There is 3 per spring. Make sure you get the one in the back. Sometimes, the dealer only removes the one in the front, that they can see. :shakes head:

look what i found after reading this thread....ouch

https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphot...81081768_n.jpg

https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.n...07763364_n.jpg

https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.n...45697670_n.jpg

https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.n...91309541_n.jpg

How long were they on there?

I called my dealership who knew exactly what these are and said they are OEM and should stay on the car unless I track it and want a more aggressive ride. Personal choice - but since I think my 2013 Nismo is stiff and hard enough of a ride already, will take his advise and leave like it is - also save tires. Anyone have any other insights re this?

The exact opposite is true. By leaving them on you have a ride of steel, effectively almost zero suspension travel. For a more compliant ride they should be removed. I wouldn't track the car with them on either, would be unsafe.

Per Nissan vehicle delivery instructions they are to be removed on all vehicles, but some dealers can't read very well.

Yupper, remove those things. The ride is so much better. Your dealer is BS! By leaving those on, you would loose a lot more tire/road contact every time you hit some kind of bump both big and small. You might be thinking, "why are sports car's shocks to stiff then? It feels like I'm sitting on a rock!" When the car's "weight is on the suspension, you want it stiff so you have less body roll and and you can feel the road better so you can control the car better. Take a toy matchbox car with those simple wheels on that rod. Put that car on a flat surface and gently lift the car off the surface. You wont feel the weight of the car not shifting off the wheel slowly but you will feel and see the the car almost simultaneously loose contact off the surface at the same time. It's basically a brick. Now get yourself a good RC car. One that cost lets say $80+. Do that same thig you did to the matchbox. As you lift slowly and releasing the weight off the suspension, you will see that some of the weight is still left on the wheels just to about till you lift the wheel off the surface. Those thing wont let your springs on to extend when your car's weight is lifted off the wheels (when you hit a bump). Less extension = less contact time. Less wheel contact = less control of vehicle. This is why it's so hard to design good shocks. It's tough designing springs that are will provide a smooth ride yet stiff enough to keep the body from rolling left and right during a turn, and yet be able to have the compliance to keep surface contact. I'm just restating the above in simple terms with example to clarify.

on a side note, my new to me nismo with 16,xxx mile had these on them. DOH!!! I have only driven ~30 miles and thought it was extremely weird that my car was rougher than my bros Mustang Shelby. The other thing that was bother me what that every time my car put it's weight back on the wheel after a moderate size bump, the care would somewhat steer itself into whatever direction. I would then have to readjust my trajectory to get to where I was going.

Lets just say the 1st owner is a DOUCH BAG that don't know jack about sports cars.
http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/d...psc92e4176.jpg
http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/d...ps2ab64296.jpg
http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/d...ps61b65baf.jpg
One for each side.

YzGyz

Take them out ASP! They are only there for shipping the car. Keeps from damaging the front bumper when they unload it. Your dealershit needs to read the instructions. :mad: Once removed. Your Nismo WILL ride a lot nicer.

Wow! That is staggeringly bad advice from your dealer. What dealer is this? Because that advice is wrong on so many levels that I'm not sure I'd be comfortable having them service my car.

The suspension widgets are NOT OEM parts. The widgets were designed to solve a problem at the factory and at the ports of having the nose scrape on the ramps of the transporters. The widgets reduce the front suspension travel by about 75%. These widgets were only installed on Nismos as it was only the Nismo with it's longer lower front splitter that had a scraping problem at the ports.

Dealers who handle any significant volume of Nismos are usually wise to the widget issue but often miss one of three widgets that are installed on each coil spring, the one on the back side can be hard to see and feel and is often missed. Other dealers, especially those who special order for customers, but don't typically stock the Nismos often have no idea they are there.

You should definitely remove the widgets if you have them. Your ride will be smoother, quieter and safer. Stiff suspension is great for road holding, but those widgets aren't stiffening the suspension, they're completely negating it.

When I removed my hidden "back of the coil" widgets I noticed a significant reduction in lateral skipping on tight corners, particularly on uneven or broken surfaces. I do now have to be much more careful navigating dips and steep ramps though. You will start to chew up your chin guard once the widgets are out, but hey, that's what it's there for.

