Cheapskate way to improve ride of Q45a?

[ti286]

I just bought a '91 Q45a (paid $1400) with 150,000 miles and the cushy ride of a bigwheel. A search on the subject here indicates that a dealership would charge about $5000 to rebuild the active suspension and that a DIY'r could do the job for about $1200 with help from texasoil.

Is there any way, short of spending $1200+ to at least improve the ride a little bit.? Bumps are killing me.

And the "brakepads are worn" message appears on the computer. The brakes are fine--no noise and strong bite. Can an Infiniti dealer make the code go away permanently with their CONSULT?

[911/Q45]

If you want to play, you must pay. You got that car so cheaply because it needed that much work, DIY is your best bet. Your brake pads were replaced with no sensor cheapos, get the factory parts and the warning will go out, or you can short the sensor wiring.

[maxnix]

Bumps are killing me.

They are killing your suspension mounts and struts too.

If you are not willing or able to invest a few thousand you saved on the purchase price of this car to restore to as new operating condition, ditch it now as it will be worthless shortly as major components require replacement due to deferred maintenance.

Cheapskate and Q45a are not compatible.

[ti286]

Just checking to see if there's a less expensive way to get back at least some of the factory ride. Cheapskate was a poor choice of words.

What about everythinginfiniti's conversion kit?http://www.trademotion.com/par...=3221

Anyone done this? How long did it take? How much could I sell my active suspension components for, used?

[maxnix]

Do a search. Kit is about $1200. Depends on how far you want to go. The electronic controllers or the pump (if porperly handled) may be worth something. Most donate their struts and accumulators to texasoil for those who want to preserve their a models.

Lots of labor to remove the now useless heavy components.

[rsiwicki]

Whoa....concern about the active stuff is good, but first things first. Have you checked into the timing guide issue?

check out this link first....

zerothread?id=25201

and then check out this link and about 1/3 way down the page has all you need to know about timing guides.

http://www.q45.org/techhelp.html

[elwesso]

You can get by with the active and only replace the 4 main accumulators...

That will restore 90% of the ride...

about 600 for the 4 main ones.....