[Guest]

okay.. here goes:

i spent 22.5 hours this weekend installing the following:
205/40R16 toyo proxies
lenso vpd wheels
kyb agx's
suspension techniques lowering springs (-1.5")
stillen camber adjustment plates
stillen tower brace
koni bump-stops
oem strut dust boots
suspension techniques f&r swaybar set
an entire energy suspension master set

i was doing this by myself, and i'm sure that i didn't do everything exactly right
(stillen, kyb, and S/T don't know how to write instructions)

anyways, the car drives without anything falling off, but the RIDE REALLY COULD USE SOME IMPROVEMENT.
i know that the ride is not supposed to be factory, but it is so bad i am getting motion sick. i havent put the car on anything but residental streets and the like, and the whole time the car just bumps all over the damn place.
it acts like it is hitting a bunch of bumps, but there are not any there. and it hits HARD. and when it does hit a bump it acts like it just ran over a small dog

. it is insane. it makes the car much harder to control. i haven't taken the car much over 60mph because i need an alignment real bad.

i have the camber at zero (on the plates) and the agxs at 2 in the front and 4 in the rear...

can you guys please help me?

 

[Guest]

btw, i cut 1/3 off the front bumpstops and 1/3 off the rear...this really sucks. the drivers front strut is making some wierd ****ing noises. help.

 

[Mike]

Clunking? you have the cusco/steelin plates? My plates clunk no bigge.

The ride should get softer as the bushings brake in. My es mm inserts got nice and smooth after a few k miles.

Mike..the punk.

 

[Ben]

Yeah I imagine with ALL that **** you put in the ride will seem VERY crappy at first. Just with AGXs and Prokits I was a little hesitant at first, but you grow to "understand" it

But yours I imagine would be a MUST bigger shock than mine

 

[brian]

ya, my cusco plates clunk around too. you get used to it. set it on 3/6 and go have some fun though.

took a customer around the block and let him drive the car. took a pretty tight turn going like 60 and he was like wholly ****!!!!!!!! he has a 94 gxe w/ a jdm sr20 in it

stock hubs and all.

 

[Guest]

well..the klunking was the fact that stillen camber adjustment plates were not designed to be used with kyb agx struts. the 'clunking' got worse, and i tore it down tonight and found that the threaded part of the shaft had worked its way loose and was just clunking around really, really bad. turns out that the torque readings i was getting were wrong. i tightend them up, and replaced the bumpstops with 1/2's instead of 2/3's and the front end is starting to cooperate. it is bumpy as hell...i'm sure it is still bottoming out...but not positive, yet..now for the rear end...

on another note, i called ryan at stillen today and told him about my problem with the agx's and the camber plates and he was of absoulutely no help. the plates are designed to work with factory struts, and not the agx's. the problem is that the factory struts have a hex hole in the top that you use to hold the shaft in place while you tighten the nut. well, on the agx's, because of thier top mounted adjustment scheme, there are flat parts in the threads to attacth vise grips with...but the top of the threads don't come out with the plates...the answer: VISE GRIPS. yeah...i know. crazy..only thing i could figure out.

forget

 

[Guest]

btw, stillen sucks. ryan said that i had to use a hex wrench on top. he was wrong. he would not admit this. i figured all this **** out myself and plan on calling him tomorrow and telling him about this incase someone else runs into this problem.

 

[Mike]

When I had my plates put on I the guy had to put a vice grip on the bumpstops and tighten the top nut. He said it was a PITA to do. The hardest thing I guess was keeping the shaft from spinning.

Mike

 

[gpser96]

Just take the car to any place that has a high speed ait gun, give the top nut a few blasts with the air gun, justr give it pulses and the top nut tightens down pronto. I have the same set up and the only way to get the top nut tight without tearing up the top of the strut is to use the air gun. I tightened mine once about a year ago and they are still snug.

