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So I have been wanting to lower my car, but I dont know anything about this (any extra stuff that needs to be done besides just getting something to lower it) and where to go to buy a good product.
Got my car (2013) for about a year now and soon want to look into making some mods and upgrades. I have seen lowered cars and they look amazing but nothing too crazy. I dont want to be dragging a leaf down the road.
But if I lower it, will it cause issues of driving it on certain places or depends on how much it gets lowered? I would like to get wheels once spring comes around, will this change affect what kind of wheels or what sizes to go for?
Sorry to be new about this stuff, I want to know more about my car and want to treat her right, I refuse to rice it out lol.
Any suggestions and answers appreciated. I feel like I will be coming back with many more questions for other things in the future.
I think swift springs are a perfect drop/ride height if you not looking to be obvious about it. Nice sport style height.
I am more than please with both the quality of the product/ the support / and the results. Sport Springs | Swift Springs USA
The last picture is with the swift springs and stock wheels.
Obviously everything looks better with bigger rims.
Most of the time, an AWD Sedan can be lowered on Swift springs without spending any additional funds to address front and rear camber & toe. Granted, you'll still need an alignment, and the OEM shocks on the AWD Sedan are soft & bouncy, and once lowered your wheels will look goofy all tucked... so that leads to spacers, or new wheels.
No matter what you do, it can be a slippery slope of mods. But there's nothing wrong with Swift springs on the X Sedan. Go for it.
I don't want to take for granted any prior knowledge on your part, but the other option (short of fully adjustable air-ride suspension) is going with a coil-over suspension. Springs are cheaper, but don't allow for height adjustment outside of their pre-set height. Coils will allow you to set the exact height you want, and allow you to set the firmness to whatever you desire. These are set at time of install, and can be changed with some effort, but not on the fly, whereas air bags can be changed at the press of a button from inside the car. If you're just looking for a gentle drop and aren't really picky about specifying height or dialing in your stiffness/comfort, then Swifts are your best choice. There are plenty of threads on here that can give you an idea what to expect them to look like with stock and aftermarket wheels. When buying anything for this car, I start with the classifieds on this site. I've got a bunch of stuff done, and most at half the cost of new from taking advantage of buying used.
A) Check out the Tech/Brakes & Suspension forum for a two dump-truck loads of information.
B) AWD coil-over options are few, check out the AWD Coil-over Redux stickied thread in Brakes & Suspension.
C) Some coil-overs come with remote adjusters (Tein & MeisterR are two) for the rear so you can change their damping without raising the car. At least one other set has the adjuster within reach from under the car. None of these mentioned fit AWD that I'm aware.
I just installed Swift springs on my 2013x sedan....
dropped it about 1.2” all around... I’m very pleased with the look and ride. Still need to get the alignment.
like was mentioned, need either spacers or buy new wheels with the correct offset to bring the tires/wheels out to edge of fenders, etc...
I just dropped my '09 G37xS with used Eibach springs. These have advantages (to me) and disadvantages over the Swift springs.
Disadvantage is 'droopy butt syndrome'. While the Eibach springs lower the car evenly all around (well they actually lower front a little more than rear), the end result is the rear looks too low. If you look closely at stock ride height, the front is already visually higher than the rear. Its simply that the car is sitting so high its not immediately noticeable. I say visually because its really the cut of the fender openings that make it look higher in front. The chassis ride height is even (or maybe a little higher in rear), even though the space between top of tire and fender is smaller in rear.
So once the car is lowered, evenly or anything close to it, the smaller fender gaps all around makes the smaller rear opening plainly obvious, and makes it appear that the rear is drooping. The Swift springs smartly compensate for this perfectly, and drop the rear much less than front, so the car looks right. Again, its not literally too low in the rear with Eibach, it just looks that way since our eye focuses on fender gap, not chassis ride height.
The fix is to either not care, or to raise the rear using a spacer 'under' the upper and/or lower spring mounts ('under meaning under hte lower mount or above the upper mount - sitting between rubber mount and chassis.) Others have fixed this by replacing the upper mount with a universal aftermarket rubber mount that just happens to fit ok and provide decent height correction. But there have been issues with those mounts squeezing out of place over time and miles. I prefer keeping the stock mounts, and its easy to fab a simple spacer.
