Anyway, spoilier alert...the car is back on stock springs and no spacers.

As I said, I really like the stock suspension and I think these Endurapro's are an excellent "OEM +" replacement. Like...I wouldn't really go out of my way to replace perfectly good stock shocks. But one of mine were blown.

Its one logical reason for me having done lowering springs/shocks rather than coilovers.

As you guys can tell, I dislike most things. So I figured I may not love the lowering springs. I wanted the option to go back to stock (sans blown shocks).

I love the way the Enduapro + shocks perform with the stock springs. Over successive bumps or big dips, I can feel the hydraulic bumpstops making the "whoosh" action that Tein advertise on their website lol.

The regular damping is typical Tein. They say it has 16 clicks of adjustment. But with stock springs Only 1 thru 8 are usable settings up front. 1 thru 9 out back. Anything softer than 8 or 9 feels like you're on a trampoline.

The rear is pretty much set and forget. You need to remove the shock to change damping settings. Or buy an EDFC for more money than the shocks cost.

 

Ah dang. Well I was already on the fence about the spacers for G since they were extended studs and spacers and not just the bolt on variants. I knew If I didn’t like them it’ll be just extra work to replace the extended studs again. I’m officially axing them.

I put a set of bolt on 15mm spacers and a set of pilot sport a/s 3+ on my TL at the same time last year and have had that same “shimmy” in the steering wheel when going over rough pavement, also not quite tramlining. I thought it was the tires but ill be pulling off the spacers on the TL to confirm tomorrow as well.


Im glad you found a set up your willing to live with on the Tein shocks and stock springs. Probably not how you wanted to get there but you got there non the less. And a big thanks for all the leg work and documentation!

 

I had large spacers after lowering my car on Tein Street Basis (btw, they lasted 5 years and 28k miles before I sold the car, no problems). When I finally removed the spacers and switched to correct offset aftermarket wheels, man did the steering input improve.

Love the diagrams. Those green shocks bring back memories for me.

 

Interesting spacer experiences re: tramlining and shimmy. I never had any of that experience in fact, I loved the way the car rode and handled with spacers. My experience was horrible for another reason (spoiler: tire wear). You can read more in my thread if you're interested: https://www.myg37.com/forums/g37-sed...-question.html

 

Same here, with 15mm spacer adapters all around, mounted every winter and removed every spring.

I think positing a broad statement that spacers are bad is misguided.

 

I don't think I said that...

Factually speaking, spacers OR wheel offset changes will absolutely affect steering feel, dynamics, and tyre wear. Notice how all G37 models have various wheel widths...but the front offset hovers around +45?

Subjectively, however, everyone's perception of the change is different.

TLDR warning. Stop reading here.

What feels like a big difference to some will go unnoticed to others. You've all seen people obliviously driving with flat tyres. "I didn't even realise or notice the massive noise or flying rubber or screaming people", they'll say.

What adds to that is your baseline. My baseline is "compared to stock, my spacers caused the steering to feel awful". Try back-to-backing your stock wheels with/without spacers. You may find that you've been tolerating more than you think.

I also stated that on the highway, it felt pretty awful. Around town? fuggedaboudit. Not a big difference. Do you drive a lot on the highway?

And, ofcourse...after ALL of that.. Do you care about it? Some people maybe just don't care how the steering feels. If you don't care, you're more eager to ignore it.

KnowwhatImean?

 

Well I don't know about that. I'm capable of ignoring lots of things, although probably not when ignorance is born from not caring.

Clever monkey.

 

Lol hey I wasn't accusing you of not caring. I'm just speaking towards the whole.

The dude scraping the earth on bags with -50 degrees of camber, smoking a vape doesn't usually care about:
-the dangers of smoking
-steering feel

 

I have no idea what I'm saying, it's just words. But as for my steering and ride with 15mm spacers every winter... yeah, that's good.

Believe me when I tell you that if something doesn't feel right with the car, it gnaws at me forever.

I'll agree that point of reference is everything, and it's been a long long time since I drove my OEM wheels without spacers. I don't really have an immediate before/after moment with that.

 

Nice. Maybe (theory) your snow tyres help with this.

My wife isn't into cars or anything. Her comment after hitting an expansion gap in my car was (queens accent) "WTF is the matter with this?"

It was noticeable in mine, then, I gather.

20mm spacers. Tyres are Pirelli P...zero...oregano...spaghetti....

 

Could be. I only use the spacers with snow tires on the duckfeet, and the poke is 15mm, not 20mm.

 

My steering can feel off sometimes and I'm on stock wheels with no spacers. For example, if the right side of the road is a different texture than the left, the car pulls in whichever direction the road is guiding it to. Both the coupe I had and my current sedan have done this. Even after getting an alignment on both. Is that just normal for these cars? The steering is a lot stiffer in hand than other normal cars, so do you just feel more of what's happening due to that fact where other cars with lighter steering just don't feel?

I'm interested in getting wheel spacers so my stock wheels fit more flush, and I'm mainly asking to see if that will make this even worse, better or have no effect.

 

Re. steering feel... some years ago I had my old mechanic drain and fill my PS fluid. Not sure what the recommended fluid change interval is for PS, but anyway after the swap I swear my steering feel and precision improved. Very new-car'ish. Was kind of surprised.

Years had slipped by, and maybe the low miles made me ignore the passage of time for this kind of maintenance. Or perhaps I didn't care.

 

Hmmm, I'll have to check the maintenance records that came with the car. Previous owner had several of the major fluids replaced shortly before I got it, but I don't remember if PSF was one of them...

 

Reducing the wheel offset with either lower offset wheels or with spacers will make the steering "lighter" and more willing to follow and steer into imperfections.

All else being the same, ofcourse. Like...if ALL you did was change offset, the steering would be more loose and pull into stuff more than it did prior.

The more you reduce offset, the bigger the effect.