Swift Springs-- Nismo Review!!
 

After reading forum member CFZ's review of the Swift Springs, I knew that I had to give them a shot. I have not seen anyone with a Nismo post about the Swifts so I decided to kick things off.

As a little background, I have spent a lot of time lurking the forums trying to find a set of springs that would provide a moderate drop while at the same time actually improving the performance of the Nismo suspension. From what CFZ had posted, there are only two sets of springs out there that can improve upon the Nismo suspension and maintain the front and rear balance. I decided to go with the Swifts thinking that they would provide a slighter stiffer spring rate, give a sexy drop, and still maintain the balance of the Nismo suspension overall.

Lou at Amplified Motorsports set me up with the springs and did a great job installing them. His team does top notch work, they answer every question their customers have, and they always have great prices.

First Impression: The springs are definitely beefier than the stock springs and look like they can do the job right out of the box. Every image I have seen of them online shows a blue color, but they were actually a flat black. No real surprises here.

Driving Impression: I was really looking forward to putting the car through its paces after having the springs put on. CFZ said that the springs provided a softer ride even though they were stiffer, and he definitely hit the nail on the head. It seems counter intuitive, but once you start maneuvering the car and getting on the gas, everything just feels dialed in.

One of the things I noticed with the Nismo suspension is that the car recoils fairly hard when when going over bumps or ripples in the road. If you hit a series of bumps, the suspension stays taught, but the car rebounds with a lot of force. The Swift springs absorb this recoil more effectively, thus providing a smoother ride even though they are actually stiffer. You can compare it to someone wake boarding or snowboarding. The car feels like a person who is squatting and absorbing the bumps with bent knees, rather than going over the bumps with straight legs and bouncing all over the place.

I took the car through some back roads and noticed that the springs provide less body roll and the car stays planted going into turns. When going aggressively into and out of corners (especially off-camber turns) the motion of the car was more predictable and less prone to steering issues. Overall, the springs feel great and the car is more enjoyable to drive. They definitely tighten everything up and smooth out the ride at the same time.

Visual Impressions: Check out the pictures below to see for yourself! IMO the drop is perfect. The car isn't slammed and is lowered evenly from front to back, providing a nice, balanced look. The only issue I have is that I am now unable to get up my driveway! I had to go out last night to The Home Depot and buy enough lumber to build a wooden ramp :) Well worth it.

Thanks to Lou and Amplified for all the help. More photos to follow once everything settles and I will also update everyone when I have my alignment done in a week or so; hopefully, a camber kit wont be necessary.

Your Pictures didn't show up !!!!

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Pics are up :)

If anyone can embed them, please do so. I initially did, but the images are way too big.

Looks good,I have Swift springs also but have not been able to check them out b/c my wheels haven't shown up yet. :shakes head:

looks good.You posted 2 springs out there for Z swift and what are the other ones...

Very nice!!

Looks good. Who's doing you're alignment?

Thank you for the review, I have been waiting for a nismo review on these to come out.

NP Cell! I saw that you were looking around also and thought the review would help. I will say that you will not be disappointed if you go with the Swifts.

I will let you know how my alignment goes :)

That drop looks perfect, awesome review JJ! I concur with all your observations, this is where all the research and development on Swift's end pays off.

I spy with my little eye, Phelan's Rin behind your Nismo too. ;)

Any noise going up/down a driveway?

I'm gonna have amplified look at it this Tuesday.

What are sizes and spring rates used? Do you have stock Nismo dampers? Do they have enough dampening to control stiffer swift spring?

nice !
Hope to see you rocking G2 on your nismo soon ! :)

nice!

Wow! Looks great bro. Perfect drop.
I'm thinking of doing the same setup for my Nismo.
I'm very interested to know if we need any camber arms to correct the alignment after the drop?

btw, nice review

Yea, it depends whether I can get over speed bumps here in Chicago and the small ramps up parking lots and stuff with the springs.

:tup:

nice review

Another happy swift spring user :)

Hey Shamu, check out the quote below for info... I pulled this from CFZs post and he quoted another user. My suspension is completely stock except for the Swifts and from what I can tell so far, there are not any issues at this point. Everything feels better than before.


Originally Posted by s30z View Post
Just called Eibach to find out what the spring rates are for the Nismo. And I'm not going to lie. The car looks good but Im going to pass on this.

The 370z is already well balanced out of the box I do not need it to induce understeer.
The stock Nismo rates are
F- 8.6 R- 9.3

The Eibach rates for the normal Z
F- 8.6 F- 9.5

The Eibach Nismo Rates are
F- 9.8kg R- 9.5 which is a 14% increase in the front and 2% increase in the rear.

I dont see why they would set this car up like this. They completely switched up the spring rate bias from front to rear. And a front heavy spring like that will not only induce understeer, but the valving range of the shock is also slightly altered, the rear rates being extremely close to stock, and then the front rates are more sprung. Even though it is within the valving range of the shocks, if Nismo really did a good job fine tuning their shocks then these springs will throw off the original feel Nismo was going for.

