Koni Suspension for the 02-06 Altima

[phreekee25]

Originally Posted by Pimped-up

Installed Kyb's AGX Adjustables yesterday. The Spring perch comes easily, i had to spread out the bottom U-shaped bracketbut and the golden looking thing would not fit, so i had to use sand paper to make the metal thinner...
The ride feels pretty much the same as it was before with my old suspension set up. I have to change the tires than i will definetely feel the difference!

what do you mean by "golden looking thing"?

[Pimped-up]

Originally Posted by 5SpeedL31

I bet you don't miss the KSports do ya'?

Besides them giving me a hard time with click/clank noise and the ride being to stiff, I have no other complains... Well, I do actually have one more! They turned my WIP into a big rattling piece of crap. If for some reason something happens to my bose stereo I will go crazy with all the enterior noise. I mean basically everything from sun roof down to doors and dashboard etc... Rattles at the same time... Hopefully I'll find time during summer to fix some of it...

[Puppetmaster]

FWIW, I'll agree that the K-Sports are great performance coilovers, but from what I understand from others' experiences, the crappy ride quality is because of the high spring rates (9kg front 7kg rear, IIRC) and the use of pillowball mounts. If you get lower spring rates from K-Sport and can find a way to reuse an OEM-like rubber top mount to replace the pillowball, you may be able to recover some ride quality while still getting decent handling.

The long term quality of the K-Sport dampers however, is another concern altogether.

[phreekee25]

Originally Posted by polishpunk68

Did anyone ever try putting the KONI adjustable rear shocks made for 96 300zx rear on our altimas? I know AT did the spring perch removal for the KYB adjustable shocks, also 96 300zx, and I'm using them now, but I think KONI shocks would be much more comfortable to ride on, just like the koni fronts I'm using...

it looks like the koni rears for the 96 300zx are not adjustable.
Koni catalog

another reason not to put koni's in the rear (if you do find adjustables), is because the konis adjust on top of the shock, not the side. i haven't checked under the carpeting in my trunk, but i doubt that there is any way to access the top of the rear shocks without removing them from the car.

[Pimped-up]

Believe me man, even if the springs would be rubber isolated and all that stuff, the ride would still feel like crap. There is no friction, because the springs sits on the coilover's between the spring perch and there is not much space for the spring to bounce around. So if you hit a bump on the road the spring will fold/contract and the body will take the hit, that how it was with my ride as i remember and that is the only way with coilovers... unless!! Stiffer Sping? Like they use for track or rally?? but than you will definetely bite your tounge off someday....

Putting KONI on the rear is kinda pointless i think, KYB Adjustbales are doing pretty good job handling the rear, so why bother paying extra $$$ for the "NAME"

[herman]

I am going the Koni front route as well. However, knowing that the 90-96 rear KYB AGX struts from 300ZX fits, I am leaning towards the BU3431 from Tokico. They are from the Illumina series, costs about $115 each. That's about the same as the KYB AGX. I rate Tokico quality to be better than KYB.

The BU3431 do not seem to have a knob on the body of the strut (like the KYB AGX has), so I assume knob is located at the top, meaning you have to create hole on each side of your rear window shelf. That should be a pretty easy job.

[Pimped-up]

Originally Posted by herman

I am going the Koni front route as well. However, knowing that the 90-96 rear KYB AGX struts from 300ZX fits, I am leaning towards the BU3431 from Tokico. They are from the Illumina series, costs about $115 each. That's about the same as the KYB AGX. I rate Tokico quality to be better than KYB.

The BU3431 do not seem to have a knob on the body of the strut (like the KYB AGX has), so I assume knob is located at the top, meaning you have to create hole on each side of your rear window shelf. That should be a pretty easy job.

I dont think the top will fit, you will have to cut it out and than weld the original mount from the original shock. And why bother man? KYB AGX's holding the rear very well, i am very satisfied! but yeah, tokiko is a bit better brand name, but i am pretty sure the preasure in the shock is very similiar.

[herman]

The KYB strut is the undoubtebly the easiest choice for ActiveTuning. The Tokigo Illumina P/N BU3431 needs to replace bottom ring bracket with a U bracket:


For reference... bottom of rear shock on 1996 300XZ - Tokigo Illuminas installed (ignore the yellow arrows):


For reference, bottom of rear shock on 2002 Altima:


For reference.. 300ZX KYB AGX P/N 741028:

[phreekee25]

Originally Posted by herman

For reference... bottom of rear shock on 1996 300XZ - Tokigo Illuminas installed (ignore the yellow arrows):

that picture cannot be from a 1996 300zx, because the spring should be around the shock, not next to it.

[NipsirC04]

Okay I'm not sure I read this right. You just have to hack off the spring perch on the actual shock itself? not anything on our altimas, right? If that is all that is required as well as the 12 x 1.25mm locknuts then I think this will be a decent summer project for me to do.

[phreekee25]

^yeah, that's pretty much it. you also have to spread out the bottom U-bracket and maybe sand down the shiny ring in the AGX pics in post #11 above.

[NipsirC04]

That doesn't sound too hard, maybe cost me a saturday of doing it by myself in the garage. Thanks for the info.

[pipeline]

Originally Posted by NipsirC04

That doesn't sound too hard, maybe cost me a saturday of doing it by myself in the garage. Thanks for the info.

pics of the install!!!

[NipsirC04]

I haven't done it yet, It will probably be in june sometime. I will post pics too.

[bSER272]

Any updates on this? I'm looking to install these shocks due to bouncy rear.