Something about the warmer weather makes me want to upgrade my car. Not sure what it is. As such, after some thought, I want to replace my perfectly fine OEM suspension. But, alas, I am not sure which one to get. I read the forums, I found excellent recommendations from Eibachs all the way to Zeals, which is quite a range indeed.

Can someone tell me which is best for my needs? I am willing to buy any of them, but I dont want to waste the money if I'm not going to use it to its most. Which is why I am not blindly buying the KW V2s...or the eibachs for that matter. I did my research, I read these forums so I wouldn't ask stupid questions, but I need some experienced judgement here.

Thanks!! I'll post pics tomorrow.

My car:

• 2007 350z Touring
• 30,000 miles
• K&N Dropfilters (CAI)
• Hotchskis swaybars
• Goodyear Eagle GTs

My Needs:

• Must be noticeably better at cornering and handling then stock. Smoother ride, tighter control, and preferably not much more cabin noise
• Primarily for street
• Occasional autocross
• Rarely (but may) track
• Would like to lower, but only the to the point of not losing performance, so like 3/4"

Coilovers:

• Eibach ProS - $1200 - Same thing as V1, but 1yr wtty
• H&R Street-Perf - $1400
• Bilstein PSS Coil - $1400
• KW V1 - $1,600
• Bilstein PSS10 - $1700
• KW V2 - $2100

 

I have the bilstein pss10 and my criteria is just like yours, however the drop is important to me despite the loss of turning capabilities. I want a race car low and not hellaflush so with me it boil down to pss10 or kw2/3. If i recall correctly from my research kw lower the car 1.5 all around, whereas the bilstein are 1.5 front and 1.7 rear and this is the perfect drop I'm looking for (especially for the rear - maxed out) with a well respected brand who offer life time warranty. GL with your decision, tough choices you got there.

 

You have some great pics, all will work well. A D-Spec and drop spring combo may also work great for your needs.

 

You need clubsports, the entry lvl race quality coilover. Anything above that will get insanely expensive, anything below that will keep you wanting more.

i've spent money on springs, then springs and dspecs, then springs and koni, and then kw v3, and now swapping out rears for linear springs using SPL midlink.

Did I waste a lot of money? probably. Do I regret it? Nope. The whole experience was fun and is an evolution of my little skill level and the car's capabilities. But if you don't want to waste money, do it right the first time.

 

Just like HP , never happy and always want more.

I did BC coilovers with Megan arms , now I have Moton with all SPL. Moral, only upgrade as needed.

 

^good advises

Switched from Tein SS to KW V2. Great upgrade. I love how this suspension reacts to high and low speed damping.

KW V2 for usd2100?? I think that's the price for V3's. I remember paying like 1700 -1800 approx for my V2's.

 

Ok before I get to peoples comments....will the addition of the new suspension result in me having to do anything to my existing hotchskis sway bars? Do i just leave them be?


Thanks, but are any of them really better then the others? Will I notice the difference?

I'm not quite at the point where I need $3K- $4K

Where did you find them for $1700? I checked tirerack and amazon, but were $2100.

 

I had Cusco zero 1s before on my old z and Absolutely loved them. They made the car feel very well planted and more responsive.

My current kw v1s are too soft for my liking. Feel very stock like. I want to change them out to something firmer. If you are looking for an improvement in handling go with a more track orientated setup and stay away from the eibachs and v1s as they are the same.

 

Reason i bought the V1s was due to low price and rave reviews. Must be alot of 50+ year olds driving Zs or something.

 

so go with the v2s or the cuscos? Are they significantly different then the v1s?

 

From what i have read, having Cuscos serviced can be a pita. If I was to swap out my current setup it would most likely be the V2s. Like i said earlier the Cuscos were MUCH different than my V1s, as for the V2s they are often used for track, and guys seem to be happy with them.

 

gotcha, so V2s it is then. I just PM'd a few vendors here to see what prices I could get. I also read through a members DIY and saw an vid, so I somewhat think i know what I'm getting myself into. But still, just to make sure I have my facts straight.....

1. I can use these with my hotchki sways just fine
2. The settings should be set to mid stiff for fun street driving
3. I can lower, but only 3/4" w/o losing cornering performance.
4. After install, I wait a week for them to settle, then get a wheel alignment.

Does this sound right?

 

Settings will be to your liking, fast guys seem to run the settings soft, slow guys run pretty stiff.

Sway bars are just fine. But your setting may need to change depending on your new spring rates.