 

[Scarpa]

your ride is probably bottoming out.. the ST springs give you a drop, but there is not enough of an increase in spring rate to account for the reduced travel. result: crashing suspension. you DO get used to it though, and if the road is fairly smooth there's not much problem. i have prokits on my car which are of simaler design and when i hit a bump the rear of the car kicks up and unsettles the entire car.. it's pretty annoying. when i was at the track a couple months ago my car would literally bounce off the apex curves and toss the car sideways a little. i'm about to pick up a set of ground control coil-overs and boost the spring rate considerably. ironically this doesn't make the ride any harsher because the car isn't crashing into the bumpstops anymore.

 

[wes]

I have the AGX/Sportline combo on my 200. The ride isn't harsh at all. I did notice that when I first had them installed along with the ES control arm bushings and the ES bump stops (cut 30MM) it did seem rether firm, but now it's nice. I only hit the stops on the harshest of turns, and have yet to visit a track that wasn't almost completely flat!

I too think the springs may be suspect, anyone know the sprong rate on the ST springs?

late,
wes

www.wes.nissanpower.com

 

[Guest]

the front end is cooperating much, much better...except over hard bumps...what is the least possible height i could use for a bump stop? the dustboot adds in like 1/4" inch in the front and about one inch in the rear...how much do i need for safety??? to keep from hurting my suspension?

 

[brian]

ya, I had to use a air gun on mine too (to take off the strut tops and plates) and put them on. I have the pro kits, agxs, cusco camber plates, front rear stbs, and st sways, and no problems.

yet, I hope....

 

[Storm88000]

WHOA WHOA WHOA...this dude broke a huge law in modding...dont do more than a couple mods at the same time, in cases omething is wrong you may not know which new mod is causing it.

 

[Guest]

it's the damn springs. i'm sure of it. the car is too low and the **** is bottoming out. the front, which has a 1" bumpstop works good, but the rear end, also with 1", just bottoms out too much...maybe i can adjust my agxs to compsensate..anyone have any ideas...i'm too nervous to go below 1" bumpstops...i'm not sure what it will do.

 

[Jason92Classic]

okay! My 2 cents:

I agree with Storm: BABY STEPS! I dont have much of a suspension mod as compared to you but the first thing I did was Eibach Sportlines. Pretty soon the OEM struts died.

Next was the Tokicos. The ride was bouncy but bearable with stock wheels/tires.

Then Toyo Proxes 205/45/vr16 on Advanti Racing Powers' 16x7 rims. On new asphalt (like at my school where I first "trued" them on Thanksgiving last year), the car rode and handled like a dream compared to stock.

Then the roads caught up to me... and lemme tell ya: you get used to it, but never completely. RR Tracks kick my ass to this day (I literally drive 10-20 mph over them). Another thing is in Alabama, we have HUGE temperature differences so the concrete roads feel GREAT in the Summer, but the expansion slots spread so much in the Winter that they, too, kick my ass (It goes from an average of 98 df in the Summer to the Teens and below in the Winter).

What have I learned?
--I can spot a pothole a mile away! (I actually hit one in GA earlier this year and it broke my right CV half-axle, no ****)
--Drive slow over RR Tracks
--Do NOT get close to the shoulder of ANY road
--Do NOT go fast on roads that aren't locally serviced

I hope all this helps. Hang in there...

 

[brian]

I am with jason, I poke along rr tracks and do not haul ass on roads I do not know real good.

 

[Guest]

thanks jason...by the way, i'm from AL also (montgomery) and the roads here suck...

i am still wondering what i could do to keep the suspension from bottoming out...

mechanics suck. real bad. they ****ed my **** up.

 

[Jason92Classic]

yeah, your roads arent as well maintained as they are up here... even the Interstates arent perfect (of course, they've been there forever, too). I like the I85 stretch coming out of town, though... the last time I went to Auburn we hauled ass down that road! In FACT, I smoked a Type SH on that road last year! Very nice!

I dont know what to do to keep from bottoming out. My front end never does but if I carry two people my rear does... Cleaning out the trunk helped me a little...

 

[Scarpa]

I know you just got these springs, but I'd get the Ground Control coil-overs. Your spring rate will increase a lot, and you'll stop bottoming out. You might not get the same drop, but go is better than show anyway right?