_ck69_

I've had the Illuminas for about a couple weeks now. I've settled on a 2/F and 3/R setting for my car. For all the Illumina owners, what are your settings at?

macallik

iTrader: (6)

3 front / 4 rear

vsamoylov

so do they feel when they are at the point ofr the maximum performance? is bodyroll noticable?

macallik

iTrader: (6)

body roll is reduced greatly and you feel every bump on the road (all the ones you never knew was there). i like it stiff better but some like a more comfortable ride so if that you, go 2f,/2r

vsamoylov

no when i get these i want the best handling possible from them. i am on H&R right now but thinking of getting Tein.

VQuick

iTrader: (17)

2 front / 3 rear
Together with Tein High Techs this is pretty comfy! Not much rougher than stock SE, but significantly better handling.

_ck69_

I don't think "comfy" is the right word... I do feel a huge difference in ride quality IMO. Even at the stiffest setting, I still seem to get some body roll. I'm not completely satisfied. I've heard that adding a RSB to a lowered car won't make a 'huge' difference. Is this true?

gtr_rider

iTrader: (50)

Thats the best for me

Big_Ham

iTrader: (1)

2 front / 3 rear

I had 3/3, but I was bottoming out on some roads in Tampa and needed the stiffness to keep from bottoming them out.

Shortened struts are the best way to combat that ... not Illuminas.

Overall tho ... very happy with them.

Larry H

2 front 3 rear here too, with progress springs. good for slightly spirited driving but for anything more than that body roll is still apparent. with 3/3, the ride gets worse and the handling doesn't get much better. I'd like to try 3/4 but I hate removing my amp to get the rear settings.

overall it doesn't ride or handle as well as I'd like. but I think I'm spoiled, b/c my two roomates drive an EVO and an E46 M3.

if I keep the car I might try the tein basics.

Seximus Maximus

I have them paired with Tein H-Techs and i use 3/4, i like my suspension kind of stiff. you do feel the bumps but i think handling is excellent. body roll is barely noticed in my mind. with my setting at 2/3 like the person above said its almost like stock. great ride.

phenryiv1

iTrader: (19)

When posting your settings, please post your spring setup as well. Actually, please post your whole suspension setup, so that we see the whole picture.

It did for me, but it is only noticable at the very edges of handling performance. You will only feel it when you piush your car hard- you will see that it has a wider performance envelope than w/o the RSB, but it also has a sharper cut-off at the handling limits- the margin for error shrinks dramatically.

QuickFast

What about the Illumina/Eibach combo? Is anyone running this set-up? If so, how do you like it?

njmaxseltd

iTrader: (19)

Funny how everybody runs the rear so firm. With a sway bar and M.V. mounts in the rear I run the rear softer then the front. My ride quality is fantastic (as quite a few on here know) handling is very neutral (thanks to the anti-sway bar).

I run H&R springs with Illuminas set on 3F and 2R.

Those with rear anti-sway bars should lower the rear setting slightly and let the sway bar do some work on the twisties, while getting a much better ride on the highway.

Motivational rear mounts help the rear of our cars absorb bumps, maintain stability and ride quality on lowered setups.

phenryiv1

iTrader: (19)

MV rears would help, but aren't those out of production now?

Sorry to run OT.

Good points, Tom!

meanbean

iTrader: (1)

2 Front / 2 Rear. Very comfortable ride.

VQuick

iTrader: (17)

You need SOME body roll or agressive driving can be pretty dangerous.

I understood that if you don't have a RSB, you want the rear setting one higher than the front, which is why I have 2/3.

Lol, you can't compare a Maxima to an M3 because the Maxima is so much lighter, of course it's going to feel cheaper... I'm sure the EVO has a stiffer chassis than the 4G Max so if you want a much better feeling car, spend the few hundred dollars to get Warpspeed subframe connectors. I'm planning on that at some point.

vsamoylov

Motivational rear mounts, where did u get those?

