d-shade

First of Just would like to say hello
as this is my first post in this forum.

but i was wondering is there any good suspension systems for snow/off road use?

this is a daily driver car and yes the roads are that bad.
it snows>melts>freezes>kinda melts>snows>freezes
and with the plow trucks the raods are a mess in a few places.

when i had my 240sx i was looking to tein set up but i forgot which one they were
what i really would like to do is have a lowered ride durning the summer time and have it raised to stock hight durning the winters. Guess if I dont have a choice I could just get the suspension switched out every season but if possible i dont' want to go that route.

Narfle

iTrader: (16)

stock springs. nice shocks(koni, tokiko)

GoodfellaFD3S

iTrader: (213)

Please tell me you don't own an FD.

You can look into ride height-adjustable coilovers.

Black91n/a

By offroading do you mean unpaved roads or mud bogging 4x4 style offroading? Hopefully you only mean the unpaved road kind. For snow and loose surfaces (gravel and dirt roads) you'll want a fairly soft suspension and good shocks to get optimal traction. The stock springs would be your best bet here, as anything else will be stiffer and shorter, leading to possible ground clearance issues. I suppose you could get some ground control coilovers and get some really soft springs for them (have no idea how soft you can get), and add some good shocks. I drove my car for one winter with similiar conditions to what you describe, with lots of melting and freezing, and that was in a very hilly town, and it was fine. Just get good snow tires and drive the way the conditions dictate (if it's slippery be slow and gentle, and always be as smooth as possible). The worst thing you can do in the snow is to drive on inappropriate tires (summers or non M&S rates all seasons) and ignore the conditions and try to drive the speed limit or above no matter what. I've seen several people go blitzing by me (driving as fast as the conditions allow) on slippery roads going trying to do the speed limit or more, then some miles down the road I pass them again, because they crashed into the ditch. Serves them right for being jackasses.

ptrhahn

iTrader: (9)

I see you have an FC. I'd do a little research and see if some of the new zealand rotary tuners didn't build an FC rally car at some point.

d-shade

no not mud bogging by off roading i mean the loose gravel, chuncks of ice, sheets of ice, and pot holes that will bottom out the car.

As for this winter we got non studded winter tires in the back but thats about it. Due to money issues. All in all its beens good lost control of the car once when we hit a sheet of ice. but i guess that can't be helped.

I just didn't want to get a set up that would have major negative effects during the winter.

thanks i look up some of the stuff you guys recommended

Black91n/a

ALWAYS have all 4 tires the same in winter. Having 4 summer tires would probably be better than having 2 winters and 2 others. The grip in snowy and icy conditions would be vastly different front to back leading to a likely loss of control, followed by a crash.

d-shade

Having all 4 tires winter tires would have prob been the best way to go but with the money situation we had at the begining of winter. we couldn't do much plus one of the tires were bad and constantly going flat.

But even with the 2 snow 2 other(im not even sure what kind of tires they are) setup having the snow tires in the back helped a lot. untill we had the rear tires changed it was a constant slide when accel and deceling. Im sure next winter we should be more prepared and settled in. and prob end up buying a set of tires and rims to do a easy switch.

coldfire

iTrader: (1)

you can pretty much get close to stock spring rates with the Ground Control coilovers, like 250lbs in the front and about 200lbs rear would be good.
with that you can use stock shocks, or something like the KYB or Tokico if you want some adjustability. you will want shocks though that are not too aggressive if you are using soft spring rates.
this will give you a slightly more agressive ride than stock but still keep it quite good for harsh road conditions. you also get ride height adjustability.

www.ground-control.com

Black91n/a

The stock shocks may feel ok on the stock springs, but if you put 250lb/in springs (2.5 times the stock rate BTW) on them they'll feel terrible. NEW stock shocks might be up to the task, but I wouldn't count on it. The shocks on the car now are probably not doing so well after 15+ years of road use and are probably not damping very much anymore. You should at least get some good non-adjustables like KYB GR-2's or Tokico Blues. If you can afford it adjustable shocks will be better and are generally able to handle higher spring rates. Good damping is critical to good grip, if you have blown dampers and those stiffer springs you'll have less grip on uneven roads.

coldfire

iTrader: (1)

yup, good points. i should have mentioned that i meant new OEM-replacement shocks, not your ysed 15-year old stuff. something like the Tokico Blue shock is very close to OEM dampening, but it is brand new so you are less likely to have problems. you don't want to go much higher than around 200lbs with those stock-type shocks. adjustable will give you more room to play with, but you shouldn't need it anyways for your driving you mentioned.

KaiFD3S

iTrader: (37)

gotta love AK roads...lol...