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steve shares his experience with eibach springs
Here is a copy of two posts on the installaion of a set of Eibach ProKit
springs on my 96 Maxima SE. In the first post I was not sure I was going
to keep them. I discovered an installation error, discussed in the second
post, and now like them a lot.
---Steve
scutchen@phoenix.net
-----Subject: HMMM... '96 Maxima SE Eibach Springs------
I previously issued a glowing report on the strut tower brace that I
bought from Steve Millen Sprots Cars for my '96 Maxima SE. ($179)
Here is the followup I promised the folks on the Maxima mailing list after
I installed a set of Eibach springs. The springs cost $259.
It took about 5 hours for me to install all four springs; about 3.5 for
the front, about 1.5 for the back. The most difficult part was figuring
out how to set up the top spring mount on the front. The Maxima service
manual describes how to do it, but it doesn't seem to be correct for the
Eibach springs. The reason is that the stock springs and the Eibach
springs do not "end" at the same place. They are "clocked" differently.
I decided to install them so that the end of the spring was at the same
point relative to the top mount, rather than to line the top mount up in
the same relative position to the car as with the stock springs.
The ride height changed as follows (measuring to the top of the wheel arches)
Front from 27 5/8 to 26 3/4
Rear from 27 7/8 to 26 1/2
I've only drive on them for about 4 miles, but I can report that there is
a definate increase in harshness. There seems to be a bit more slap over
tar strips, and things happen a lot faster over bumps. Up faster, and
down faster.
My first impression is that cornering is significantly improved. Some
sharp low-speed sweepers were much flatter.
I still haven't decided whether the gain is worth the pain. With the
front strut brace, it was all gain and no pain. Here, the tradeoff is
more significant. Kinda like when I replaced the stock shocks and rear
axle stabilizers on my old '85 TBird TCoupe with adjustable Konis.
I'll ride on them for a couple of weeks before I make any decision to go
back to the stock springs. Give myself enough time to get used to both
the new ride and the improved handling.
I'll report back again when I come to a final decision.
-----end-----
-----Subject: Keeping'em... '96 Maxima SE Eibach Springs------
I previously issued a glowing report on the strut tower brace that I
installed on my '96 Maxima SE.
I then issued a lukewarm initial report on the Eibach Pro-Kit springs that
I installed last weekend. I said that the ride was definately harsher,
and that this was a concern.
I bought the brace and springs from Steve Millen Sports Cars, located in
Costa Mesa, CA... They advertise in the back of several car mags
including Car and Driver and Automobile. 714-540-5566 and
http://www.stillen.com/
The list prices for the brace and springs is $199.99 and $329.99. I got
them for $179 and $259. My sales guy was Jared S.
This is the followup report I promised.
---
I'm going to keep the Eibachs. The control and corning improvements,
above and beyond the improvement made by the strut tower brace seems worth
it to me.
Before the upgrades, the car really moved a lot in corners. It was
especially noticable in high speed sweepers in that there was a lot of
roll and pitch over bumps. But what was worse was the yaw motion. Really
unsettling, putting me a kind of white-knucked driving mode. The car
would corner, but you had to trust it and hang on... it didn't appear to
like it very much, and you as the driver felt disconnected from what the
tires were doing. Not really what I expected from the SE version of a
Maxima.
The strut brace was a major imporvement, eliminating the yaw. The car
still rolled a lot, but I felt much more confident that I could tell where
the car was going. I was really surprised at the noticable improvement.
Now with the Pro-kit springs, the car is really glued down. I can easily
change line in mid turn of high speed sweepers and know exactly what's
happening. The cornering and control have improved to the point that now
it is obvious that the weak link is my Pirelli P600 tires (don't tell my
wife...).
The ride height changed as follows (measuring to the top of the wheel arches)
Front from 27 5/8 to 26 3/4
Rear from 27 7/8 to 26 1/2
The initial impressions with the new springs, as reported before, was a
significant increase in ride harshenss. Now after commuting with them for
a week, I can report that the car only seems harsh on high impact bumps;
pot holes and major pavement misalignments. The ride on normal freeway
and street pavement is fine. No one that has ridden in the car has
commented on the difference. No one has said "What the hell happened to
you car?!?" I think it was especially noticable to me because I spend so
much time in the car and because I was especially atuned to look for a
difference. And the original springs were way soft... a pillowy ride...
A few technical and installation notes. I mentioned in my last post that
the Eibach springs are clocked differently than the stock springs. In
other words, if you set the spring so that the bottom of the coil starts
at 12 o'clock, the top end of the wire ends at a different point. It
wasn't clear whether I should set the top strut mount based on the spring
ending point, or based on its relative position in the car. I now know it
should be based on the car position, regardless of how the spring is
clocked. The strut tower is not flat on top, and the strut mount needs to
be set relative to this tilt so that it will clear all around.
Also, I had to have my toe-in adjusted. The toe increased from about .05"
to about .14". I could definately feel this difference... the car seemed
a lot dartier or touchy. It is much more stable on center steering
straight ahead with the toe readjusted to spec.
Also, I'll pass along a suggestion I received for an alternate set of
springs. Steve Yeun told me:
> I think Eibach springs are bit firm. It seems that stock shocks are not
> capable of handling these springs. Friend of mine tried them and got
> rid of them. He replaced Eibach with H&R and he is very satisfied with
> the performance.
I think the shocks are fine, but a midpoint set of springs between the
Eibach Pro-kit and stock would be worth looking into depending on your
trade offs.
So my final recommendations? I think every '95+ Maxima owner, GXE, SE,
GLE, should invest in the strut tower brace. It is obvious to me from the
improvement I felt that the top of the Maxima strut towers deflect a lot
with respect to each other under cornering loads. This brace is an all
gain, no pain deal. Easy to install and not very expensive. I think
folks that want to really maximize their street handling should consider
the Eibach pro-kit springs. The combination puts the Maxima on par with
the best of its compitition. And with the Maxima lead in powertrain...
:-) But recognize that this is a trade off between ride and handling. I
also think that an alternae spring setup, such as recommended by Yeun
could also be considered as a middle ground.
Thanks to all that have written and encouraged me to keep up with this
tale. I've had fun with it. I'm very pleased with my modifications. I
hope it helps you decide what to do with your car, Maxima or not.
-----end-----
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