I'll tell you I had KYBs on my 90 century and monroe quick struts in the front. They are both great products and will really stand up to abuse... I could tell the difference immediately and ill be putting them on my LeSabre ( which uses an almost identical part for the suspension.) However to aid with sagging monroe coil overs I bought for the rear of my jeep as it pulls a trailer and hauls furniture all the time... I simply purchace when rock auto is having a sale lol

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Roads... Where we're going, we don't need roads

Glad to hear that they worked well! I wound up going with the KYB struts and shocks, so they should be a bit stiffer than the stock struts were to begin with. I was weighing the option to do the W-body suspension upgrade, but I'd have to put new wheels on it to fit over the brakes, and that's just not in the budget right now, unfortunately.

But the new struts and shocks, stiffer springs, and thicker sway bars in the front and rears will surely be a huge difference compared to how it drives now.

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Joseph

Current: 2013 Infiniti G37 Journey
1999 Infiniti G20T - Sold
1999 Buick Lesabre - Race Couch - gone but not forgotten

So I got my Chiltons manual in last night, and it looks like I'll be able to do most of the work myself no problem, but it looks like the rear springs may be above my expertise to remove safely. Safety is definitely the key that I'm looking for haha, don't want to wind up hurting someone or breaking someone trying to get it off.

There aren't too many write-ups on the forum for removing the rear springs, but it looks like they need to be removed after the rear shock is taken out.

As far as removing the spring itself, will the Autozone style spring compressors that they rent work to remove the rear springs? I seem to remember that they were too tall to fit into the area to get onto the coil spring.

Does anyone have a write-up or pictures on how to safely remove the rear springs without it flying off the spring compressor on me? Since it's my first time tackling this, I just want to make every preparation and safety measure as I can haha.

_________________



Joseph

Current: 2013 Infiniti G37 Journey
1999 Infiniti G20T - Sold
1999 Buick Lesabre - Race Couch - gone but not forgotten

Woo! Started getting my boxes of "party supplies" in last night. I got my poly front bushings, poly front endlinks, poly rear end links, and my standard rear bushings (Couldn't find poly center bushings for the rear). Shocks and struts should be here late next week from KYB, and my springs are back ordered, so they probably won't be here until the first or second week of March. Sway bars are coming from another member once the weather lets up, and then this thing should be going under the knife. Can't wait to see what the difference in feel and performance will be!

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Joseph

Current: 2013 Infiniti G37 Journey
1999 Infiniti G20T - Sold
1999 Buick Lesabre - Race Couch - gone but not forgotten

Rear springs are easy. Put a few jack stands under the car, lift the rear wheel at the ball join, undo strut, lower with jack slowly, until the spring is free. So much easier that doing the front struts.

_________________
Boost addict


The Fleet:
'93 SSEi - Twincharged + manual Build thread
'97 Camaro - Top swap
'05 STS - V8, AWD, her DD
'92 Trofeo - Fair weather DD
'99 Montana - top swap 3800
'04 Sierra 2500HD - LLY Duramax

Current project:
Something cool, trust me.

Upcoming projects:
'92 Bonneville SSE
'87 LeSabre T-type
'67 LeSabre

Gone to greener pastures:
'84 Sierra Classic - Twin turbo 3800
'97 LeSabre - Top swap

RIP:
'86 LeSabre - pictures
'93 SE - L67

So you're essentially jacking up the wheel so that the control arm compresses the spring, then once the struts are out of the way, lowering the control arm so that it drops freely to remove the spring?

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Joseph

Current: 2013 Infiniti G37 Journey
1999 Infiniti G20T - Sold
1999 Buick Lesabre - Race Couch - gone but not forgotten

Alright, got my struts in, so I'm just waiting on springs and sway bars now.


To make sure I have all my stuff together when I start pulling stuff apart, when I'm setting up the new front struts, I'll need to transfer the old bump stops, dust boot, and spring insulators to the new struts, right? And then for the rear, I just need to transfer the dust cover and the bump stop, since there's no spring on the rear strut. Is there anything else that I'm missing part wise?

