I have a 04 350z with Tein green lowering springs. I nees to replace the stock front and rear shocks. Is there a shock that has more travel or are stock ok. Car does a few track a year.

 

Stock shocks are relative junk in early year Z33s.

Best Performance class shocks (non-coilover)

Bilstein B8 (for lowered applications, else B6) - for best all 'round performance, comfort, street or track. $1000 range

Koni Sport "Yellows" - Right up there with Bilstein but relatively uncomfortable even at softest setting BUT added plus is adjustability for track and street tuning to springs/wheel & tire setup. $1000 range

Tokico DSpec - Great shock with adjustability but spotty availability, if at all. ~$700 range

Tokico HP "Blue" - Decent street performance shock $500 range.

 

I plan on getting the tokico blue once I get my motivation up... You can get the set for $400 at zspeed performance... Best price I found.

Tire rack has koni on sale for 25% off right now. Doesn't get much better than that.

 

I believe tokicos are on back order. I'd call what ever place youre ordering them from and make sure before ordering.

UPDATE: Looks like CZP has them in stock now.

https://my350z.com/forum/suspension/...shock-set.html

 

Hi Mike,
I installed Tein S-Tech Springs springs and went with Bilstein B8 shocks. I really like this setup. The Tein S-Tech Springs are a little light (“springy”), but the Bilstei8n B8 shocks make up for this. This combination (Tein S-Tech springs and Bilstein B8 shocks) provides a very comfortable ride (much better than stock) with superior handling. That description sounds like a paradox, but it’s true.

I think a better solution for springs and shocks might be combining Swift springs with Bilstein B8 shocks.

 

I give the swifts props for being a linear spring in a conversation where the op mentions a few track days a year. However, I'm not a fan of removing ride height with little to no increase in spring stiffness. The S-techs add stiffness vs oem, especiall in the front, IMO it's the best performance spring you can buy for the car.

Shock wise, D-spec hands down, outstanding shock that for this car has one of the best ride and drive workouts I've experienced. The Koni's are a better performance shock, but with a fair amount of low speed compression dampning, as mentioned they are not as comfortable. And remember, Koni's adjust rebound only.

Bilstein makes a excellent shock, but here Tokico nailed their R&D.

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

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

 

That 25% off Koni would have been perfect, mad I missed that sale.

 

Can you elaborate a little more on why you should go with stiffer springs when lowering your car? I understand theres less wheel travel but the drop is minimal. Its not like we are tucking wheels. I have yet to see someone bottom out on lowering springs.

 

^^ Gsedan35 is not responding to your query, so I’ll take a run at the question.

There is no need to go with “stiffer” springs when lowering your car; the reason is exactly what you describe; you won’t “bottom out.”

 

Keep in mind that your lower springs are and have to be stiffer because they're shorter and therefore, have to have a higher spring rate to hold up the car like the originals did. Numbers (compression and rebound rates) may be the same but the physical springs have to be thicker to take up the slack of being shorter.

If you made a set of stock height springs with the same materials (spring rate) as the lowering springs, they'd be REALLY stiff. Sounds pretty obvious, yes? And actually it is. There's no real magic in building a set of coil springs for a car. Just have to know what rate is needed.

 

My Tein S-Tech springs drop the car a little (about 1/2"), but provide a softer ride than my stock springs (2003 Performance Model). They are progressive, but don't look much different than the stock springs (other than the "stretch'). --Spike

 

They are still on sale... You didn't miss it yet.

 

Vehicles actually bottom out all the time. My Grand Cherokee and Sienna show bump stop engagement every time I look. My Z is a lot less prone, but my spring rates are very high.

Let's say we have 3 inches of up travel in stock form. You lower the car 1 inch, that is 1/3 of your available travel. You don't have to raise your spring rate by 33% , but bumping up the rate a bit would be nice.

 

Now my question is, how fast do you need to hit a bump for it to compress all that available up travel at stock form? I also understand it depends on road conditions, tires, weight, etc.

 

Depends on your shocks. That's what they're there for, to control the springs. Dead shocks, doesn't take a lot to compress the springs.

If you are indeed engaging the bump stops, you definitely need new shocks. Springs not so much. Yes, they fatigue, but shocks wear out faster.

 

We are talking about at stock form assuming everything is good shocks, tires, etc. How fast do you have to go and how big of a bump does it have to be for a stock z to button out. I didn't know theres that much suspension up travel at stock form, cause I'm a normal person, and slow down at bumps haha. But I understand sometimes people don't see it coming.

My argument is you dont have to run stiffer springs if the drop is minor. Im lowered 1.5" all around and have yet to buttom out. Another thing is don't go fast on the bumps running stock rated lowering springs or like Len said just run stiffer springs. Obviously with both setups run appropriate shocks/struts for your set up to help with ride quality.

 

The Z has soft stops , I bet you hit and just dont know.

The Van and Jeep are easy to tell, lots of travel and you can just feel the travel stop. I wish both of them had a hair more compression dampening. I need to call Bilstien, they just updated the shocks for my Jeep, I know this cause my dads Grand Cherokee is the test vehicle.

Lamb heading north just shy of the 215 is a great suspension tester.

 

Haha I'll try that out if I'm in the area. I'm on the southwest part of Vegas. What's your personal preference for daily driving spring rates with our streets.

 

It's not about bottoming out, at least not in the sense your talking about. It's about these car's having very little bump travel at oem heights. I know because I measured it. It's about not letting the bump stops have any more roll in behavior then they do at a oem height. And who here is still rolling on oem 2003/2004 shocks, which have a ton of compression damping (not a guess, I dyno'd them).

And as a reminder I have run the following setups and most of them were run on a shock dyno.

Ohlins coilover
as delivered springs

Bilstein Pss9 coilover (best comfort system)
as delivered springs

Bilstein Pss9 revalved (my biggest modification mistake of all time, see my sig)
500/450
500/427

Truechoice phase 4 (satin on the highway, but man did it deliver handling)
500/427
650/427

Koni sport (Tein tapered front springs custom lower mounts)
448/427
448/342

oem 2003 350z (bounce and freeway porposing and all)

Koni sport
Tein Htech
Tokico D-spec springs

Monroe oem spec (actually these were not bad up to 8/10's)
Tein S-tech

Megan coilovers
^Ok I was given them for free to test. They were so ruthlessly bad I wanted to park, tear them from the car and toss them in a dumpster. Then I wised up, ordered softer front springs and retested. I sold them to cover the cost of the new springs and shipping. And yes if the softer springs didn't work I would have tossed them.

Plus a few I'm sure I'm forgetting.

 

Tein claims using superior materials (i.e., steel) that provide a superior product. Their claim is backed by the fact that a renegade company produced counterfeit “Tein Springs” that broke under moderate stress. It was painful for Tein, and the company issued an Internet campaign showing buyers how to recognize the fake Tein product(s).

My experience with authentic Tein Springs is that they are superior. ----Spike