I installed my coilovers in May (JIC FLTA2's with progressive springs) and have put about 2000 miles of mainly highway driving on them. The rear springs and purches were installed "upside down" but only because it was the easiest way to do it and I have no use for lowering and raising the spring because it sat exactly where I wanted it with it at it's lowest setting.

I recently found the time to install my kinetix racing camber kit (front control arms, rear traction and rear camber arms) but ran into a big problem. Upon re-installing the shorter rear arm (the one directly behind the rotor - camber arm?), out of no where a bunch of fluid leaked onto the ground. I immediately thought my friend and I had somehow snagged a brake line or something, but it was nearly-clear liquid and was very slick. We used 2 flashlights and couldn't find the source of the leak ANYWHERE. Everything was thoroughly inspected and looked over, so we just kind of shrugged our shoulders and kept going.

As we were tightening bolts back down with an impact gun, a ton more fluid fell and this time my friend saw exactly where it came from.. the top of the JIC Strut. I am guessing it is completely ruined because a strut can't function without oil inside? I have no idea what JIC's warranty is, but I know for a fact that these struts have never bottomed out, they have been almost at their highest height level the entire time and they aren't even dirty yet. They are on a setting of 6 I believe. I unistalled the strut and put the stock strut back in, just purely for the fact that I didn't want to leave my car on a jack stand or have leaky strut oil/fluid all over my wheels and floor. (side question - I do need to take my car to get an alignment because my toe and camber are terrible, but I am unsure if the stock strut is just going to blow out with the car being lowered around 3"?)

Anyone have any idea or input on warranty and such? I sent JIC an e-mail immediately telling them the basic story, about my car and the details of the product. I can take pictures if needbe, but I would imagine it's pretty self explanitory. Sorry for the long post, I just wanted to give as much info as possible. Thanks for all the help.

Jason Sadler
04 G35 Coupe

 

I would use the stock springs with the stock strut... or raise the JIC spring to near max height.

JIC may ask where you bought the suspension... if you can go through the shop for the warranty that is sometimes better. If not then call JIC and ask for Ben. They may or may not charge you for the rebuild...

If you run the spring at the lowest height, and the shock at the highest then you will bottom the shock. You need to lower the shock to the height you are looking for, and then adjust the spring to barely have any pre-load. If your car is super low, you may even want to run without the rear spring adjuster (upper spring perch-to-spring-to-lower spring cup)

 

sell your jics and buy teins.

 

Contact Ben @ JIC.

This guy has been excellent to deal with. My back right JIC was clunking a bit in the rear and even though he's been told that I'm not the original owner and the shocks might be past their warranty period, he still took it. In fact, he recommended that I send both rear shocks so that he can rebuild both and ensure they're matched.

As for the shocks, they rock.

 

JIC masks poor shock valving with high spring rates. I've run them for about a year and a half, and they're mediocre at best. You should see the results of the shock dynos of the FLTA2s (on other applications), quite unimpressive to say the least. Once I have a chance to replace mine, I will be sending mine off to the shock dyno and will post the results here.

 

I would not be surprised if it was caused by the shock being adjusted too high, but who would know to level these things out? JIC sendsno information when you buy from them so you are basically shooting in the dark. The biggest problem for me was that I had JICs on my maxima for about a year and they were flawless (however not a seperate unit in the rear like the g35/350z). I definitely plan on lowering shocks a bit and raising the spring accordingly to match. I need to build those custom upper rubber boots that "jak" built so that I can put the rear spring on right-side up; because they have been upside down for awhile and the height is impossible to adjust.

Right.. I'll go ahead and do that.

Would I just call the phone number on JIC's site and ask for Ben? I contacted the vendor that I bought my JIC's through and he said he was going to make a couple phone calls for me, but I don't know if he is going to get anywhere. What is the turn around time on them repairing the shock? I don't mind riding on the stock shocks while I send the JIC's in, but I don't want to ride on stock shocks for 2 months; especially not really low.

I haven't heard anyone complain about JIC's suspension setup. It's always been a dead heat between Tein and JIC I thought? I stuck with JIC because they performed well on my last car. Have you tried Tein's or any other setup to see how it compares?

Thanks again for all the help.. I will definitely be lowering the other side, if not taking it out today and putting the other stock shock back in, just incase JIC wants both.

Jason

 

THANK YOU!

I've suspected this all along. If you look at spring rates on various cars with similar weight to the Z, as well as other coil over shock setups for the Z, no one is running spring rates nearly as high as JIC. This is one of the reasons I haven't chosen a setup yet.

Given this info.. what are you planning to replace your shocks with? It seems like most of the choices out there are too soft for racing (Tein, etc), or waaaay too expensive (Moton, JIC, Ohlins).

Matt

 

JIC is notorious for poor customer service. Do some searching on this site or any other for that matter and you will hear the stories. I'd be suprised if they do anything to help you under warranty. I owned them on my last car will never buy anything from them again. I swapped them out for Tein RA's and even with the higher spring rates of the Tein's, the car rode better and turned faster lap times. Tein supplies shock dynos to upon request also.

