Suspension refresh/advice

[shawnsx]

Hi guys looking for some advice as per above, I currently have a 04 350z with 80k on the clock. It's a daily driver and won't be used on track.

 

I have just purchased some Tein basic street coil overs and will be purchasing some doorman banana bars in the next week. The car will be staying pretty much stock height with only a drop of 10 to 15mm maximum.

 

I was considering purchasing new upper and lower control arms for the front and upper control arms for the rear at the same time and doing all the jobs at once. As far as I can tell the current arms are ok at the moment bar the banana arms which need done.

 

Has anyone else did this recently and would recommend this or should I be perhaps looking at some other parts instead of the arms such as drop links etc. all I'm really looking for is to refresh the car back to the condition it was when new .

 

Thanks for the advice

[Aashenfox]

I have just rescued everything related to the suspension on my car. All of it is worth doing under your stated goal of making it feel new again, I have the same goal.

 

I replaced...

 

Struts and springs with HSD MonoPro coilovers

Both banana arms with second hand low mileage NISSAN OE from a breaker on this forum.

Both front lower control arms with second hand low mileage NISSAN OE from a breaker on this forum.

Drop links are a common failure, and my front left is clunking. I have whiteline heavy duty ones on order which should be here in a few weeks (f + r)

My car was abused, so for that reason alone I will be also adding front camber arms (mainly to replace the front ball joints, another weak point on our cars), rear camber arms, and rear traction arms. The driftworks set (sold by Tarmacsportz on this site and driftworks UK of course, for the same price at both outlets) is the cheapest without going no-name, and of course they are Chinese too, but branded, warrantied and QA'd by Driftworks.

 

Torqen.uk (also forum vendor) has a HUGE selection of arms to choose from, oe, oem replacement, and aftermarket, to suit ANY budget.

 

You will probably then want to look at diff and subframe bushings.

 

P.S. Second hand OE front control arms and banana arms (provided they have bushes of 50% life or more) are better than brand new Dorman ones and usually cheaper. The Moog ones (see Torqen.uk) are likely to be better quality than the Dorman ones (from what I've read) and are only 10 quid each more expensive, IIRC. Another alternative is to simply re-bush the ones you have.

Edited June 8, 2017 by Aashenfox

[Aashenfox]

Added some extra info by way of edit.

[Tallen-B]

Doing a very similar thing myself, I've just purchased new banana arms which I have just fitted today and I'm awaiting new control arms too. I've already got HSD Mono's that I've put on there a year ago and some new drop links.

 

I had noticed over the last month that the front didn't feel "solid" like it used to, found out why today. Main ones you should look at doing would be the bananas and the lower control arms. The bananas tend to drop on the bushing or like mine did, just weren't attached anymore and just resting on the chassis. The same goes for the lower control arm too at the chassis my offside isn't central now (not good either).

 

I'd either get some decent second hand ones or even consider getting ones from Torquen like I did, I've gone with Dorman ones and they seem perfectly fine with zero issues installing. But if you can rebush them, it may be worth a try?

[Tallen-B]

P.S. Second hand OE front control arms and banana arms (provided they have bushes of 50% life or more) are better than brand new Dorman ones and usually cheaper. The Moog ones (see Torqen.uk) are likely to be better quality than the Dorman ones (from what I've read) and are only 10 quid each more expensive, IIRC. Another alternative is to simply re-bush the ones you have.

 

What's made you come to the conclusion that Dorman ones aren't perhaps as good as OE? Just curious. I mean a new bush is a new bush to me that should probably last the time I may own the car anyhow.

[Aashenfox]

It won't take you long to find a lot of reviews stating that Dorman stuff is hit and miss, and that the bushings don't last (in items with bushings, obviously, lol). I have one of their slave clutch cylinders, but no first hand experience of the arms. THe other thing that scares the bejesus out of me on the dorman arms, is how much they charge for them in America. It's 40 quid an arm. Just the bushes should cost half that. There are also off brand ones on ebay, cheap (ironically, not as cheap as the cheapest outlet I've found for Dorman), which people almost universally say will only last 6 months tops. There can't be that many factories making these, so it's a safe assumption that some of these OE arms out there are the same as this ebay tosh, stands to reason.

 

Moog on the other hand are a highly rated brand, the bushings are blue in the moog items as well, so it's definitely a different product to the ebay tripe. I know most of that reasoning is circumstantial, but it's enough for me to recommend getting the Moog ones when they're only 10 quid more and know that I'm not steering anyone wrong at least (no pun intended).

 

.

Edited June 10, 2017 by Aashenfox

[Sargara]

Drop links are a common failure, and my front left is clunking. I have whiteline heavy duty ones on order which should be here in a few weeks (f + r)

My car was abused, so for that reason alone I will be also adding front camber arms (mainly to replace the front ball joints, another weak point on our cars), rear camber arms, and rear traction arms. The driftworks set (sold by Tarmacsportz on this site and driftworks UK of course, for the same price at both outlets) is the cheapest without going no-name, and of course they are Chinese too, but branded, warrantied and QA'd by Driftworks.

 

If you are planning all that why didn't you just get the Driftworks handling pack in the first place?

https://www.driftworks.com/nissan-350z-handling-pack.html

[Aashenfox]

I wish I had, that would have saved me about 300 quid and some labour if I'd known last year that I would also eventually buy camber arms. I had to replace the shocks immediately when I picked up the car, the previous owner had cut the springs and perches.

Edited June 11, 2017 by Aashenfox

[Kev]

I was just going to start a thread as I was thinking of getting my suspension sorted when the car goes in for its mot this week.

 

The car has only done 39k but it's 12 years old now.

 

Is the drift works handling pack regarded as the best value option? I'd rather get it all done in one hit. I'm not looking to track the car and I don't want it too low.

[Zeezeebaba]

After some advice from another member on here I also replaced everything listed, bananas, lowers, hub carriers, droplinks plus fitted BC BR coilovers and poly bushed the anti roll bars front and rear on Ekonas advice. 

My car is on 98k miles so essential work. The old ARBs were seriously glazed on the inner surface when removed so well worth checking.

The only issue I have now is the strut brace trim rattling due to the firmer ride

A strip of insulation foam should sort that. 

The biggest difference now is the steering response has "vastly" improved and there's no body roll.

 

[Colin747]

I'm quite keen to do this myself as well, does anyone have direct experience with the Driftworks handling pack or would I be safer specing up own parts? (90% fast road driving with maybe a track day a year)

[Bhupz350]

I purchased the Driftworks package, been on the car for about three months now along with HSD Monopro's. I would definitely recommend them, value for money

[Colin747]

1 hour ago, Bhupz350 said:

I purchased the Driftworks package, been on the car for about three months now along with HSD Monopro's. I would definitely recommend them, value for money

 

Cheers, what is the ride quality like? A lot of the driving roads over here are very bumpy and my Z has been getting unsettled when driving hard to the point were I can go just as quick down the road in my partners 1.6 Focus haha I'm not sure if that means I'd need a set up on the softer side?

[Bhupz350]

24 minutes ago, Colin747 said:

 

Cheers, what is the ride quality like? A lot of the driving roads over here are very bumpy and my Z has been getting unsettled when driving hard to the point were I can go just as quick down the road in my partners 1.6 Focus haha I'm not sure if that means I'd need a set up on the softer side?

I love the ride quality, I really don't feel much difference from stock which is what was worrying me before I had any of it fitted. Depending on the roads, you can always play around with the dampeners to suit.