Shock shortening vs new shocks

nick91111, Jan 28, 8:58pm
I have fitted super low springs to my 95 Nissan Cefiro A32 and the rear springs aren't captive now on factory shocks. I got quoted around $250 a corner for aftermarket 30% uprated gt gas shortened shocks. But money is a factor obviously so I thought about getting the factory rear shocks shortened. The bump stops are a bit chewed up before I fitted these springs so thinking about replacing these also. It rides like crap as it is, so want to make it a bit better (legal too) and better ride if possible.
rocky0169, Jan 28, 9:25pm
Match the shocks to the springs bro. before you end up with a pink sticker
NZTools, Jan 28, 9:29pm
[quote=nick91111It rides like crap as it is, so want to make it a bit better (legal too) and better ride if possible.[/quote]

Put the factory springs back in, and you will kill two birds with one stone.
gammelvind, Jan 28, 9:37pm
Short springs, low ride = jiggly heads with caps on backwards
moosie_21, Jan 28, 9:41pm
Do it once, do it properly. Should have bought adjustables and certed them. Nothing to do now either than man up and pay or put the originals back in.
pollymay, Jan 28, 10:13pm
Adjustables can often ruin a car if you do it wrong. You should also be aligning the car when you change the height because all the geometry changes in like your toe and stuff quite slightly and nobody does that on a road car, they just wind the perch down and leave it at that then bumpsteer all over the road.

And in fact good shocks with springs will probably handle better than cheap coil overs with often poor dampning. My car is certed with lowering springs on some bilstiens, I'd put $50 down it handles better than cheap coil overs cert or no cert.

Lowering springs are fine, you should align the car afterwards, however the uncaptive thing is not fine. Measure the springs and ride height to make sure you don't have dud springs that have compressed or something cause that sounds off.
nick91111, Jan 29, 12:17am
Thanks for opinions. So as for the original question!
budgel, Jan 29, 2:32am
The original post was a statement, not a question.
nick91111, Jan 29, 2:48am
True. Sorry. "Shock shortening vs new shocks" "!"
pollymay, Jan 29, 3:49am
You are lowering the car, new shocks are better. Stock shocks can die a fast death on hard low springs on a lot of cars, I dunno how good the nissan ones are. WIthout proper damping your car can end up in a tree, it'll bounce all over the place. Shop around
trdbzr, Jan 29, 4:03am
If money is a problem then get your factory shocks shortened. But get them done properly by a specialist eg Autolign. Be sure to get a alignment done though, whether you shorten your shocks, fit new ones or stick with the factory ones.

Also with good quality springs eg H&R, Tein etc you get better handling without the side effects of lowered cars eg bouncing across the road as you do with kings, dobi etc
r15, Jan 29, 1:17pm
your wasting money if your paying anyone to shorten your old ones.save a little more and buy shorter shocks from gt or monroe or whatever and then you will have spent only a little more and have a car that maybe kinda even sorta handles properly. but then its a cefiro so it will only end up 'drifted' into something
johnf_456, Jan 29, 2:36pm
Its a fwd, the early ones were rwd but not the a32
r15, Jan 30, 6:05am
right you are, i read cefiro and went no further.
foxdonut, Jan 30, 6:13am
If its a bum dragger then just stick the factory stuff back in.

God, why bother lowering it in the first place.

(That's not a question either)
nick91111, Jan 30, 6:31am
Sorry to answer the non-question. When I purchased it, it had 17's on it with stock suspension, sat higher than factory and had more body roll than factory due to the higher centre of gravity. Short of getting factory wheels to lower it a bit, I chose springs. Regretting going super low now.
nick91111, Nov 20, 10:46am
I'm not a backwards cap type of person to be honest. Not everyone is the same. Does my correct spelling and lack of text lingo help me prove a point!