What I have so far:
Struts for front and rear, they all come with new nuts
sway bar end links(front and rear)
sway bar center bushings (front and rear)
New strut mounts for the front with bearings

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Joseph

Current: 2013 Infiniti G37 Journey
1999 Infiniti G20T - Sold
1999 Buick Lesabre - Race Couch - gone but not forgotten

The front struts assemblies have the strut, lower rubber isolator, spring, a combination dust boot/bumper/spacer I think (I may be getting that mixed up with the W-body setup), upper isolator that fits into a bearing mount, the bearing, then the upper strut mount.

The rear is much simpler. you have the strut, the combination dust boot, and an upper mount. I recommend investing in a kobalt extreme access socket or something similar. The top nut is recessed very deep in the mount and a regular wrench won't work. Also make sure you have the appropriate torx or allen head as needed to hold the strut from spinning.

If the isolators, boots, or bumpers are cracked/worn through then they should be replaced. Otherwise clean and reinstall.

_________________
Boost addict


The Fleet:
'93 SSEi - Twincharged + manual Build thread
'97 Camaro - Top swap
'05 STS - V8, AWD, her DD
'92 Trofeo - Fair weather DD
'99 Montana - top swap 3800
'04 Sierra 2500HD - LLY Duramax

Current project:
Something cool, trust me.

Upcoming projects:
'92 Bonneville SSE
'87 LeSabre T-type
'67 LeSabre

Gone to greener pastures:
'84 Sierra Classic - Twin turbo 3800
'97 LeSabre - Top swap

RIP:
'86 LeSabre - pictures
'93 SE - L67

Thanks Matt! My dad's bringing his air tools to help once I get everything and we coordinate off days, so he's got deep-well impact sockets that should hopefully take care of the recessed nuts haha. I'll have to double check for the allen or torx bolt, I know I have a set of torx bits, but I'd probably have to buy the allen bit unless it's the same size as the caliper pins, which would be way too easy lol. GM is never that nice haha.

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Joseph

Current: 2013 Infiniti G37 Journey
1999 Infiniti G20T - Sold
1999 Buick Lesabre - Race Couch - gone but not forgotten

Impact works great for taking them off.

But you want/need to use a torque wrench on the nut when you tighten it down. I wouldn't trust an impact for that.

_________________
Boost addict


The Fleet:
'93 SSEi - Twincharged + manual Build thread
'97 Camaro - Top swap
'05 STS - V8, AWD, her DD
'92 Trofeo - Fair weather DD
'99 Montana - top swap 3800
'04 Sierra 2500HD - LLY Duramax

Current project:
Something cool, trust me.

Upcoming projects:
'92 Bonneville SSE
'87 LeSabre T-type
'67 LeSabre

Gone to greener pastures:
'84 Sierra Classic - Twin turbo 3800
'97 LeSabre - Top swap

RIP:
'86 LeSabre - pictures
'93 SE - L67

Oh yeah, definitely using a torque wrench on every single bolt lol. Being my first time doing suspension work, I'm going to do everything 100% by the book (chiltons manual) so I'll be torquing everything to spec, then taking it directly to the alignment shop and I'll get them to double check all the bolts to be sure they're right. Definitely don't want anything coming apart when I'm driving hahaha. The impact will be great for taking everything off, as well as making it easier to get the spring compressors on vs. doing that by hand haha. I'll probably take the compressors off by hand just to be safe.

Also, how tight are the sway bar end links supposed to be? I know they say to put them on semi-tight, then when the car is back on the ground under full weight, you tighten them down all the way, but how tight is tight enough haha. My manual doesn't have a torque spec for the end links

_________________



Joseph

Current: 2013 Infiniti G37 Journey
1999 Infiniti G20T - Sold
1999 Buick Lesabre - Race Couch - gone but not forgotten

I need to replace my OEM rear air shocks on my 96 SSEi. I'm looking for the best handling and I'm not concerned about ride stiffness. Any and all suggestions would be appreciated.

