Starting to upgrade suspension & brakes
 

Hey all. I had mentioned about 2 months ago my wife got me the Akebono BBK for my birthday.

So I will be finally installing it soon, but I figured since I will have the car on the lift and the mod bug eating me inside, I decided to order a few more things to throw on.

I bought the Nismo sway bars and the Injected Performance diff brace.

Right now I am happy with the ride quality so I am staying stock with everything else for now, but I wanted something that will reduce body roll and also reduce some of the understeering I was experiencing in AutoX events. After some research I decided on sway bars, and I was looking between the Hotchkis & Nismo. I did like that the Hotchkis was adjustable, however I did not like the several threads I read about issues with the sway bars moving. Plus I like the quality of the Nismo parts I have so far so decided on them.

Regarding the IP diff brace, I just read about it today and liked what I saw so I decided to order it. I had installed the OEM VLSD last summer with the Whiteline inserts and regret not installing solid mounts due to the wheel hop I experience. I read that this brace greatly reduces wheel hop and also helps the dreaded rear diff mount.

Looking to install everything once I receive everything, so should be on an upcoming weekend.

^^ I have the Nismo sway bars and really like them. They significantly reduce understeer and noticeably improve handling.

I should mention that I don't have experience with sway bars other than the stock bars.

--Spike

And likewise, I like my Hotchkis bars. Adjustability was key in my decision and having tuned it them to suit my kind of driving, I have no complaints.

Have had them on about 18 months and have not seen the "walking problem" you mention nor any end link wind-up (that has been noted on the forum) but then again, I'm on hole 1 and hole 2, pretty conservative setting.

I'm re-tuning my suspension next week but sway bars will be kept as is - specifically to gauge the effect of the other changes - but honestly, just don't feel the need for adjustments other than to experiment. Maybe later on I'll fool around with them.

Would be interested in the Nismo system though.... I have trusted Nissan Engineering for a long time.

I have driven a "stock" (non-Nismo) Z34 back to back with ours and I have to say, the Nismo suspension is - hands down - far superior to the stock set up. But that's my opinion only cuz others won't like it due to it's firmness in relation.

Have fun!

Mic

Been running Hotchkis bars for 7 years now, I like the adjustability. The walk, who cares, it doesn't do anything, there are fixes/collars for people who are anal with irrelevant things.


The good thing about Nismo Sways, install and forget. Adjustability just gives people one more setting to screw up.

I bought used Cusco sways over a set of new hotchkis. Despite the extra adjustabilities, my deciding factor was either hollow or solid.

I actually read your thread right before purchasing them. The reduction of understeer is the reason why I bought them. In AutoX events in low speed turns the car understeers a ton, and I found myself almost trying to drift the turns in order to not understeer.

Thanks! Yea it looks like people have mixed feelings about the Hotchkis, and it's funny because I ordered them from TireRack, but then they called me saying they were backordered and they were expecting them to come in about 6-8 weeks and I want to throw these on when I do my brakes, so I did a little more research and found the "walk" issue so looked into the Nismo and found a good price for them and just pulled the trigger.

Exactly! Knowing me, I would be adjusting it all the time, so I figured I trust what Nismo did and install and let it be. I am sure all aftermarket sway bars are an upgrade from the stock.

I looked into the Cusco as well. They are very expensive, although I am sure well worth the money.

I wouldn't say it's worth the money but more of a brand whore obsession I have with car parts, I waited a long time until I found a used set. You can't go wrong with Hotchkis though.

I'm going to go with adjustable Eibach bars, we can get or import the Hotchkis over here but I've not found a single negative post/coplaint about Eibach's bars.

I had a bad experience with Eibach on my last car so I am not a fan of the company but they do have a great reputation.

Regarding the diff brace, I would have recommended spending that money towards dropping the pumpkin and installing solid differential bushings first. Pretty easy since you aren't opening up the rear-end.

Using the brace with rubber bushings is just a band-aid, IMO. You are leaving the diff room to move, then trying to brace it up again. Hopefully it will help some.

Well specifically in regards to the sway bar, I've seen no complaints over here in the UK at all, and I didn't spot anything on this site either.
As to other parts, I've no idea, the only other part I was going to order from them is the upper control arms for camber at the front.
:thumbup:

I know I should have installed solid bushings when I installed the VLSD and totally regret it, and was actually planning on eventually changing it. I have the Whiteline inserts in now and they help, but not as much as the solid bushings would. Then I found this diff brace that somebody used along with the inserts that I have and had good reviews about the setup, so I figured for the price why not? If it doesn't do the job then I will get the solid bushings to install next. Figured I would give it a shot. I know changing the bushings, specifically the rear bushing is a huge PITA!

I had Eibach Sportlines on my Civic and after about 3 years the front springs actually broke in half! I have never seen springs actually break. I traded the car in with under 50k miles so I put under 10k a year on those springs.

I put a set of Eibach bars on my car a few months ago. It really made a positive difference being able to put the power down coming out of corners. I have the fronts set to soft and rears to medium. There's one corner around here that I used to get a lot of wheelspin out of (I also have a Vortech) and now the car just hunkers down and takes off. They're likely just masking problems with the 100k mile old stock suspension though. I've got a Bilstein B12 kit that's probably sitting on a container ship off the coast of California right now so we'll see how it handles with new dampers and springs. I need to cut my rear end apart first, as all the adjustments are rusted solid. Stupid MN winters.

I originally bought a pro plus kit (bars and springs) off amazon for what seemed like a steal (<$400 shipped). They messed up the order a few times and I ended up with just bars for about $130, which was fine with me as I only bought it for the bars and was going to sell the springs anyway.

Sounds great, I'll definitely be getting them.
Bilstein B6 and tein s springs (superb street combo imho), plus some choice Prothane bushings (front end kit and steering rack) and the SuperPro compression arm one (with the adjustable caster).
Very pleased how it's turning out.

I believe that Eibach is/was a victim of Asian companies producing fake Eibach logoed springs and coilovers. Tein has suffered for the same reason. If your springs actually broke under normal use, they are probably counterfeit. Do a Google search of counterfeit Tein to see a full explanation of the problem.

You can avoid the counterfeits by checking the logo and not buying when the price is too good (too cheap) to be true. For example, a $100 reduction is suspect and probably not legitimate.

--Spike

What pads are you looking to get?
Im actually looking into a decent set of street pads that would work. I have done some extensive pad testing on a different car. Now that I got this Z I am curious to see what other people uses. Im looking to make my car a good looking street car. I have always been a fan of stoptech performance street. The bite isnt as strong as HAWK HP+, but they take way more temp, and for track use thats the main thing I like to look for. I just dont know about how it would work on the Z considering its a lot heavier than my other track cars. If anyone has tested it, let me know.

And the other thing is whats up with people running tein s-techs...

Come to think of it, I think I paid a discounted price although I don't remember how much. I never knew! They actually handled great until they broke.