed. They are one mod that will not have you wondering why you spent $500. So based on what you want, that would be the shock I would recommend. For sway's I would go with a adjustable front and rear setup that has built in collars from a brand name you trust at a price point you feel is justified. Stillen, and Hotchkis come to mind. Since your springs have a fair amount of stiffness in the rear, I would start out with med/soft as far as bar settings go and readjust if needed.

 

Thanks Gsedan35.