There are probably plenty of adaptable options around, including extra-stiff ones with additional springs (as in coilovers) which would not use the air-adjustable system.

I am not racing my car. The Tenneco (Monroe) replacements ride well, and also do decently when the road turns, so I am happy with the handling.

_________________
Alan Sheidler

Proud Third Caretaker of the Family Heirloom '93 SSE
Medium Garnet Red Metallic, Gray Leather Interior
Silver Cross-Lace Wheels (I love this car)

Yep, any stock replacement will work good for your ssei. If your really wanting to make the car handle, look at 95NASTA's build thread for his 95. He posted on the first page of this thread, but he has a complete write up for how to adapt w-body suspension and coil overs for our cars, so you'd not only get a suspension upgrade, but a brake upgrade as well. I'd do that if funds and skill would allow haha.

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Joseph

Current: 2013 Infiniti G37 Journey
1999 Infiniti G20T - Sold
1999 Buick Lesabre - Race Couch - gone but not forgotten

The nut should thread out 100%, then use a grade 8 torque chart to determine (35ft-lbs or so), and yeah they should be grade 8 or better, the head of the bolt will be marked.

_________________
Boost addict


The Fleet:
'93 SSEi - Twincharged + manual Build thread
'97 Camaro - Top swap
'05 STS - V8, AWD, her DD
'92 Trofeo - Fair weather DD
'99 Montana - top swap 3800
'04 Sierra 2500HD - LLY Duramax

Current project:
Something cool, trust me.

Upcoming projects:
'92 Bonneville SSE
'87 LeSabre T-type
'67 LeSabre

Gone to greener pastures:
'84 Sierra Classic - Twin turbo 3800
'97 LeSabre - Top swap

RIP:
'86 LeSabre - pictures
'93 SE - L67

So this might be a stupid question, but my springs came in. I opened the box to make sure they were the right ones, and they have these little rubber insulators on one end of the spring. I'm assuming these are just for protection in shipping since they slide on and off freely, just making sure, these come off before the springs go on the car? Or are they there to dampen vibrations?

Here's a picture of the rubber in question.

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Joseph

Current: 2013 Infiniti G37 Journey
1999 Infiniti G20T - Sold
1999 Buick Lesabre - Race Couch - gone but not forgotten

I think that's so the springs don't put a hole in the box.

_________________
Boost addict


The Fleet:
'93 SSEi - Twincharged + manual Build thread
'97 Camaro - Top swap
'05 STS - V8, AWD, her DD
'92 Trofeo - Fair weather DD
'99 Montana - top swap 3800
'04 Sierra 2500HD - LLY Duramax

Current project:
Something cool, trust me.

Upcoming projects:
'92 Bonneville SSE
'87 LeSabre T-type
'67 LeSabre

Gone to greener pastures:
'84 Sierra Classic - Twin turbo 3800
'97 LeSabre - Top swap

RIP:
'86 LeSabre - pictures
'93 SE - L67

That's what I was figuring haha, they didn't do a very good job of that though lol.

_________________



Joseph

Current: 2013 Infiniti G37 Journey
1999 Infiniti G20T - Sold
1999 Buick Lesabre - Race Couch - gone but not forgotten

I dunno, I have seen that stuff wrapped around springs where they contact the struts seats in OEM situations.

Would not hurt to ask the spring supplier!

_________________
Alan Sheidler

Proud Third Caretaker of the Family Heirloom '93 SSE
Medium Garnet Red Metallic, Gray Leather Interior
Silver Cross-Lace Wheels (I love this car)

The variable rate spring will touch coils on one end, top of the spring iirc.. I think its an isolator of sorts.. Move that rubber down 3/4 to 1 coil..

as well the variable rate springs will ride nice and compliant on a smooth road, if the road is less then good you'll get a good bit of suspension feedback.. Not too rough but enough to know the car is on the road...lol

You bought variable rate rear springs too right? As well are you install regular rear struts or are you going with the Air Shocks?