Dropping My Car, And Then Regretting It

The mechanic at my tire place may as well have just whispered a sweet sonnet in my ear when said to me "you really need to get those shocks and struts replaced." I tried to hide my smile, but it was no use. 

 Ask any real car guy, when something's about to go, it means a rare opportunity to replace boring stock parts with much better, cooler aftermarket equipment, and get your hands dirty in the process. As an additional bonus, if you do it cheaper than paying a mechanic, the wife acceptance factor does not calculate into the equation.

I know I wanted to drop my car just a little bit, in order to get the handling and fuel efficiency benefits. And, let’s face it, the Nissan Maxima has enough wheel gap to rival most 4x4’s.

That Instagram photo that never happened

 I started researching the best spring and shock combinations, and after much deliberation, purchased a set of KYB Excel GR2’s shocks and a set of Tein S-Tech lowering springs. Everything I read on the forums said the drop wouldn’t be too aggressive, and at 1.5” in the front and 0.5” in the rear, I figured I would be safe. It was like Christmas morning when my lowering springs arrived; they were in a huge box, sitting on my doorstep with a big Tein logo on them. I unwrapped the bright green springs from their box like a kid getting his first Nintendo, and resisted the urge to Instagram a shot of them, because, well, no one cares but me.

The worn strut after it blew

A few days later, I rolled over a bump, and heard a snap and a pop, and realized I blew my worn front strut. When I got home, fluid was splattered all over my wheel well, and I had to hose it off. The car literally bounced at every bump and didn’t feel safe to drive more than 40 MPH. Despite that, I packed up my shiny new car parts, and headed upstate to my friend’s house, where he had the tools to do the job.

Putting in an entirely new suspension was only about a three beer job, and my friend and I did it over the course of a Sunday. The old struts and springs had to be taken off, while the hardest part was working through a few rusty bolts. We used a spring compressor to get the new struts onto the new springs, mounted them, and we were done. It wasn’t the most difficult job, but it is something that needs to done with at least a little mechanical experience, and a lot of YouTube videos.  Additionally, it was extremely cost effective. An entirely new suspension cost me about $450 in parts, vs. the $1200 or so I would spend to have a mechanic do it with stock parts.

new suspension and springs

Riding home, I felt like the car was on rails. The car was so planted to the road with absolutely no body roll, I felt like a Ferrari blasting through the backroads with new found confidence. But the ride quality was jarring to say the least. I felt every little bump in the road like a slap, and I kept telling myself to wait until the springs settle…

Now it’s a month later, and the springs have settled. The drop on the car looks amazing; it has an aggressive stance that i love, but I’m starting to think it’s just too low for metro NY. I have to creep into my driveway at a perfect 45-degree angle to minimize the scraping, and speedbumps have become my new worst enemy. The parking garage at my office is doing construction, and we are now routed through a series of the nastiest bumps I have ever seen. Even at 2 MPH, I can hear my catalytic converter hitting them. I am now officially “that guy” who comes to a near complete stop before every speed bump, lest I do serious damage to my undercarriage. On the bright side though, the ride quality has significantly improved since the springs settled, and the handling is better, but not as good as when I first installed them.  Eyeballing it, I would say that the lowering rate was a mild suggestion, as I think it’s more like a 2’5” drop.

For now, I’ll live with it, although in a constant state of fear, vigilant of every pothole, railroad crossing and speedbump in the road. I'll embrace it because the car looks great, and the handling is much better. As for fuel efficiency, well that has yet to be determined.  I have to be careful when I park head-in to a curb, so I don’t rip off my front bumper. I’m looking for my next flip car, and I find myself passing over every entry listed as having “lowering springs” installed just because now I know this horror. My advice to anyone who does long commutes is to not drop your ride unless you are willing to deal with the consequences. 

                         

                           But damn it looks good. 

P.S. - Big shout-out and thanks to my buddy Ryan for helping out on this job.

I'm an Absentee Father. But That's OK, Because I Drive a Four-Door Sports Car

Lets get something straight. The Nissan Maxima does not get the love it deserves. Not from the auto press and not from car enthusiasts. Any commuter would be hard pressed to find the combination of power, luxury and reliability at a decent value that the Maxima offers. That's probably why the nameplate derives such fierce loyalty, and I have owned 3. That being said, I'm very excited about the announcement of the 2015 Maxima, which was briefly teased at this year's Super Bowl.

Now I'm sure you have seen the commercial by now. Some people even understood the correlation that this super-cool racecar driver is a family man who chooses the sporty 4DSC Maxima as his personal ride. Unfortunately, they chose to use "Cats in a Cradle" as a soundtrack, whose opening note inspires guilt and anxiety in pretty much every father who wishes they could spend more time with their family. Not the kind of marketing message I would want to send, but I hope it works for them.  

But damn, its sexy. Official photos were released today. It has a very muscular front end and rear haunches that are reminiscent of Infiniti models, yet somehow different. It also takes design cues from Nissan's current lineup, with boomerang lights, while that grill fascia really needs to be available in a matte black. I'm a little nervous about the high beltline and visibility, but I'll reserve judgement until I take a test drive.

