Z1 Performance

iTrader: (564)

yes the Eibach kit requires you to elongate the toe bolt holes - very simple to to (drill, die grinder, etc)

Bushings are a wear item - at some point, they simply loose their ability to retain the shape and work as intended. Some even can tear (lower inner control arm bushings, for example - I had to do these on my car with less than half the miles you have).

Upper mounts - I've yet to see a Z need replacement ones, even high mileage. Doesn't mean it's not possible, but I would expect it to manifest itself in some sort of noise (best guess). Cutting the rear spring mounts by a reasonable amount should not cause the issues you are describing. What could cause it? Who knows, could be anyones guess

What tires are you running?

danimaldaisy

I am running Hankook ventus EVO's

They are better than the stock potenzas and i get no sidewall flex....nice grip... tire does have inner and outer on the sidewall....I needed tires QUICK as i was already over budget at the time since i had purchased the D-specs just days earlier.

cutting the rear spring mounts threw the handling off....it was as if i tightened my rear sway bar...but in a weird way...anyways rear upper spring mounts should be on their way...last step would be to replace the endlinks.

and also the nismo hard bushing kit.....it isn't really THAT complete is it....i mean...no bushing for the lower front shock??? wonder what else is missing....

Too bad Energy suspension has not released a kit for the 350.......

ohh forgot...tires are 245/35/19 front and 275/35/19 rear

Z1 Performance

iTrader: (564)

I have no experience with those tires, so can't help there - certainly could be a factor

for the bushings, whiteline has a lower shock mount bushing, as well as all other bushings for the car

danimaldaisy

I checked the whiteline website, but they only have springs, sways, endlinks, and the blackbox...

unless you have another link..

Thanks!

Z1 Performance

iTrader: (564)

http://www.z1auto.com/prodmore.asp?m...ng&prodid=3783

http://www.z1auto.com/prodmore.asp?m...ng&prodid=3784

we should have all of them on the shelf except the inner front control arm bushings, which got pushed back by whiteline (no real eta right now)

JETPILOT

iTrader: (51)

ZEAL stopped using Swift springs. They have their own brand springs now called X-Coils. The coil profile is actually egg shaped instead of round. Dominic says they are better than Swift and are mroe linear throughout the compression range..

dikspiel

iTrader: (70)

^thanks for the info

Tim350z

Honestly man it sounds like coils are what you need. I can speak from experience that they will make a world of difference to your car. Springs and cheap struts are just that "cheap". They are good for some, but not for everyone. The Z does handle good stock and BC Coilovers keep the same handling characteristics, but make the car feel a million times better. You can drive your car so much harder that it will blow your mind.

danimaldaisy

Thanks for the links.

can i press these in myself? don't laugh...but does harbor freight sell a tool to do this?

thanks!

I'm more of a DIY guy wherever possible.

danimaldaisy

Sounds like i am pointing towards this.....SERIOUSLY thinking about it....

Maybe i could sell all my other springs and struts to someone for cheap..

danimaldaisy

OK.

I just read on another post that these are NOT DIY.

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

how much will it cost to replace all the important bushings that would affect handling???

has anyone paid to get this done???

Z1 Performance

iTrader: (564)

some of the parts are duplicated with other parts, such as the inner upper control arm bushings (if you have aftermarket arms, these won't work), or lower shock bushings (if you have coilovers, these won't work), and upper shock bushings (if your coilovers come with pillowball mounts, these won't work)

grab yourself a factory service manual and you can see what is involved. Front lower control arm for example is about a 1 -1.5 hour job per side if your skilled and have air tools, but you would really need to consult a shop and ask what they charge, since labor rates vary tremendously througout the country

danimaldaisy

Z1

I was kinda getting tired of waiting for my rear upper spring mounts that all of a sudden seem to be on back order.

SO! since i cut half an inch off the rear upper spring mount...could be like .55 inches taking away the material I removed cutting it.....I decided to put the stock rear springs back on.....Right away i noticed that maybe i should adjust the D-specs from complete stiff to one notch down.....So on my way back from getting a haircut, I adjusted them in the parking lot (Vette Guy honked and gave me a thumbs up cause he KNEW I was adjusting the Struts!)

It seems just right now!!!! I still am going to put the Rear upper spring mounts back in with the rear RS-R springs (ETA depending on when those parts arrive.

After all this time I have realized my problem.....Nothing is wrong with the sway bar bushings and brackets as the are tightened just over spec (I checked again today)

My NEW problem that has been creeping up on me has been found.




I have NEW hotchkis sways that are Two months old.....Here is the Important part of what has happened recently. When I first got my Hotchkis sways on I had Tokico blues and my RS-R's...I was playing around with sway settings until i realized that i needed the rears on the softest setting and the fronts on the stiffest setting (3rd hole---4th is for the G35) and I immediately got my sways working JUST as they were supposed to.

