MY350Z.COM

iTrader: (2)

You will keep hearing this and hearing this from Koni.

From my past experience @ maxima.org, Koni kept promising a date but kept pushing it back, so they say next year, but be prepared to wait even longer.

Of course they could have changed their ways but this is what I saw from them.

But, people were happy with the shocks once they came out.

Victor

Boomer

I hope I can hold out, Vic. The Konis are my only choice at this time. Thanks for the info. Keith

Gsedan35

iTrader: (10)

Not exactly, their is a easy plan B for you.

Find a G35 coupe owner that has installed coilovers and ask if you can buy his struts, chance's are their just collecting dust. That will soften up your ride quality. You can easily go test drive a coupe to see if it's a good idea in your case or not. Springs are the same, but the struts on the coupe aren't valved as aggresively.

Boomer

Great idea! You just made my day; if the shocks are less aggressive on the compression stroke and stronger on the rebound, they should be very close to what I was looking for in the Konis. Thanks, Gcoupe. Keith

One question, are you sure they will fit?

Brad4rdHay

Softening the compression and stiffening the rebound sounds like a great idea, but wouln't that allow the car to lean on the springs initially comming into a turn since the dampers wont be holding the sptings in place?

Boomer

That is the way Koni is setting theirs, it would seem it would handle close to the Coupe. If I'm correct, I'm OK with it.

little_rod

Boomer, thinking about your situation, you might want to take a look at the Tein Basics. They are out right now, and they should eliminate some of the problems that you complain of, right now. With everyone saying the Konis will be around $600, the basics would not be that much more expensive and they include springs also. Noone has posted a review of them yet, but they might be worth a look.

Boomer

I don't know much about Tein as a company, but I'll check it out. Thanks for the tip. Boomer

Boomer

Checked out their website. The Basics are OFF ROAD USE ONLY. Won't work for me and they are $890 from US distributer+ install and no warranty I could find. Thanks anyway, Rod.

Will post my trip impressions next day or two. Eye opening.

little_rod

Umm, where did you get that from?? A guy has them on his G35 right now. And they sell them for our car. So what do you mean? Here is the website:

http://www.tein.com/badamp.html

TCL

Trip impressions? Does this mean you installed new shocks and were testing them out? If so, what kind?

Boomer

I went there, Rod. Our car's price is $890 and the language is clear. They are for OFF ROAD USE ONLY. You just need to dig deeper into the site.

Ralphus

That's a disclaimer.

Boomer

I see. The price is still too high, however.

little_rod

Well, it is a relatively new product, I am sure some vendors will have it out cheaper than the manufactor soon. Just a thought, especially when the Konis might be 6 months away, these are here right now, and they only cost $200-300 more with springs included and height adjustable. Better deal to me, but JMO.

Gsedan35

iTrader: (10)

In sticking with Boomers previous view's of what he's looking for out of any suspension changes. I have to say that the Tein Basic's are not what he should try in anyway shape or form. At this time his best bet is either wait for the Koni's or for some G35 coupe struts to literally fall into his lap.

jmark

iTrader: (1)

Yes Boomer did you change shocks?

Boomer

No changes to my suspension for the trip. On the 21st, my wife and I drove to N MEX. for a week with about 200lbs. of luggage in the hatch. I set the tire psi at 33, just 2 lbs. under Nissan's maximum. I weighed 297.5lbs, my wife is 5'10" and slightly over150lbs. So, with 20 gallons of gas, you do the math, we were putting some serious pressure on the suspension. The ride was very good on interstates, less so on some secondary roads, but acceptable overall while loaded.

We had planned to drive to several different areas while we were based in Sante Fe, but illness forced a change in plans and instead of 3000 miles, we only drove about 1500.

Analysis: The car drives very comfortably on smooth roads while fully loaded, is good on secondary roads and still ok on choppy pavement as long as you have at least 1/2 tank of gas. When you get under that line, the ride begins to bounce and under 1/4 tank its terrible, very stiff and bouncy.

Unloading the car seemed to make no difference, other than the fuel tank level which acted the same at the levels discussed before w/me and my wife. We were only on one winding sports car road for 37 miles, by reason of illness, and the car was stable w/o much body roll. All the way back on I40 East, with the tank over 1/2 and fully loaded, the ride was excellent until I hit the edge of Metro OKC, about 30 miles out on a tank filled to the brim 60 miles earlier.

The road became a nightmare for ride comfort at that point, crashing from one concrete slab to the next, like it had no compression/rebound control at all on the springs/struts. This went on for about 15 miles or so and gave way to wavy asphault and I lost rebound control and the serious bounce started. This lasted until we turned off south to Norman and home. I got off the interstate to avoid a traffic jam at the I35 junction. When I got back on I35, the bounce was back and lasted until home.

Thoughts: The suspension works well on good roads, my roads in my area are beaten to death w/18 wheelers traversing them all the time. The combination of me, wife, 200lbs of ballast and a full tank did fine on 90% of the road surfaces unless the tank was under 1/2 and the roads were not part of the OKC Metro. I surmise the car was better balanced then, close to 50-50 weight distribution? Unloaded, the behavior is about the same with my wife along, as long as the fuel tank was over 1/2 full.

I have to change the suspension, period. I live wth these roads and I'm not moving. The spring/strut combo can't deal with the roads in my area with any load I'm carrying. I need to change the struts at a minimum, maybe the springs too, but I can't drop the car at all. The reason I can't is my garage has a wine cellar/vault with a raised lip of over 2"s and a door on top of that to keep it from flooding. I have to park over it; a drop means I couldn't leave my car over the cellar and leave it outside! Not acceptable.

Hindsight is always best and circumstances say I should have bought the G35 Coupe. The only problem w/that is I preordered the Z 2/12/02, took delivery 9/6/02, no G35 Coupe then. Oh well, a rock and a hard place is often where I end up. End of impressions.

Boomer

jmark

iTrader: (1)

Thanks Boomer. Hope everyone is well now. I'm still leaning towards the Konis. I have noticed the car is very sensitive to the fuel load too. I usually run 34 lbs. cold in my tires. The ride on the interstates is pretty good, but I have the bounce on several secondary roads near my house.

Boomer

I am convinced a change in struts is in order or I won't keep the car. I would have to fight my wife, who is convinced my ego won't survive if I sell it. I think she is dead wrong, but I have to live in harmony, so it will simmer for awhile.

I don't think I want to swap springs/struts with a G35 Coupe, it may be OK, but I don't know how it would work. No data and my mind isn't convinced, I won't be a testbed for good ideas. I'm a Planner and I move kind of slow until I'm ready. I'll wait for Koni or Tokiko to arrive. Both are known quantities, Koni is a quality company and I have used Tokikos for years w/o any problems. I won't be driving a lot in the Metro in the Z for a while.