260z 2+2 itting lower on the rear

jay28

jay28

Well-Known Forum User
Hi all,

Ever since I got my car 3 years ago its always been sitting lower on the back, I put this down to worn rear shocks, I put in a set of tokiko illumina last summer thinking this would cure it but its still the same,

Its sitting approx 35mm lower in the rear, Anyone have any idea's why this would be?
You can Kind of see it in the pic below, It starting to bug me now.

z5.jpg
 
The front end is probably sitting on its bump stops and won't physically go any lower despite the springs.

Short stroke front end is the only way to go.
 
I've been looking at this pic for a couple of minutes now. Very nice by the way! Is it definately sitting lower, I only ask because it could be an optical illusion due to the big rims and wide arches?
 
A car sits on it's springs and not the Shock Absorbers.

Someone in the past has fitted much shorter springs at the back ( or just cut a couple of coils off the standard ones ), which is why it is sitting much lower than stock. The amount of Negative Camber at the rear is also a give-away.

Longer Springs would raise the rear, and restore the necessary travel on the suspension.
 
Thanks for the reply's.

It's defiantly sitting lower as I measured it.
Approx 35mm lower at the rear.
The springs are lowering springs I bought a couple
Of years ago so they haven't been chopped in anyway.
 
Most of the sets of lowering springs I've seen tend to lower the back more than the front. In my opinion these have all been designed wrong and shouldn't be sold without a warning that they will lower the back more than the front.

If it was mine, I'd fit adjustable platforms as this car looks so good It's only let down by the front being too high. You will also need to do a short strutt conversion if you want to avoid bottoming out the suspension.

As has already been said, dampers will not effect the ride hight.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I agree with John and others, lower the front.

Worth every penny - not only will it look EVEN better it will drive better too!
 
I think I seen a thread a few weeks ago about those height adjustable springs.

Short strut conversion? havent seen any mention of that before, whats involved in that exactly? Would I still be able to use the shocks I have at the moment?

Cheers
 
The problem with lowering the car too much is you run out of suspension travel. To get over this problem you cut the strutt tube near the top and remove 1.5" from its length. You then weld in adjustable platforms to join the strutt back together. The old front damper should then fit in the new rear shortened strutt. By carrying out the adove you then give yourself an extra 1.5" of travell before you bottom out. If you shorten the front srutts aswell you will have to find new dampers than are 1.5" shorter than the standard fronts.
 
I thought you had adjustable coilovers already, those wheels are really big. What offset are they?

btw. did you check there were strutmount spacers in the back?
 
No, no coilovers, eibach lowering springs and tokiko illuma shocks, Yeah the spacers were in the back.

Wheels are 17inch look bigger than they really are, offset is -19 on the rear and -13 up front
 
If anyone is thinking of shortening their struts, and they haven't read this allready, its a very good starting point

Strut Sectioning FAQ - HybridZ

Dampers can affect ride height, if the stroke is too short and you don't have enough droop then you'll be dragging your exhaust on the floor
 
zbloke said:
If anyone is thinking of shortening their struts, and they haven't read this allready, its a very good starting point

Strut Sectioning FAQ - HybridZ

Dampers can affect ride height, if the stroke is too short and you don't have enough droop then you'll be dragging your exhaust on the floor
Click to expand...


So after reading that would I be right in saying that I could still use my Tokiko inserts and wouldn't have to try source shorter ones?
 
jay28 said:
So after reading that would I be right in saying that I could still use my Tokiko inserts and wouldn't have to try source shorter ones?
Click to expand...

Are bodies of your current Tokico's shorter than the strut tubes they go in resulting in a spacer having to be used in the bottom of the strut tube underneath the damper?, if this is the case then I'd say you could use them in a short stroke set up.

Is either your front or rear suspension sitting on the bumpstops?
 
I know the rear had a spacer of about 2 inches, I actually canr remember if the front had a spacer or not.

No I dont think either front or rear is sitting on the bumpstops, if they were there would be no more suspension travel right?

Im not really that clued up on suspension and the likes. I thought that maybe i had got the front and rear springs mixed up, but went out this morning and measured the thickness of the coil, There is a 1mm difference in the thickness between the front and rear springs, I have the thicker springs up front, I presume this is correct?
 
jay28 said:
No I dont think either front or rear is sitting on the bumpstops, if they were there would be no more suspension travel right?
Click to expand...

Correct, my reason for asking was, if one end was on the bumpstops thats where I would start looking for something wrong.

jay28 said:
There is a 1mm difference in the thickness between the front and rear springs, I have the thicker springs up front, I presume this is correct?
Click to expand...

Unfortunatly I don't know if this is correct, maybe contact the seller of the kit for some info?
 
Are you sure you have put the rear springs on the rear, and the front ones on the front (silly I know, but easily done) as this gives the same impression. Your rear top mount there are two for the 260z, depending what year the car is...a taller one or shorter....
 
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