Photos from Newspress

As for the powerplant and technicals, no one knows what that will be, but I'd  venture guessing either a 3.5 or 3.7 liter V6, mated to a CVT. I don't think we will see a platform beyond FWD, as Nissan still relies on Maxima upgraders for the survival of the Infiniti brand.

The car is set to debut at the NY Auto show in April, and I'll be there.


information via http://www.newspressusa.com/

Relationship Troubles

I know an automotive blog isn't really the place to vent, but recently, me and missus haven’t been getting along. I understand it was a long, cold and hard winter, and she tried her best to tough it out with a smile. Alas, all of the potholes, salt and bitter cold really took a toll on her this year. Admittedly, I have been a bit rough on her, but the mood swings are incredible; some days she is happy to be given a vigorous workout, and some days she groans, bitches at me, and phones it in for the day. A few times I even considered leaving her for a younger, newer model, but I have way too much invested with her to simply cut out. After all, we have been together for more than 100,00 miles.

It started in December, right before the holidays, which is typically a stressful time for couples. She wouldn't go more than 30 miles per hour without hiccupping, and sputtering as her ignition cut out and the revs dropped. In an effort to diagnose, I ripped out the ABS controller, and it brought back the acceleration, but at a cost; she took away all of my gauges, safety and slip systems. My dash lit up light a Christmas tree with every idiot light imaginable. This was mildly distracting while driving, but my attention daily was more focused on slipping and sliding my way through the worst Long Island Winter in memory. Seriously, you have no idea how hard it is to navigate a 300 BHP car with no limited slip differential, ABS, traction control or other systems through multiple icy blizzards. Because of this, I wound up intentionally avoiding her and taking the train to work in the city for much of January.

That's a lot of warning lights....

I think she started to get suspicious when I was up all night surfing the web. I’m not gonna lie, I was in some pretty deep stuff, late at night in the deepest bowel of the interwebs. I found myself viewing hardcore DIY YouTube videos on hydraulic braking systems and Nissan electrical components, I scanned some dealer technical bulletin and service guides that had been obtained by illicit means, and finally, under an anonymous name I plotted ways to manipulate her with other forum members in chatrooms. All this research led me to believe I had a faulty ABS wheel speed sensor, and all I had to do was go to the dealership to get it checked out on their diagnostic machine to figure out which one was bad.  

So I bought her to the dealership in Massapequa, which basically looks like a day spa for cars. Its white walls, glassed off, and way to clean. They made us part ways at the front to prepare her for a day of pampering, while I went in to go talk to a service adviser. I explained what was wrong, what diagnostic scan she needed. They didn't understand a word of it, and insisted she was more high maintenance than I thought. 400 dollars worth of testing later, they came back to me and told me they had found the problem. The entire rear end needed replacing, including all wheel hubs and sensors, to the tune of $3000. I said no, and left, and then found out they never reconnected my e-brake. So I went home, ripped the wheel off, put in a new ABS sensor for 20 bucks, and she worked fine. Except the disconnected e-brake is a constant reminder of the infidelity suffered at the hands of the stealership.

Then came the bitter January cold, which made her plastic bits brittle, and she was feeling kind of fragile. We lost the lower engine cover to  a pothole,  and her entire inner fender well was literally shattered by a chunk of ice. 16 bucks on rockauto.com and a few zip ties later, she was good as new. The cold did although kill the battery in one of my TPMS sensors, and now it just blinks at me. Blink. Blink. Blink. A constant nagging reminder that I need to buy new shoes soon, or I’ll continue to hear about it.

For a little while there, we were doing good. She was looking good and feeling good, and she knew it. A renewed spring was in her step, and I was once again feeling good about our relationship. Then she started nagging me again. At this point, my dad, my brother and my friends all told me I should leave her, but I didn't want to listen to them, I was committed to making it work. 

The shrill crying rattle came from the rear, and I didn't know why - did I forget her oil change? Not give her premium fuel? I deduced it was the anti-rattle pin, which was actually, ironically, rattling. The only way to stop it was to quickly pull the parking brake while driving. Fast. My first attempt to fix this was not successful, as I lacked the tools to take off the rotors. Then my son and I went to Autozone to purchase a breaker bar, which is not as fun as it sounds.

Saturday night, 10 pm, I settled down for a couples therapy session. She bought her bad attitude, and lots of blame. I bought a 4-pack of Guinness and my Dewalt cordless impact driver.

It was a long night, but after a while, I think we finally found the root of our problem. I have the rotor off, and I found this: Suffice to say I now know what was causing the rattle.

Think we found the problem... Hint-  pins are supposed to be straight

 I put her back together, and apologized profusely for hurting her feelings and the ordeal she had to go through. A week has since passed, and I think we are fine. For now, that is, until she finds out about the fling I have been having on the side with a cute little German number.