Way Over My Head

wolf370z

Maybe I'm just too scared to really go out there and do it but modifying a car's suspension. Is it really worth it? The Nissan engineers aren't stupid and I give them props for building such an incredible car but can I get an honest answer?

How much more performance will really come out of swapping over to coilovers, swapping out swaybars, etc. And what about wheels? I'm thinking 19x9.5 +22 F, 19x10.5 +12 R, Volks (undecided really) and how is that going to affect driving/suspension... will it hurt load bearing parts.. will it cause issues? How much adjustment is required if I planned on lowering my car say an inch or a half?

Would I be better off just going with the Nismo suspension parts? (drive a base 370z).

Josh@STILLEN

There's nothing wrong with your stock suspension, it will do you fine and get you down the road, give you superior handling to 95% of the vehicles out on the road..

But what you're not remembering is that they are building a vehicle to not only appease the pseudo-performance crowd out there but have to build it for that same demographic.. the general public.

There are always compromises when you build a car for performance.. the ride is too stiff, you can feel the dips on an uneven road, it doesn't ride like my grandfathers Cadillac DTS sedan..

A lot of times the ultimate abilities of a car in the design phase are killed as it goes down the production line, and through the groups of layers of product engineers, and marketing folks.

That being said, these cars handle fantastic out of the box, but can absolutely be improved upon, and honestly with the right modifications don't alter the daily driving aspect, unless you're looking for the extreme end of handling on the track.

Coilovers give you the ability to not only alter ride height but adjust the shock dampeners, and in some cases adjust the spring rates on their own, giving you complete control on what you're looking for, from a daily driver to a teeth jittering track car that hugs the corners like no other.. or a daily driver that's mild on the the street, keeps the wife happy, and with some clicks on the shock body makes the car transform..

A good swaybar setup will help as well, reducing the overall body roll, and with a simple relocation of the endlinks can soften or harden the only downside of swaybars in the uneven pavement.. versus smooth and flat cornering you get by stiffening things up..

Wheels are always a consumers choice.. some like flashy.. some like pure performance.. and a lot of us like something in between.. but keeping an eye on weight of the wheels and material construction will help in the long run.. but it's a very very personal choice.

Hope that helps..

Trips

Thanks Josh, for helping out. A mega rep to you.

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wolf370z

Wow, thank you for setting the record straight. I think you've now changed my opinion on what I want to do with the car. Prior to this post I was planning on spending ~$10k for all the stuff I wanted... brakes, suspension, exhaust, intake, tune, etc... and I've decided.

It's my daily driver and I want to occasionally track it so whenever I'm ready I'm just going to swap brake pads and brake fluid. On top of that I might get an oil cooler and then from there on just exhaust, intake, MAYBE a tune. I'm planning on trading it in on something with more power in a few years anyway so I don't want to get too far ahead of myself. Thanks a ton man!