Rear Suspension Very Soft.

[XerouShift96S14]

I have a 1996 nissan 240sx SE, got it with 105k miles on it, fully rebuilt engine and new trans. My suspension however seems to have an issue, my rear suspension has entirely no resistance to travel it seems.

Go over a dip, car bounces, go over a bump too fast, car bounces, only really bad in the rear, the front struts seem to be holding up okay, anyone know any good replacements, aftermarket of course, with decent springs at an at least 1" drop, I can't seem to find any.

[naed240sx]

Welcome to NIco!

There are tons of options for you. Springs/Struts, Co's etc. Use the search button! Look at the sponsors, hit up ebay, google, etc.

[XerouShift96S14]

Yeah I've been doing that, I wanted to know acutally should my rear shocks be that soft, where you can just push my rear end down and it will come back up, no reistance at all?

I'm sort of a noob when it comes to suspension, drivetrain and everything else I can usually go at without any problems, I just have a hell of a time figuring out what dampening rate to use and all that.

[naed240sx]

Yeah I've been doing that, I wanted to know acutally should my rear shocks be that soft, where you can just push my rear end down and it will come back up, no reistance at all?

I'm sort of a noob when it comes to suspension, drivetrain and everything else I can usually go at without any problems, I just have a hell of a time figuring out what dampening rate to use and all that.

Not quite sure what you are saying. If there was no resistance when pushing your rear end down, that would mean that you must have no springs. If you had no springs, you would be tucking tire in the rear most likely. I reallllly doubt that you are missing your springs, so there must be some resistance. The stock suspension is just soft, thats all. If the ride is really bouncy, you could have blown struts. This means that there is nothing damping the compression of the spring, so it will occilate back and forth much easier that if it were damped. Damping rates are not really something that is measured. spring rates are.

[XerouShift96S14]

If the ride is really bouncy, you could have blown struts. This means that there is nothing damping the compression of the spring, so it will occilate back and forth much easier that if it were damped.

Thats it exactly, plus you know the rubber dust guard boot, well mine are in shreds, and have fallen down into the springs, in fact my rear suspension is so shot that I can easily lose cornering in the rain, even at 20mph, running 25psi in my tires to increase contact patch.

I already had to save my *** two weeks ago, was cornering and it was raining where I was going, lost rear grip entirely, only thing that saved me was catching traction halfway through the slide enough to gain some control and stop my car, unplanned drifts are not fun. (especially when you've been passenger in a car roll over where the drift went wrong through water and flipped into a ditch.).

So yeah, new struts, I'm guessing at least moderately comfortable for city use I'm lookin around $400, at least for KONIs..., I think my suspension may be under warranty.

Oh and naed, got any idea what can be causing a slight low whining sound when my car's moving forwards, sounds like it's the transmission, I did notice I got a leak somewhere, got any ideas where to look, my transmission resovior has frothy bubbles in it after driving, so I know air's getting in. Any common leak points in 96 240sx transmission fluid delivery systems?

[naed240sx]

Running that low of a psi in your tires is probably not a good idea. It can actually decrease your usable contact patch, and cause controll issues. If you are just cornering on flat ground, your struts shouldn't make that much of a difference. You probably just aren't used to rwd. Under throttle, in the rain, it is really really easy to start spinning in a 240. You can get good factory replacement struts for pretty cheap, or go with some better ones that will support the use of some higher rate springs if you want. That information can be found by searching.

1 question, why do you have a rebuilt engine and new transmission in an s14 with 105k miles? KA motors last forever if taken care of. Past 200k no sweat. Hard to believe that your struts are going out this quikly too. I bought my 93 s13 at 150k, and the stock springs and struts were doing decent. The boots you speak of were all torn up, but the ride was ok. I replaced them with coilovers though.

[XerouShift96S14]

Running that low of a psi in your tires is probably not a good idea. It can actually decrease your usable contact patch, and cause controll issues. If you are just cornering on flat ground, your struts shouldn't make that much of a difference. You probably just aren't used to rwd. Under throttle, in the rain, it is really really easy to start spinning in a 240. You can get good factory replacement struts for pretty cheap, or go with some better ones that will support the use of some higher rate springs if you want. That information can be found by searching.

1 question, why do you have a rebuilt engine and new transmission in an s14 with 105k miles? KA motors last forever if taken care of. Past 200k no sweat. Hard to believe that your struts are going out this quikly too. I bought my 93 s13 at 150k, and the stock springs and struts were doing decent. The boots you speak of were all torn up, but the ride was ok. I replaced them with coilovers though.

Ah wasn't me who did it, previous owner had a wreck in it and the dealership fixed the car, I gotta get a new bolt to torque down a crossmember in fact, also why I need new headlights as the brackets in the ones on the car are zip tied to the frame ( ).

I'm used to RWD cars, I've owned two 240sx's (kouki tails), both with V.L.S.D, and one FD3S RX-7, which is why I was thinking something's a bit off with my car's suspension, it's a rather rough ride, a few other things got me to thinking my rear suspension was blown, mainly because the shock absorption is basically gone in the car, I helped my brother get a transmission and we set it in the right side of my trunk and the car cornered better with that 100lb thing on the right side.

my suspiscions are that my right suspension is blown, it certaintly feels like it when driving, seems the right wheel wants to lift from bumps easily, almost too easily. I also know how hard rwds are to drive on wet roads, thing is I wasn't even doing above 30 and wasn't on the throttle so I can't see how I coulda broke em lose, my friend doing 60 in his lightweight truck barely lost traction, and my car went into a full slide.

[Q45tech]

"Running that low of a psi in your tires is probably not a good idea. It can actually decrease your usable contact patch"

Contact patch area is a function of weight on tire and psi. The lower the psi the larger the contact patch AREA............the main problem with below 35 psi [the STANDARD psi for lab testing tires] is the sidewall flex friction causing heat build up.

900#/35 psi= 25.7 square inches of contact patch [sitting still].900#/25 psi= 36.0 square inches.

Obviously square inches does not reflect the true shape of the patch.

[naed240sx]

Key word: usable. I didn't say that lowering the psi would decrease contact patch. When lowering the psi like that on a standard tire, the tire deforms, and will loose grip and become unpredictable.

[XerouShift96S14]

Yeah the previous owner had em at 25psi, I inflated them to 35psi last week, seems to be a hell of a lot bouncier suspension wise, I suspect they were that low to minimize some shakes..

[skydragoness]

Key word: usable. I didn't say that lowering the psi would decrease contact patch. When lowering the psi like that on a standard tire, the tire deforms, and will loose grip and become unpredictable.

With the oem tire size on a 240, I wouldn't recommend either. Way too much flex.

[XerouShift96S14]

well *I* know that, I didn't know they were underinflated until I paused one day at a gas station and noticed the tire bowing, so quick 75 cents later all fixed..