Thanks!
 

Thanks for the advice everyone. It's the Nissan dealership in Grapevine TX. Others I have called basically said they know nothing about the widgets and for me to bring the car in to have "looked at". So,not real comfortable with any of them to take them all off. How hard is it to do it yourself if jack up, take off wheels one at a time, and do it myself?

It's 5 minutes a side, and most of that would be jacking the car up. Don't need to take the wheels off, just jack it up, turn the wheel to lock and reach it there and rip the suckers off. With the suspension unloaded they should be easy to remove.

Thanks - what about the rears?
 

Seems like everyone is saying there are multiple variances in the # of these widgets on their particular car's springs. Maybe some fall off during shipping or daily driving? Bottom line - how many should I be looking for on the front springs and how many on the back? Some folks are saying they are hard to find - especially the back, so want to know max for each spring so don't leave any behind by mistake. Thanks.

3 per front corner, 6 total. None on the rear.

ChrisSlicks is spot on. 3 per coil front, none in rear. The one on the back side of the front coils can be hard to get at.

I had my car for about 3k miles before I found this thread and sure enough, they were on there. I took it to the dealership to have them removed. Not that I couldn't do it myself I wanted service record of it in case any suspension problems came up in the future. I made them write up the service record at the specific mileage and they weren't taken off during the pdi and were being taken off at that specific date/mileage. It may or may not make a difference down the road for you, but I wanted to play it safe. Unfortunately my nismo was severely vandalized after having it for two years and had to get about 75% repainted, when I got the car back i got rid of it a few days later. I bought it bran new and kept it extremely clean. I could see every little paint flaw and it drove me crazy. Bought an xterra to save dough so I can buy a GTR in a year or so. Miss that girl though.

Did it
 

Thanks again for all the insights. Trust NISMO drivers more than dealerships now - for sure. Took it to Orr Nissan in Corinth TX (near Dallas/Denton), worked with Vernon in their service, who knew EXACTLY what I was speaking about, told me they take the widgets off ALL NISMOs as they come onto the lot, and took mine off for FREE. They only took 2 off per side, and swore that that's all that were on them, so hope that's right - he gave me no reason to think otherwise. Took car for aggressive drive straight from dealership on freeway and curvy back road - smooth as silk and the lateral skipping is gone. Actually had Mercedes SUV in front of me who saw me in rearview mirror and tried to run away - I stuck to him like glue on the bumpy, curvy road and it felt GREAT! If in Dallas, see Vernon for service. And, again, thanks to all of you who posted on this subject as I no longer have to convince myself that the former rocky ride I had was supposed to be like that as I shook the fillings out of my teeth!

Found out this morning the 2013 Nismo I purchased on Saturday has at least one spacer on each front shock. I thought there was too much space between the tire and wheel well, and now I know why.. Getting them removed at a local dealer today.

They take out the 2 that they can see. But leave the one in the back on because they can't see it.

I saw mine by turning the steering wheel all the way and looking down at the tire... not hard to see. I think they just forgot to check.

Hey Guys, so I've got a 2009 with 20k miles on it and went to check for spacers. Sure enough...they were on both front wheels.

So my question is, should I take it to the dealership and request all new front suspension? Not sure how much damage could be done having them on there that long. ???

Thoughts?

hmm I have a 2013 and dont have any....Maybe they learned their lesson?

Do the spacers visibly lift the front lip? Anyone know how large the gap should be before/after removing the spacers? Trying to figure out if I have the spacers without taking it to a dealer...

Turn the wheels all the way to one side. Now reach around the tire, and feel around the coil spring. Make sure you feel the back of the spring. Sometimes tha dealer will remove 2 of the spacers and leave the one at the back of the spring in place. ;)

Just bought a used 2013 with 4300 miles and going to check ASAP. Will post what I find

I bought my nismo 4 days ago, I did notice the front end a bit higher inside my Garage then when I bought the car. I just checked and both of the front have it. I'm glad I only have about 200 miles on it so far. Going back to the dealer tomorrow morning.

