Nismo Springs Review

HapaZ

I haven't seen too many people around here talking about upgrading the base/sport suspension with the Nismo springs so I thought I'd throw my two cents in about them. I have a '12 base model and I only swapped the springs (not the dampers) so I'm not reviewing the entire Nismo setup here...

First my reasons for choosing the Nismo springs
Minimal drop - I have a steep driveway at home and at work and after a long day, dealing with ramps was just not something I really wanted to do. After looking around at some of the threads the consensus was that the Nismo's will drop the car about 3 to 4/10th's which is right about where my car ended up. I saw one thread and some passing comments about how the Nismo springs will raise the front of the car, but I did not experience this. I bought the springs used with about 25k miles so it's possible that if you buy em new it'll take a few days for the ride height to settle out. I'm also an idiot and bought the wrong offset's on my front rims. Any lower of a drop and I think I'd have rubbing issues with my front tires. Side lesson: measure twice, purchase once!

Daily Driver - I don't track my car. If you are a track junkie I'm sure you're looking at some of the other products out there. My car is driven on the streets as a daily driver and I needed more road clearance than something like the Swift's provided.

Ok now the review....
I drove my car 30 miles to a DIY garage before installing the springs and then drove back the same route so I had a pretty good A/B comparison immediately after. Since installing I've put in about 2k miles.

Ride Quality: The first thing I noticed is that yes, they are firmer, and that I can now feel small road imperfections more. It's not a night and day difference, though, and the people who complain that the springs are too stiff for everyday driving have to be smoking crack or are coming from driving a Caddy. I suspect that the Nismo dampers will stiffen things up even more and that the complaints about the harsh ride come from the combo of the two. I DD my car and haven't had any issues, but I also wouldn't want things to be much firmer since this car is only driven on streets. Back in the day I drove a slammed '02 civic which was a terrible daily driver and I didn't want a repeat of that debauchery - amazing how age leads to wisdom!

Handling: This is where I noticed the most improvement! With the base/sport suspension on high speed sweeping corners the car would feel a little floaty with some squirm when I either changed/tightened my line or if I hit a bump mid-corner. With the Nismo's on that is mostly gone. A mid-corner bump will still catch my attention, but the car settles down almost immediately after I go over the bump. The steering response is also sharper... not that it was bad to begin with... but it is noticeable with turn-in being quicker and the car being more responsive to changes in direction. Body roll is marginally better, but I've been running Hotchkis sway bars front and rear which made a much larger impact on body roll than these springs.

Installation: Well, they're springs... kind of like any of the other springs on the market so I can't see these being harder or easier than any particular brand. Fronts took about 2 hours and the rears were done in about 30 mins.

Overall: I'm happy with the springs and that's pretty much all that matters for me. I'd throw the car on the lift to install these again in a heartbeat if I had to do it over! People looking for the hella flush look with a low drop probably won't be happy with these. Track folks might be happier with a different set-up too since there's no adjustability on these. I'm also guessing that the progressive rate springs out there like the Swifts will leave a better ride quality assuming that you have enough ground clearance for the driveways and roads you drive.

Hope this helps base/sport folks considering this mod!

Rusty

Nice write up.

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Halfkiddio

Thanks for the good review! Now I need to find someone with a set they want to get rid of!

kenchan

TJ did the swap long time ago. his wheel gap increased in the front on his base, and therefore got swifts.

HapaZ

Do you happen to know if he used brand new springs?

Memphis370Z

Thanks for taking the time to post your feedback.

kenchan

I believe he bought a used set from a nismo owner.

Z-Girl 12

If your talking about stock Nismo springs I'm swapping mine out next Saturday for Swifts. 6k miles on them off of a 2014. Got a set of 2012 sport springs with around 12k that are going in the trash. No space.

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2012 Z-SOLD
2014 Nismo #565 Fast Intentions CBE/HFC/Swift/SPC/RJM/H&R-15/20mm/Z1 CAI/Headers/Intake Manifold w/Uprev Tune 328.31whp/263.64tq

ban25

I've had the NISMO struts and springs sitting in storage for awhile now waiting to be installed. They'll finally be going on this month. Glad to hear from someone else who made the switch. I'm strictly interested in a track-worthy setup, but I found that most of the options out there are more street-focused and the options that I would consider are too pricey.

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HapaZ

Glad it helped! I live in SF also and if you're interested in testing out what my suspension feels like shoot me a PM!