The advantage (to me) of the Eibach's are they are progressive springs (the Swift are straight rate springs). Progressive springs get harder and harder as they compress. The idea is you can have both comfort and performance by making the initial travel softer, but get much harder as they compress. Soft for cruising. Hard for aggressive driving. But what I like about them is how they greatly reduce body roll and greatly improve steering response. Because the springs are progressive, in a corner, the inside springs gets harder and harder while the outside, which roll is trying to lift, gets softer and softer (on a straight rate spring, the inside pushes up exactly as much as the outside is being pushed down. So with straight springs the only roll control comes from swaybars.) With progressive, its like having a progressively stiffer swaybar.
This also makes the car much more responsive to steering input. It feels very much like you put on a quicker steering ratio rack. You turn the wheel and car responds much more immediately. When someone says their lowering springs improved the cars cornering, its usually these two effects from progressive springs, more than the lower cg, that they are feeling.
Summary: Swift if you want bolt on ride height perfection. Eibach if you want more performance, and don't mind fabbing a spacer to fix droopy butt (or only care about performance, and don't care about droop.)
Also, I HIGHLY recommend replacing the rear swaybar with one from any other G than the x. Doesn't matter if its a G37, G37S or even G25. So long as its not the x, it has the same size rear swaybar, which is waaay stouter than the x rear bar. The front bar on the x is already the stiffest of all, and you have no choice anyway, as the bars from non x won't fit x (of course, you could also go with aftermarket swaybars, specifically meant for the x, but then thats a lot more cost). A used stock non-x rear bar can be found for $50-$75 in the FS section, or on ebay (ebay bars are often overpriced/ You will need to watch out for free shipping and for someone that isn't charging too much, or that is selling an x rear bar and not being specific).
The stock x rear bar is, imo, almost dangerous in how it allows the car to wallow around in any sort of aggressive driving. Definitely plan to address the rear bar.
Oh, and the spring swap itself is very DIY doable if you are handy. The only thing is you NEED to take the front shocks to a shop to have the springs changed, especially if you go with progressive springs (as there is no way to fit the hooks of a diy spring compressor between the coils.) Usually around $25 to have this done. You just take off the front shocks, and bring them, and the new springs to a shop, and they hand you back the shocks with your new springs on them. Just make sure they know to align the upper mount the same way it came off! Rears are ridiculously easy, no shop needed. Oh, and no one in this forum mentions it much, but whenever you change ride height, you should reclock all the suspension bushings. All this means is loosen all the control arm mounts, upper and lower, then jack that corner by the lower control arm so it just lifts off the jack stand, so all the cars weight on that corner is on the lower arm, simulating the new ride height, then tighten down the bolts you loosened. Failing to do this adds a lot of stress to the bushings and will wear them out (tear them) very prematurely.
I just dropped my '09 G37xS with used Eibach springs. These have advantages (to me) and disadvantages over the Swift springs.
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Great post, thank you! I would not have considered the Eibach if not for this (g37xs as well).
For the custom fabbed spacer, how much did that cost you?
I did replace the rear sway bar with a 370z one already and body roll is still significant; my only concern was with alignment. Did you find that you needed to purchase ~$500-1000 worth of alignment correcting equipment (control arms etc.) to get back within spec and/or with the same tire wear?
And did you find that this made more or less of a difference than the sway bar as far as body roll and handling go? Noticeable as a daily driver as well?
I would add that the rear bar from the 370z Nismo is the rear bar you want. This will have a blue stripe on it. It’s the thickest rear bar from Nissan/Infiniti for the V36 chassis, and balances the x sedan with stock front bar out beautifully. I think its the same bar from the IPL and convertibles, but don’t quotee on that. 15min install. Make sure you get the bar bushings and clamps, as it’s thicker than your stocker.
I would also disagree with the previous poster regarding progressive vs linear rate springs. Progressives do provide stiffer rates as you compress but this is a detriment to handling, balance, and predictably of the chassis. You are introducing significant variables through the stroke at each corner. If you are going for low and looks and keeping things at 7/10, go with progressive. If you are going for performance and driving up near the limit of adhesion, stick with a quality linear rate. That said, most drivers will never know the difference.. ymmv.
Also so remember that progressive rates come in three flavors: variable wire diameter; variable coil diameter; variable coil count. Just because a spring has linear coil and wire diameter, more/less turns per inch/mm will change the spring rate and are progressive.
Thanks everyone for the feedbacks! And that long informative post was awesome. I think I'll go with the Eibach that was mentioned but the other stuff seems like a must as well so I will look into it. And can I really use a 370z Sway bar to replace mine even though they are didn't models? Just wanted to clarify that .
12-27-2018, 12:34 PM