My nismo since getting it has been bumpy/road noise etc. just checked this thread and sure enough they were there. Took my car in 3 times to get checked out for the tires wearing uneven etc they never noticed em. Could this cause suspension alignment problems? I've had the car 1k miles, bought at 16k certified pre owned, noticed bumpy ride etc from the get go

Mine has 2 on both sides of the front. Its a 2013 Nismo with 1400 miles on it. What the crap? Will it handle better when these are gone?

There is 3 of them on each spring. Two in the front that you can see. The other is in behind the spring. You have to reach behind the spring to feel it. Jack the front of the Nismo up and remove the spring spacers. The dealer was to remove these during dealer prep. But a lot of dealers don't even know about the spring spacers. :shakes head: The reason they are there. Is so the front of the Nismo doesn't scrape during transport. REMOVE THEM!

Thanks, will take back to supposed dealership next week.

Awesome find
 

I am so glad this forum exists.... I was looking to see what other suspension set ups other Nismo Z owners went to, since I was certain I wasn't the only one who thought it rode a bit rough. Sure enough I found this thread and went straight to my garage to find at least 2 on each side. The Nissan sales manager who also owns a Nismo Z tried to convince me that they are optional and that he is going to keep his on for better cornering.... hahahahaha! I tried to tell him they are put there for shipping purposes only and he said..."well I will do some research on it"....

wtf?!?!?!?!

The guy is a moron. :shakes head:

Reposting this question could this cause tire cupping due to alignment being off?

My nismo since getting it has been bumpy/road noise etc. just checked this thread and sure enough they were there. Took my car in 3 times to get checked out for the tires wearing uneven etc they never noticed em. Could this cause suspension alignment problems? I've had the car 1k miles, bought at 16k certified pre owned, noticed bumpy ride etc from the get go

wow! the previous owner never noticed in 16k miles!

not sure about doing damage but it cant be good for the suspension.

id have the POS dealershit you went to buy you new tires mounted and balanced with a free alignment.

Ya idk how he didn't notice I noticed in my first 300 miles, that's what I'm asking the dlr to do and they aren't willing to give me anything. Didn't even offer to take off the spacers, they said it doesn't effect anything. I talked to consumer affairs and the regional person said since it's not nissan's fault and the dealers it's up to them. So I'm not sure where to go from here. The fact that they sold the car twice and didn't notice either time tells alot.

Well, I just checked mine, and after 14,000 miles, they are finally removed. Mine had 6 in total. http://imgur.com/Rbeq2MU

Glad I saw this thread, mine were on, unfortunately I only petitioned for a free wash. I wonder if I could've gotten a little more out of them.

Yup, I just checked. I got them too. Going to have them removed. Pretty inept of the dealership to miss this.

Just got my used Nismo 370z 19,400 miles and I also had 2 left in each front. The last time I saw this was back in 1999 time frame. I was working on a 1996 Nissan 300ztt and found a set in the front while working at Nissan. I pulled them and put them in the front passenger floorboard. Told the service writer if the guy ask why his car doesn't ride like a covered wagon anymore, this would be why. LOL The car had 36,xxx miles on it. These shipping spacers have been used a long time starting with the 280zx's. They were rubber. I may have a set somewhere in my toolbox. Nissan still used them on the 1984-1989 300zx's (rubber) and on the 1990 to 1996 300z's(Plastic). They were twice the size. If you put 2 of the 370's together, that's the size they used in the previous years, 2 per side on the front.

This should be made known to every Nissan dealership. It's inexcusable to put 370Z's off dealer lots with these things still on the springs. Because of this forum, I told the dealerhip to remove them when I recently bought my new Nismo Z in April 2014. They said they did in fact remove them. I had Swift lowering springs installed a couple of weeks ago at a local Meineke shop close to me, and they found another shipping spring spacer way up high on each of the factory front springs!!! This leads me to believe there are alot of Nismo 370Z's out there with these things still installed. No wonder the ride is so harsh.

I just bought a a 2014 Nismo with 7000 miles and it definitely still had one spacer on each side. Took it to a local Nissan dealership and they tried to charge me to have them removed. Was ridiculous.