 

I'm pretty sure I know what John wants.

Me too!

Hint..........look at recent pictures of the Performance Nissan/Unitech Grand-Am Z.

2nd hint: see their entrant sponsor.

3rd hint: decal on it's rear fenders.

 

That might have been the case before, but that's why I posted that my dealings with Ben have been so good lately. After reading all the prior posting on this site I was expecting the worse when I called, but instead got a very professional attitude.

As for higher spring rates, that's not quite correct. When trying to determine the ideal setup for my car, I've did some research on spring rate offerings from other companies and noticed that Tein actually runs a higher overal spring rate of 12(kg)/12 (f/r) on their 350z package, and HKS Hipermax runs an 11/11 setup - all compared to JIC FLT A-2's 10/12 setup.

The rear bias might seem wierd, but Nismo actually offers a somewhat similar setup of 8/9. Cusco has a package with front bias of 10/7.

As you can see, it's all a matter of how each company's tester interpreted what ideal handling/setup was. I figured JIC has a stronger rear bias to offset the OEM push when running stock sway bars and stagger tire sizing. Perhaps they're more interested in a drifting setup instead of lapping. Maybe JIC doesn't make the assumption that their perspective buyer has aftermarket sways and non-OEM tire sizing. Either way, it makes far more sense than trying to hide incompetence by running higher springs rates.

As far as performance, it's generally agreed that Tein and JICs are fairly equal in performance. Tein might suit your driving style more or maybe you had a bad set of JICs. For me, my JICs gained me at least a second on a 50-55 second Solo2 course (over a Hotchkis spring/OEM setup). I'm very happy with them.

 

So should I just call the phone number on JIC's site and ask for Ben? Any name dropping I can do to ensure that he is on the same page and understands a similar situation?

Thanks for all the help guys.

 

Sure, that's what I did.

If you think it would help, tell him that Fritz (guy in Canada) had written up a positive back-up about his professionalism on a large public forum.

 

Sounds good.. I talked to Randy because Ben was busy and I have to find my vendor's distributor before they can continue. Kind of stinks, because now I have to wait on 2 people to get back to me before I can go forward with this whole situation. About how long did the fix/replacement take you?

And just as a general question to anyone... Should I not get my car aligned with one stock shock and one JIC shock? Visually it didn't change much, but I don't want to waste time if it is a big deal.

 

I'm going through the same problem right now. I just dropped the car out at their shop directly for the week while im out of town. It looks like my rear left is blown out as well. All I know is that it drives like hell!! I used this set up on my z for over a year, with no problems at all, even though I didnt drive on them hard. So hopefully i'll have everything dialed in by next week. So far Ben has been cool about everything and has been willing to help out. Their main tech is going to work on it tomorrow or the next day, so hopefully i'll know whats up soon. Good luck getting your issues resolved.. -Giovanni

 

please do so, heard from s2ks that jic's coilover is poor valving with high spring rates too.
look forward to see some prove on it.

 

I didn't have to do that - I just got an RN number and given their address to mail to.

I'd call back and ask to talk to Ben directly.

As for the S2K spring rate, yes they are too high (identical rates to ours?) for such a light vehicle and they are also one of the only other setups with a rear bias like ours.

Personally, I'm swapping my rear 12kg linear for 10 kg linear as the back is too stiff when 'crossing. I run my Hotchkis with enough rear bias that the stiffer rear springs are not needed.

 

actually i think s2k's handling is very neutral, so with the same spring rate front and rear should be fine.
what i meant was people who have dynoed their JIC coilover on s2ks saying JIC (FLTA2)usually uses high spring rate with poor vavling dampner.
but i just want to confirm it w/ a dyno graph since i dont know if this applies to all the application from JIC.

so your using 12f and 10r now?

 

I have called twice today a neither time has Ben been available so I have just been dealing with Randy. The problem that he is dealing with is that they can't find record of the vendor I bought my coilovers through (it was a friend starting an online store who used another vendor with an account with JIC) and my guy is out of the country for a month and I have no way to find out who the other vendor is. Randy is talking about how they have gotten in trouble in the past for not having an invoice to go off of and so on and so forth.

He said he is going to try to talk to his supervisor about it and go from there.. Everytime I call, Randy answers the phone and Ben is not available. Frustrating.

jason

 

Well, that sucks.

Try emailing. Ben has been replying to the generic address of info@jic-magic.com. In fact, my RMA number was given to me via email at that address.

I didn't have to supply a vendor name. In fact, I told Ben the shocks were used and I didn't really know if they were past their 1 year warranty or not. He didn't seem to care.

 

Well Randy is going to take care of everything.. I was able to track down my original invoice and got the RMA number tonight. I am overnighting him the shock tomorrow and he said if he gets it friday AM, he can possibly turn it around to come back monday (or saturday if I wanted).

After cleaning up and packaging the shock I realized I had it adjusted as low as the bracket would let it go... It wasn't as high as I thought, it was actually at the lowest setting. Should I raise the shocks up half-way from now on? Could it have bottomed out and caused the leak?