But I made the mistake of cutting my rear upper spring mounts and this took stiffness away from the front and transferred it to the rear...NO amount of sway tuning would get rid of it...unless I went 3rd-4th hole staggered up front (4th hole will cause the end link to bind so I only went around the block a few times before I put it back..I then got my car aligned....The ONLY thing I have done since was install D-specs and adjust them....

I have mickey moused the rear end with stock rear springs that would put the rear height exactly where the RS-R's should be.......but this time I did NOT get the stiffness back in the front of the vehicle....Something wore out here....I am already leaning towards a factory set of end links cause it's only 60.00 worth of parts to troubleshoot this problem.

My question is this....The front sway bar connects to the end link, but I am thinking that if the bushings are weak in the lower Traverse link...It will compromise the effectiveness of the front sway bar to work the way it is supposed to and it will feel weaker....I'm sure that I probably have the same problem in the rear.....torquing my rear wheels lug nuts today the rear of the car was rocking....and it wasn't the tire...It was the weakness of all the rear bushings on both sides combined....I really think it is affecting the sways because since I have the struts down pat right now....I need to get my sways to work properly.....I am going to wait until I get my rear upper spring mounts so that I can get the RS-R's back in and retest (but I don't think it is going to make a difference)

I have front Tubular A arms with adjustable camber that came with its own ball joint. ( I understand that i cant get bushings for this)

I don't have coil overs, but are you saying that you must use the stock lower front strut bushing for coil overs???

anyhow.....besides the lower front shock bushing....Is there anything else white line makes that Nissan does not?

One last thing...I read in another post that you have the Nismo hard bushing kit ( at least I think you have them )

Have you had to replace any other bushings....and do you feel the white line bushings are superior?

I must find a solution....My car is payed off in august and I simply just want to enjoy it....I really should solve this problem before I try to attempt coil overs.

Do you recommend I do a full bushing kit? By replacing all of them I feel that I will target all the bad bushings all at once while not missing any future problem bushings (end all be all)

I am going to call duarte Nissan and get a feel for how much they would charge to install the complete hard bushing kit...and then prepare to order parts and hit up my local dealership for the install and get them to price match...at least if they break something....they will have parts handy.

I hope I described the problem enough for you to get a feel for where i am at.

I will be embarrassed if I bashed the GF210's for nothing.

Either way...we WILL be doing business.

I appreciate your patience and help.

FTD350z

iTrader: (8)

Thanks everyone for the help. Im still not sure what im going to get the BC does sound good. I was hearing about Stance too but not sure how good they are. eventually i will track my car some day but for now its just my summer car which i want to be able to drop u know and i dont wanna go with just springs because i want to be able to adjust my height and leave it how i want it. Plus ive been reading and a lot of ppl that have springs are always complaining that their hieght is different on all four corners. I dont want to have that problem myself

Z1 Performance

iTrader: (564)

There are no suspension bushings that one offers that the other doesn't as best I can recall.

I really can't begin to guess what your issue(s) might be, sorry. With the amount of miles your car has, it could reasonably be assumed that your bushings are at best, not at the same stiffness as they were when the car was new. As mentioned, I found mine highly compromised after far less miles than yours, and as such, I replaced everything that I could. Trimming the rear spring mount slightly should not affect the spring at all, except to make it slightly lower. If you have a progressive spring, this will start you off at a more stiff setting, but really should not be any big deal provided you aren't just hacking off major parts of it. Again, I've never had any reason to do this, as my coilovers (HKS) let me get the car to the height that the scales say it should be at.

Yes, I have the NISMO kit, because at the time, that is all that was available. I don't have an opinion of which is "better" because it's all subjective. I would not hesitate to use either kit in my own car again. In fact, due to the limited availability of the NISMO kit, we are going to use the Whitelines in our other Z since we have them on the shelf

FTD350z

iTrader: (8)

Might be a stupid question but whats the spring rate all about? whats the difference with them. Will it lower more the higher the number is or is it more stiff??

Barnabas

iTrader: (15)

The higher the number the Stiffer it is... .

FTD350z

iTrader: (8)

Ok thanks

danimaldaisy

This bushing problem might be contributing to my stock endlinks not giving the correct preload to the sways......with the rear of the car off the ground i can only assume that i have no preload.....I may have to fix both endlinks and bushings.....

I will have to hunt down someone to install these once i get the funds to do so cause it will probably cost a GRIP to install them.

danimaldaisy

Z1

just out of curiosity....Is it possible to get the Springs only from the D-spec spring and strut package.....

Thanks!