370Z Sport (option) Suspension vs. Nismo suspension

grant

Only been on the forum a few months, it takes a while to read all this stuff. Ever seen a dog wearing a watch? Who cares about time...

WhiskeyHotel

Yes. Yes it does. Welcome.

Iammeowwwwww

Red below for:
V2 2015+ Nismo compared to stock(sport).
Shocks and springs only. Sway bars are still stock sport and no Nismo "Performance Dampers"

I'm surprised this thread died in 2012 when we have V2 Nismo Suspension released in 2015!! I have been trying to do research and it's basically a dead end, and for good reason, apart from the wallet, upgrading to coilovers or bilsteins(?) is a path of least resistance.

Anyway!

I got my hands on 2017 V2 Nismo suspension with 35k miles for $200 and confirmed part numbers 6GA1A compared to 2014 (sport) suspension part numbers 1EA0D. The owner put his Z on bags.

The general understanding is that the V2 Nismo suspension is supposed to be more comfortable and compliant than the V1 harsh suspension. To date, I've not driven a v1 stock Nismo, so can't compare that aspect (yet).

For reference, I live in norcal and do spirited drives up to the Junction, Alices Restaurant, and the Coast. All of which have diverse roads that are bumpy, dry, wet, smooth, and twisty. I also regularly visit Thunderhill Raceway, Sonoma Raceway, and Laguna Seca.

Right off the bat, the v2 Nismo suspension is more jarring than the sport suspension, but only just barely, I quite like it. The car feels more planted, accurate, and turns in harder. Body roll all around is reduced, especially the side to side roll during transitions. They say you're supposed to get .4 of an inch drop, however I feel like I've gotten a .5 of an inch lift!! So far not worried about it. Up in the mountains, the suspension handles very well, while some of the bumps are more exaggerated, the suspension compresses and rebounds nicely. I have however noticed that while loaded mid corner, the car is more easily unsettled during articulation, lets say a bump on the loaded side of the car. Road ripples mid corner are harder on the tires and chassis as well. None the less, I'm still quite confident in the cars handling characteristics on mountain roads and general street driving.

I will be headed out to thunderhill west this weekend 6.18.22, where I'll have good comparison since I was last here 3 weekends ago on the sport suspension. Stay tuned!

Side note, I had to transfer my tophats due to the previous owner retaining them, the Nismo front springs have longer coils than the sport, which didn't align with the rubber grommet grooves of the sport suspension. So that would be the only discrepancy, unfortunately.

Iammeowwwwww

Late but not forgotten! I've been to 5 track days since then including Thunderhill East and Sonoma, I've also replaced the sway bars with Eibach front & rear after Tracking at Thunderhill West & Sonoma with just the Nismo V2 suspension and stock ARBs.

Consistent with my review of the suspension in the mountains, the car was less squishy, more responsive and maintained the understeer bias. The car was much faster with transitions, ie. turn 8 and 8a at Sonoma, however not fast enough going into turn 10. I feel I can toss the car into corners much harder with increased responsiveness.

After that Sonoma weekend, I installed EIbach sway bars (2 way adjustable up front, 3 way adjustable in the rear) which are ideal for street and "light" track. With the Nismo suspension, Hard setting up front, medium in the rear made the car over steer biased and I saw slower exits coming out of turn 2 at Thunderhill East. Changing the rear to Soft created a sweet spot, making the car feel very balanced.

My 2cents, do sway bars with the nismo suspension upgrade.

Hope this helps.
Curious at what point I just get coilovers LOL

OptionZero

a few months ago

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