Weasel

iTrader: (2)

3f/3r with H&R springs. Ride and handling are fantastic, I have a RSB so I keep the rear on 3 and there's still very little understeer at remotely sane speeds. I haven't autocrossed on this setup though, we'll see how that goes.

SPiG

iTrader: (7)

I have Eibachs with Illuminas. 5/5 with no rsb yet, and fstb. Pretty rough but I want that and handle really well.

And yes it is important to tell us your springs. I will probably try 4/4 or 4/5 or something like that but eibachs are supposedly pretty stiff. If someone else has a similiar or preferably exact setup and has had better results with a softer setting please post. I just installed them not too long ago and really haven't tried new settings.

Larry H

OK, posting the rest of my mods...

FSTB
Progress RSB
Warpspeed Stage I and II SFCs

I guess my only real complaint is that it doesn't feel like the car is "connected" to the road. I have a feeling I'm close as good as the ride/handling tradeoff is gonna get on an A32 without spending $$$. Maybe the relatively slow steering ratio has something to do with it. I am riding on 18s though.

Tom, regarding your comment, I don't really feel like the back is too stiff, but I'll play around with it and see what happens.

ThurzNite

iTrader: (13)

5/5 front/rear
Sprints

that's all I have. Handles like my friend's BMW 325. What was BMW's secret? Was it soft springs and stiff shocks? If so, that's what I have right now. Oh yeah, 17" rims. With stock 15", ride is mushy. Anyways, I'd like to get rid of the sprints... too low, too soft.

I like my ride, except I need a fstb. I can feel the front straining on corner entry. RSB... optional. I like being able to whip the rear around. With RSB, I think I'll need LSD on corner exits. (counter intuitive, but it's my driving style)

Jae

vsamoylov

kinda hard to believe that your car does not feel "connected" to the road after all that suspension mods to it. seems like after all those mods the car should stay glued to the road no matter what. do you think the sfc are worth it though and do you need stage 2 or is stage 1 enough?

ThurzNite

iTrader: (13)

My bro's got the bolt-ons too, but no sub frames yet... yes, his car is flat, but boring to drive. There's no communication between traction limit and brick wall. I prefer some "give" in my suspension. oh, and a stiff rear end feels like you got passengers in the back seat... totally un-lively and not fun to whip around... hard to get the car to rotate.

Jae

Larry H

yeah, the car sticks and you can double on ramp/off ramp speeds with no problem; highway lane changes and high-speed sweepers are cake. but the car doesn't really tell you what it's doing or build much confidence. my light pre-97 steering is probably not helping much.

someone asked about the subframes. I put stage I and II on together, so I don't know if stage 1 would have been sufficient. I didn't notice the huge increase in body stiffness that everyone else did, but I did notice that the steering felt MUCH better. kinda like the difference the FSTB made but x3. body roll went down a little and the steering felt much better, especially in highway turns and lane changes.

vsamoylov

man this is strange. you guys make it seem like these bolt-ons are not worth of getting. i mean it seems liike not worth of getting.

what do you guys mean by the car being flat? isnt that the whole purpose of getting suspension mods so the car stays flat during any kind of manuvers?

ThurzNite

iTrader: (13)

vsamoylov: Have you driven or read opinions on 350Z's suspension and handling? Some say near perfect, only to understeer at the extreme limits.

With Larry H's setup, I imagine his setup being so much stiffer than a Z, that it's actually harder to find it's limits. It's like, why is the AE86 a great car to learn to drift with? Cuz it's simple... it gives... it's predictable... and it's limits are easier to find. I loved my ex-gf's 93 Altima, tho underpowered, I could maneuver that thing like nothing. All it had was Eibachs, Kyb gr-2, rsb and fstb.

I would suggest you mod 1 thing at a time, over a period of time. I changed my springs first, for 3 months. Then realized I needed shocks. I've been on these shocks for 3 months now, and looking for fstb now. If I had ftsb first, like most people do, I have no idea how the rear end would feel (i'd say unpredictable) and may have upgraded struts next instead of springs. Anyways, it's a learning process.

Jae