What Suspension Parts? R32 Gtr

[arsnic_apple]

Hey Guys,

Have been trying to do some research on what good suspension bits are good to buy but i just keep getting caught up in

all the technical mumbo jumbo.

Im basically planning to take out all my hicas gear soon and obviously will need a wheel allignment after that, thinking i might

as well get some adjustable bits and pieces to improve the handling a bit.

So basically i'm wanting to know what are the most important bits of suspension that i should buy to improve the

handling before taking the car to get an allignment?

Blake

[GTSBoy]

Street? Track? Level of worriedness about legality/defectability/insurance? Hills driving? Freo? Stirling FWY? Wheel and tyre size/type? Preference for a tail-happy dangerous car or a safer drive? Power level?

Are you just planning to put a HICAS lock bar in? You weren't planning on swapping the subframe out were you?

[arsnic_apple]

Mostly street with the odd track day. Legality i can deal with so dont worry about that sort of thing. Would rather it be good a tight stuff like chicanes and tighter corners and such, rather than long sweeping corners. Rims are 18x9.5", tyres are Nitto Invo 245-40, compared to the set of toyo t1r that were on there to start with they have a lot more grip. As far as tail happy id like a little bit but probably lean more towards safer. Made 510hp so tail happy is achievable with a safe setup probably anyway.

Yeah putting in the lock bar and pulling all the solenoids and stuff out. Is there much benefit to changing the entire subframe?

[GTSBoy]

Subframe swap....not in a GTR. You can't bolt the GTR diff to the non-HICAS subframe (I'm pretty sure at least).

OK, so the list of things you want. In all cases, adjustable polyurethane bushes at minimum. At maximum, adjustable length arms with rose joints. In the middle you'd have adjustable length arms with hard rubber bushes.

Front. Adjustable upper arms. Either by poly bush or by proper replacement arms. These are not he same concept as other replaced arms on a Skyline, because the upper arms aren't just a "rod" or something similar. They are big, with big bearing surfaces. If you replace these you need to buy the expensive ones, not the cheap ones. Think several hundred $$, not $150. Also want adjustable caster arms. Also best to put new lower inner bushes in. Also new ball joints, upper bearings and wheel bearings (if none of this stuff has ever been replaced before). Springs and dampers are up to you. I lean towards a decent set of Bilstein dampers and Kings Springs (or whatever springs take your fancy). Many lean toward coilovers. Unless you spend >$1000 per side on coilovers, you are wasting your money though. Also need uprated front ARB with heavy duty links. Probably need new tie rod ends also. A mechanical inspection would be wise to find out which of these last components are still good and which aren't.

Rear. Adjustable upper arms (either by poly bush or by proper replacement arms). Same with traction arms. Also need to redo bushes in lower arm. Need full set of diff bushes and subframe bushes. HICAS lock. New tie rod end for HICAS tie rods. New rear ARB with heavy duty links. Springs and damper same concept as at front.

Spring rates and ARB rates are a problem. Stock are reasonably soft and not a lot if any harder at the front than at the rear. There are several threads (well, at least one, possibly two) on here lately talking about exactly this on GTRs. Look and read. ARB rates are to complement spring rates. I can give you solid recommendation for what works on an R32 GTSt, but not so much on a GTR.

Of all the above, you can pick and choose. But you really need to do most if not all of each category on a car that is stock and full of tired old stuff. If it's already had stuff put through it, you have to work out what condition it is in and what spec it is and decide if you're keeping it in there (and therefore matching new stuff to the spec of the old stuff) or binning it in favour of new.

[arsnic_apple]

Sweet thanks GTSboy.

The car currently has Ksport and whiteline sway bars front and rear so those aspects should be alright.

As far as tierod ends and ball joints go should i be only looking at genuine nissan or are there particular aftermarket brands that you guys prefer.

In regard to the adjustable upper arms at the front, should i be using something like cusco? I had a look on nengun and it seems that they have a few different sizes like +5mm or -5mm, are these non-adjustable or is this what i should be looking at getting?

On alot of the sites ive been coming across a lot of these "roll centre adjusters", just wanted to know what they are all about and if they are needed also.

In terms of bushes im pretty sure they have been changed (they are green in colour) but ill double check to make sure. Ive seen that various places make solid subframe bushes also, are these worth going for or should i just look to replace with polyurethane ones if need be?

Thanks,

Blake

[GTSBoy]

No specific knowledge here about the Cusco ones (haven't looked lately) but in general, if they are adjustable they will be clearly adjustable because there will be threaded or sliding sections and lock screws or big lock nuts visible. The different lengths are usually because there is only so much length adjustability you can provide, so they make some arms approx stock length +/- some adjustment, and they make other arms shorter than stock +/- the same range of adjustment.

As to brands of tie rod ends and so on.....just about any off brand suspension component that a trustworthy mechanic would use on their own car (and there are more than a few) will be fine. Genuine Nissan may be available and may or may not be expensive. You need to ask and compare.

Roll centre adjusters.....dunno. Maybe someone here has actually used them and can declare their value.

New Whiteline or similar hard rubber subframe bushes are the best overall option. Solid alloy ones are track only in my mind, but some around here think they're fine on the road.