Just to show you the rest of the spring rates
Tein s-tech -
F- 8.5 R- 9.4

Tanabe NF
F- 5.9 R- 6.8

Tanabe GF
F- 8.8 R- 9.1

Swift Spec R
F- 10 R-10.5

So just about every spring manufacturer out there pretty much decreases the rates of our nismo which pretty much completely dtunes our upgraded shocks.

Eibach although stiffer, went in a weird direction with their spring rates, and will alter the handling characteristics of the Z

Swift is the only one by numbers is a performance option for our Nismo shocks.

these are all converted to kg/mm if you guys want me to post it up in pounds per inch I can do that later.

Not sure who is doing the alignment yet. I will most likely use a friend's shop in the Anaheim area.




Do you mean noise from the springs or noise from the front air dam scraping? No noise from the springs yet, but the nose will definitely scrape if you attack a steep curb too aggressively!



Thanks! The car does have more negative camber after the drop and will need an alignment. After I have the alignment done within the next week or so I will post the results. From what I have read, most people seem to get back within the recommend limits without a camber kit, but we will see!

:icon18: It definitely makes any major elevation changes an issue! I always take everything at an angle, but literally had to go out and build ramps last night so that I could get up my driveway and into my garage. Worth it though... looks and feels so good.

I will post pics of the ramps tomorrow.

Man that looks nice. Hey JJ-NISMO could you measure the from the the Fender to the Ground for me?


Thanks,

c

cdox, I measured the front before and after the drop. Check out the picks below. After the drop the middle section of the front is sitting at 5.5 inches from the under guard and 6 inches at the paint. The side portion of the front fender is sitting a 4 inches from the under guard and 4.75 inches from the paint.

If a Nismo and a standard 370z were dropped to the same height, I think the Nismo will still have more clearance issues due to the longer nose.

Thanks. That kind of helps, but I was really looking for the wheel well/Fender to the Ground on the side with the wheel.
I have the swift springs, but stating the think it's going to be a bit to low for me. If you would not mind taking a few shot of the front and rear measured from the ground to the to the side fender/wheel well just about the wheel it's self.

Thanks,

C

From Chicago here too. My swifts will be installed in the spring... wish me luck lol

Your car looks really great man!

Swifts are great for lowering, but wait until you actually start using and abusing the car a little bit; you'll see where the springs really shine. The sheer improvement in performance is why my first recommendation for springs for any car or for any coilover setup is always going to be Swift. We actually just did a custom coilover setup for one of our GT-R customers with a few different types of Swifts instead of the standard springs and they difference is night and day.

-Kristoffer

Hey JJ,

What transpired from the alignment? Do you end up needing camber kit?

I'm getting my springs installed in 2 weeks and would be interested in knowing what ended up happening with yours.

Thx.:tiphat:

I am doing mine tomorrow (Saturday 26th) I am doing SPC camber arms both front and rear.

Awesome cdoxp800, can't wait to hear about your alignment results.

I'm actually thinking about getting some SPC rear camber arms while I'm getting the springs installed, that way during alignment I wouldn't have to worry about anything being out of specs.

Thx.

Hey JJ, what's the deal with the alignment? I'm sold on the swift springs but very curious about the alignment. Are camber arms needed to stay in spec? cdoxp800, do you have an update after your install and alignment to share with the group? Thanks guys.

Swift Spec R
 

Hey guys, I'm finally ready to get some mods going on the Nismo. I never heard back regarding the alignment after installing the swift spec r springs. Can anyone out there help me with the final numbers? Thanks in advance.

Smitty, the link below may be handy to you ;)

Alignment Specs

Thanks dude for the link, it's what i was looking for.

Did you need wheel spacers? I have a 2012 nismo and am looking to do the same

You don't need spacers, but it looks much better if you do. A lot of Nismo owner that have spacers will go with 15mm on all four, but 15mm in the rear and 20mm front works well too.

How do you like your Fortune Coilovers with Swift springs? What spring rates did you go with?

I love my coil overs. The ride is smooth and responsive and they don't make any noise. These with the sway bar the car feel more connected and responsive. I believe they are 8kg front and 11kg rear.

Post up your spec sheet if you can. The NISMO suspension on the street leave a lot to be desired. My 52 mile interstate drive everyday is not so fun. I believe the suspension could be mucho better.

If I were to do it again, I'd probably go with 10mm. With 15mm, the wheels are sticking out just a little bit much for my taste. Can't imagine 20mm. To each their own tho.

Will do, I got to find the print outs for my alignments.

With the wider tires I'm happy with 15s all around, the rears look like they protrude just slightly, but when I was really low the fenders still covered the tire. But as you say to each their own...variety is the spice of life!

Attached are my current alignment settings. These I am lowered on Fortune 500 with Swift Springs and I have SPL front upper arms and SPC rear camber arms and toe bolts. I checked my spring rates are 11kg/mm front and 8/8kg/mm rear.