I need new tires and the shocks are getting a little worn. I was thinking about getting the Tokico D-spec shocks. I thought about the Hotckis springs, but I don't have a desire to lower the car. Stock it scrapes over some Texas speed bumps. I'm thinking I go with Tokico D-spec, stock springs, and Hotchkis sway bars. Does anyone have this setup? How do the D-specs work with stock springs? I'd like to get rid of some of the 03 bounce.

 

Should be good, but you will be a lot better off looking for a set of 04.5 and newer springs to go with your setup

 

FYI the Tokico D-spec is on national back order for the next 6 weeks.

 

Should I go with the Hotchkis springs? They have a mild drop.

 

The Hotchkis have a mild drop (I currently have them on my Z) but if I were you I would get some aftermarket shocks to go with them. You put those Hotchkis on OEM shocks and you will end the life of that shock relatively short.

 

Yeah, I would go with the Hotchkis TVS and D-spec shocks.

 

Hotchkis springs are based off the rates of the 03 springs, you would be better off with the 04.5 and newer springs. If you want to lower the car too, there are much better springs on the market.

 

What about the Tein H-tech springs?

 

https://my350z.com/forum/brakes-and-...uspension.html and the other sticky, lots of good reading. Look at OEM 03 spring rate, look at 04.5 and newer spring rate, look at the aftermarket spring rate. Figure out your best solution.

 

D-specs would be perfectly fine with 03 oem springs. I've helped two owners install them on the same springs. I was able to drive the cars afterwards, didn't take long to clearly see that they were well worth the cost. And yes, they did eliminate the bounce and porposing.

The only reason you'd want to swap in the 04.5+ springs would be to raise the rear spring rates from 342lbs to 427lbs. D-specs however do not need or require the higher rear rates to perform well or correctly.

If your already scraping on speed bumps, doesn't sound like lower the car, even mildly is something you'll be happy with.

Here's a list of mild, less then 1" drop springs.

To recap your 2003 oem spring rates are
314/342

2004.5-2008 oem spring rates are
314/427

RSR 350Z linear springs .6”/.6”
Spring rates in LBS 345/417

Hotchkis 350Z Linear springs .6”/.8”
Spring rates in lbs 340/330

Cobb Tuning 350Z Linear springs .75"/.9"
Spring rates 436/535 (as shown here http://g35driver.com/forums/brakes-s...new-parts.html ) Notes: Too much rear spring for all oem shocks, Tokico D-specs according to John Coffee would be fine. A little too much in the rear for Koni's IMO (I do have Koni shock dynos)

Tein S-tech 350z (fronts are progressive, rears are linear) .7”/.6”
Spring rates in LBS 386/402 (estimated front intial rate is 327lbs)

Tein H-tech 350z linear springs .3”/.2” drop
Spring rates in LBS 358/375

Swift 350Z linear springs .8”/.6”
Spring rates in LBS 336/364

Kg/mm progressive springs 350Z
DR21 super sport 15mm drop
Spring rates in lbs initial/final front 246/398 initial/final rear 252/409

Espelir 350Z progressive springs .4"/.4" drop
Spring rates 386/515 (rear rate IMO is too high for all oem shocks, Z or G)
Notes: Often purchased by owners chasing high spring rate numbers, often then resold when they don’t deliver what the owner wanted, to be expected since they are progressive,

I publish a master list of all oem and aftermarket spring rates specs here
list does cover G35 apps as well

http://g35driver.com/forums/brakes-s...w-updates.html

 

A lot of vendors on here actually have to tokico d in stock. The reason I know this is because I wanted to order the hp blues and most of those were back ordered and everyone was offering the d-specs. I actually bought a pair from 350zsource.com and they had only a few of those left.