What do you think guys and girls? Tanabe drop springs on stock struts? Or should I get some good tokicos or something with them? Do you think there would be a lot of bounce?

I had H and R drop springs on my GTi and it was fine on stock struts, but Im not sure about little econobox imports.

I think I want to go with the Eibach Pro line kit now. It is lower in the front. I wonder if it will be too low tho. 1.8 vs 1.5 with the Tanabe.

The problem with the Tanabe NF is their spring rate that is 5% stiffer than the oem coils. From a personnal experience, I had these on my B15 SpecV. At first they are correct, the ride is just like oem on the confort, but lowered. It get worst when you are 3 in the car. The rear shock bottom, which is not very good on them. Ride quality is great alone, but getting more than 2 it get very bad. So imagine full trunk and 5 peoples...

To be good, the coil spring must have a greater spring rate than the oem since they lower the car, it have to compensate for the lowering factor since the travelling of the shock won't be the same. If you don't mind to change shock earlier than it should and don't carry too much people fine. First time and last time I buy these Tanabe Normal Feel for me. That is why I started a thread about spring rate of aftermarket coilspring and no one seem to know the answer on the product available for the Z12.

why not megans with tokicos combo just like me? you local so i can hook you up with my price for the megan springs and the money you save you can use it for the tokico shocks and have it all done, i can even refer you with tokico so you can get the best price around town.

but overall the first 3 months with springs alone you wont feel much of a diference but later on the road you will feel it on drive comfort dicrease specially if you run low profile tires like me i run 35 series on 18" so with the tokicos it was runing really harsh, after the tokicos the ride went much better like back to stock comfy but im ridding 18" and is much firmer on string curves

let me know

Zero2Endless wrote:I think I want to go with the Eibach Pro line kit now. It is lower in the front. I wonder if it will be too low tho. 1.8 vs 1.5 with the Tanabe.

Let me preface my statement by saying that I've been in the import game for 12+ years, building Hondas, mostly for road-racing and auto-x applications. I've also been the Director of Photography for http://www.speedlounge.com for the past 5 years. I'm around hooked up import cars A LOT. I've seen/done/driven pretty much anything... I'm new here, but not a noob at all.

It is only 3/10's of an inch... that is a little more than 8 millimeters.. I'm sure it won't make a difference.

As far as your original question.... is it possible to use the stock shocks with lowering springs? it sure is. Is it the best case scenario.. no. Using lowering springs, will mean that the shocks are lower in the range of travel. Additionally, as D3stro said, the stock shocks are valved to dampen the stock spring rates... lowering springs inherently have a higher spring rate because they can't have as much travel (if they did, you'd bottom out). They are also sprung stuffer to improve performance. What this means to you, is that the stock shocks will wear out quicker trying to dampen the stiffer springs. If you are doing things on the cheap, you can certainly get by, but realize that in a year, you may be replacing your shocks. If you have the means to do this yourself, it's just an afternoon of your time, but if you can't and you're paying an installer, its probably better to do them both at once as opposed to paying for two seperate instal sessions a year apart. Will after shocks like Tokico's or KYB's be better? The simple answer is yes... probably. The complicated answer is, maybe/maybe not. If you read the product literature closely, you'll find that tokico, kyb or any of the other shock companies cannot guarantee that they'll last you any long than stock shocks... because they simply can't perform r&d and create versions of their shock that work perfectly with all of the aftermarket spings companies for all of the available cars out there. Are they valved a little better for performance, yes.. and they will probably cope better, but no guarantees.

The best case is getting a coil over set... they are a little more money, but in the end, they usually end up being about the same when you factor in the cost of springs and shocks. They are also quicker and easier to install (assuming they come with pillowball mounts and don't require you to take your stock springs and shocks apart)... plus you get the added benefit of totally free adjustment.. so if you need to lower it 1.68" you can.

Even if KYB make shock for the cube, I don't think they will make the AGX for it but only the GR-2, which are, replacement shock. It won't be of a great help with aftermarket springs compare to oem shock, it's gonna be like changing a dollar for 4 quaters.

Besides, the cube won't be a ''go'' car but more a ''show'' car. I don't have issues for the fact that some company did make some good coilover for this car, but for me, does it worth it? Fine if some people buy them, I don't have trouble with quality parts. But is there even someone who's gonna take it to auto-x or slalom ?!On the other hands, it sucks there not that much options available. It's just seem that there's the ''too much'' for the cube or ''just ok for it'' no so much in between. The best judge in this case will have to be your need base on your wallet, plain and simple, so you can make a good decision on which you won't regret it.

Just to chime in here...I'm at seventy thousand plus miles on my Versa (same chassis/suspension as Cube) and have had my Tanabe's on it for about sixty thousand of those miles and until about ten thousand miles ago with the stock shocks and no problems (installed Tokico Adj.)...and when we took the stock shocks out they were still fine with no leaks etc. and I drive the car hard with AutoX and Track Events and my neighborhood is riddled with those dang speed bumps so these are not an "easy" seventy thousand miles!Cube has KYB replacements but only the GR2's at present plus there are multiple coil overs and some other items to help with the way the Cube drives/handles/looks. And even though you may not ever AutoX your Cube...it's piece of mind on how well it stops/handles in an emergency situation on the highway.Bottom line...either the Tanabe or the Eibach's will serve you well for a long time...even with the stock shocks.

Wow, this is amazing. How helpful and insightful the Nissan micro car forums are. Thank you very much everyone. I appreciate the information very much. I do not plan on auto-crossing since I will be using this vehicle for school. But I was thinking of getting either tokicos and the eibach springs or just going all out with the tanabe sustec coils, after all this research and advice. Thanks again everyone.

I ended up doing Megans on stock struts. I love it! I'll get adjustable struts when my struts wear out eventually.