Q45 Front Spring Height-How bad are they?

[John Nordling]

Putting in new Factory front shocks on a 90 Q45 with 91,000 miles. Read the posts, so I'm replacing all rubber parts as well. Thanks for all the tips. Hopefully someone has checked their springs when replacing their shocks and can help me out a little further. Here goes:

Question 1: The FSM lists the static stock spring hieght as 16.89 inches. My driver's side (I didn't check the passenger side yet) height is 16.625 inches. That's a difference of slightly over 1/4 inch in an uncompressed state. Do I need to replace the front springs?

Question 2: I remember that Q45 Tech likes factory stock shocks on the front and Tokiko blues on the rear. My rears were replaced with blues just before I bought the car. Here's my delima. Q45 Tech has Eibach springs all around, but recommends factory springs. If I have to buy front springs I might consider the Eibachs all around. Why? I have to take the rears out and install the new rubber parts because the dust shields are hanging in shreads. I think the prior owner tried to save a buck at the wrong time! My preference is to drive a car that handles AND rides well.

Opinions welcome!:)

[maxnix]

Blues and new rubber all around. Eibachs if you want to tolerate the alignment problems they induce. Drive my 1995 if you want to.

[AZhitman]

I concur with Brian - I like the Blues front and rear.

I also like my Eibach's but there's some element of vanity there, as they did very little to improve handling.

[elwesso]

I agree.... I did all suspension rubber, links, tokicos with stock springs, and I couldnt be happier. This is a VERY tight car with a VERY smooth ride. Its wonderful!!

Going with factories on the front and tokicos on the rear is just too much hassle, IMO... The factory fronts are nearly as stiff as the tokico fronts anyway!!

[DAEDALUS]

My springs measured just shy of spec too. Can't remember exact number, but just over 1/4" sounds about right. They were equal length; made me wonder if the manual is wrong. I thought springs were designed for infinite life and immune from fatigue.

[John Nordling]

Manix - thanks for the offer. I have a friend with a '95 which I have driven. He has Blues all 'round and I find it a little harsh in the front for my driving style (grandkids and all). So, I had already bought the Blacks for the front from Joe.

Since DAEDALUS thinks the 1/4" difference is in the ballpark, I won't replace the front springs. This may be the first time I checked something and DIDN'T replace it! My pocketbook can sure use the rest.

Thanks for all the comments; really helped me make up my mind......John

[Q45tech]

The free spring length vs the load spring length is all you really care about..........the resulting stiffness per inch.

Most don't get upset till the ride height changes over 0.5"

Thinking Eibach springs will do much beyond a 3% improvement is wishful thinking..........they will however help with panic braking as they help reduce the excessive toe in and camber change [if you shim the upper link mounts] to restore the oem spec of 0.7 degrees negative camber.

Excessive front camber from lowering will make the braking distances longer as the inner edge of tire heats faster.......all in all probably almost a wash as the 15% plus 15%= 30% front stiffness increase 46 pounds per inch reduces the front dive from 3.5" to maybe 3.0" which would subtract 0.4 degrees of camber from the 0.8 degrees created by the lowering.

Under full braking the stock front camber goes from -0.7 to -3.5 degrees. With Eibachs [and no camber shims] it goes from -1.5 to -3.9 degrees.

[maxnix]

Manix - thanks for the offer. I have a friend with a '95 which I have driven.

John, please get him on the board then! It would be nice to have a core group of G50 owners in the Seattle area. There are also a couple of J30 owners.__________________Brian1995 Q45 & Q45t & 2000 Q45

Discover the power of the button!

[Q45tech]

Mesured 8 USED Q springs sitting on the floor they all varied by slightly less than 1/2" that's .4/17=a <2.5% variance most were within 1%.

Probably more accurate [closer in variance] than brand new Eibachs.