First off, I have an 04 Z with stock suspension and I honestly have to say I love the way it drives and handles stock with the exception of body roll. I believe the car was designed to be driven, and so I drive it very hard 99% of the time. I've been through a bunch of track days up to HPDE 3 in NASA in a stock Z (with the exception of wheels and tires and brakes) so I know the limits and how the car handles and it is very predictable and I like that. It is my daily driver and I like the way it rides on the street. My question is, how do I get rid of the body roll without making too much of a sacrifice on the things I like about the stock suspension?

 

Since you have a 04, you may have one of two different oem suspension's that are rather different from one another. It would help for anyone to be able to give a accurate as possible reply to know which oem suspension you have. The easiest way I can think of is to simply ID either the front or rear shocks. Even though the replies may not change in the end, it's still a good thing to know because of differances in compression dampning, front sway bar strength and rear spring rate.

On your front shocks look for this label


or this label


On the rear shocks look for this label


If no shock has any of the label's shown in the pics above, you have the unrevised suspension.

 

Sounds to me like you would love the Hotchkis spring/sway kit? When I first had it, it felt just like stock without the body roll or more of a neutral feel anyways. But it also sounds like you don't want to lower your car. But I would recommend that you do. It will help overall and it's just a small drop. But at least get the adjustable sways and go from there. But would be cheaper if you bought the kit.

 

Ill check on that suspension upgrade thing tomorrow when I've got it up on stands.

I was thinking about sway bars but my friend with a mazda 3 got some new beefy ones and they are wonderful on the track but an absolute terror to go over one wheel bumps on the road with them. anyone have any complaints about the hotchkis's being too stiff? Im considering the stillen too now.

 

Turns out I had the updated suspension. I ended up going with RS*R springs and hotchkis sways and I LOVE the combination. It did exactly what I wanted to do still maintaining nice ride quality while reducing body roll. Wheel gap in the front is gone but the back still has a bit which I'll live with. I'm still in the process of tuning the sway bars. Right now I have it on the 80s setting for both bars and I'm getting a bit of understeer.

 

Back the front bar off a little, I made the same mistake when i installed mine. Use hole #1 in the rear and hole #2 in the front.

 

Cool, I'll try that. I might leave the front at 80 and put the rear at 125 and see what that does as well and choose between the two. I'll post pics of the drop and updates on the handling balance after the next track day.

 

Are you still running stock shocks?

 

yea still running stock shocks, its everything I was looking for. I may consider aftermarket shocks later but for now this works wonderfully.

 

I tried that too, it gets real tailhappy. Its just to still for the stock springs and shocks.

 

If his only concern is body roll and likes everything else about the suspension, wouldn't a stabilizer upgrade be the best solution?

 

Hotchkis TVS Kit FTMFW! You'll love it! I do!

 

I have the same combo. RS-R springs and Hotchkis sways. Here's what I did, and it has worked very well. (on and off the track)

https://my350z.com/forum/brakes-and-suspension/312887-sway-bar-settings-between-the-settings.html

 

Swift SpecR springs
Tokico Dspec shocks
Hotchkis sway bars

 

What size tires are you running? I'm still getting a little more understeer than I'd like with the setting u suggested. I'll try going the other way although some people have said it brings about a snap oversteer effect.



Problem is I'm running a 245 in the front and 275 in the rear so im getting understeer where I don't want it.

 

That's almost identical to my 255 / 275 setup.

 

what tires are you running?

 

Up until a couple months ago, Kumho MX's. Now I am running Falken Azenis 615's. (-Couldn’t find the Kumho's in my sizes this time) There are some differences in the tires, but my car's overall balance is unchanged by the tire swap.

 

cool, its been snowing here so i havent had a chance to switch out the stiffness. I'll try that one hole thing you mentioned. Hochkis said it was perfectly fine for those who are wondering if it will mess anything up.

 

So I got around to switching out only one hole on the front. I like the handling but the body roll is back so I'm back to square one. I will try doing only one hole in the back and see how that feels.