 

You can get V3s for 1900 hundred from venders on the site. Send me a pm and ill give you the venders name.

 

I got it from our local distributor in Dubai. I spoke to him the yesterday and he said KW prices have gone up due to Euro exchange rates etc etc.

V3 is just like the V2 but with additional valving for the compression adjustment (V2 only has rebound adjusters). This is the extra $$$ you're spending on. If you really really know suspension tuning and that you track the car a lot and you really want to fine tune the car then this is fine. Else you will just end up messing up the car's handling/spend countless hours tyring to get that "right" setup.

Save your money and just settle with V2. If you really have to go for V3 then save up a bit more and go for Clubsports. That's just my suggestion.

 

thanks alot for your advice man and everyone in this thread, KW V2s it is.

curious, do i need to get any camber arms? Or are those only needed for when you are really lowering your car?

 

Every car is different, you may or may not need it with a minimal drop.
Have you read the Suspension 101 thread? If you haven't, I recommend you do b/c you'll learn anything and everything about it plus more.

GL

 

ok, so i will be installing them this weekend. Just to clarify, I dont need any spacers do I? The manual said I might. My rims are 18" OEM

As for the install instructions, i'm using this pretty neat guide in case someone reads this thread later. I'll post how it ended up.

 

Ok, i need help. I am hearing a knocking sound whenever i drive and its getting creepy. The stock suspension is still on. Details below

Background:
I went about installing the suspension yesterday and i was easily able to take the strut bar off and the top washers that hold in the stock coilovers. The car was not jacked at this point. Being that I was doing this in my driveway I didnt have access to a complete lift. So I kept the car on the ground and only jacked up one tire at a time. I started with my passenger front, got the tire off, and proceeded to remove the bolt that attached the strut to the traverse link. To my dismay, this washer was completely stripped. I bought this car used years ago and this was my first time working on this washer. Over the next few hours I tried an impact wrench, 20" breaker bar, liquid wrench, PB blaster. Nothing would get it to budge. It was starting to rain on Sat night, so I quit.

Come Sunday morning, i soaked more PB blaster on it, nothing. So I decided to postpone this install for next weekend. I reattached the fuel lines and gave it one last inspection. Not needed since the fuel lines and the stripped nut were the only internal parts I had touched. I put the tire back on and brought the car down. I reinstalled the top coilover washers to the torque spec (28). Then I reinstalled the strut bar and tightened those washers to the torque spec (40). I had to play with the timing nuts/central bolt of the strut bar to get it to fit though, as the manual specifies. Confident that everything looked fine, I drove to my parents house for dinner.

Problem:
As soon as I reversed I heard a creaking/groan from the front of the car. I started to hit the highway, and then I heard a vibrating/ knocking sound coming from the front of the car. It handled just fine, going 60mph, but the constant knocking had a rather hi tempo and was freaking me out. I was able to drive to my parents and back, but still. This knocking sound won't go away and I'm not driving the car again until its fixed.

Troubleshooting
When I got home, I immediately looked to the strut bar and the center bolt and the space around it. I noticed that the default spacing between the nuts was a lot more then what I had given it, meaning it wasn't tight enough. I took a wrench to the center bolt and got the left nut, center bolt, right nut to be pretty close to the original length. This was done while the car wasnt jacked, and the strut bar was still torque spec tightened at both ends. Took the car for a spin, still heard the knocking and no apparent change either.

I did some reading and people have heard knocking from their front before. People have found this to be because of their sway bar (mines fine, didnt touch this), suspension camber arms (again, didnt touch this), or the transverse link bolt being loose. I immediately thought of how i tried to loosen the bolt but i couldnt, but maybe I loosened it some and just couldnt tell, but the car could. I jacked up the car, removed tire, and spent the next few minutes trying to tighten this bolt as much as I could. I used an impact wrench at both ends. I used two long (leverage) 1/2" wrenches, one for each end. I played holding one firm while I tightened the other end. I gave up after I pushed so hard on the bolt that the car started to move just a hair. Also, with the washer slipping due to it being stripped, that side had limited effectiveness. The entire bolt seemed just as tight/loose as when I started on the car yesterday. Put the tire back on, brought the car down, took it for a spin. Still get the knocks.

Resolution:
What could be causing these knocks? Strut bar? This traverse link bolt? Something else? For all the time I spent yesterday and today, I touched all of 3 different components, so I'm running out of ideas here. Any help would be appreciated.