Planning out my F50 suspension

I've held off on doing any mods to my F50 Cima until I have the suspension done. Got parts piled up but not installed cuz you gotta have good stance or else it looks whack. I've been saving up and I'm finally at the point where I can do some form of suspension work (and the rest of the mods all at once). I'll be doing the install myself in my garage. I was wondering if you guys/girls could give me some feedback on what route you would take...

End Goal: Airsus with the best ride quality possible and perfect stance (lip of fender resting on lip of wheel)

My original plan was to go with Bold World because I want the best ride quality, but right now I only have about 1/2 of the $$$ I need. Bold World stuff is super expensive, so that means I have enough $$$ for other options. So I was thinking, maybe I'll just do coilovers now ($2-3K) slam it pretty good and UAS later ($1-2K) for the perfect stance. I figured maybe some really good coilovers with UAS would ride almost as good or just as good as Bold World. Is this a dumb idea? Should I just keep saving?

If I did do this, do you guys know what coilovers would work with UAS? Reading on here I see that Insurance Group and Buddy Club make Coilovers for F50. But I dunno which ones ride better or if they work with UAS. There also might be other coilovers I'm not aware of.

Also, what would you guys recommend for bushings? My car has around 70K miles and I would like to replace all suspension bushings (all control arms, all swaybars, etc). This is my first VIP/EXE build so my regular "buy everything poly" might not be a good idea. Should I just use OEM nissan bushings or go with something aftermarket JDM?

Mahalo!

Too keep it nice and plush I'd go with OEM bushings.   That is my opinion.  However I'd first just check the bushings and make sure they aren't cracking or any unusual wear.   70K really isn't that many miles.  After 120-150K then maybe think about changing them.   JIC and RSR also makes coilovers for our GF50.   For the UAS you have to make sure the OD where the bags slide over is less than 2.14 inches.   My RSR I measured is right at that thickness so not sure if it will work or if it will be a perfect fit.      I would also look into airrunner and some new company Air Force.    My F50 has 100K miles and already I need to change almost all the wheel bearings.  Making noise.

Control arm bushings front and rear have to be replaced WITH control.... I found that out when I had to change all around on my F50 lol.  For air you actually going with my original route.  But at the time I couldn't find a decently price coilover, so I ended up (and happy) with my air runner setup.  Bold world from what I was told can only be service in japan unlike UAS and air runner who has a US department....  ultimately its up to you though, its good that you planning everything out before you rush into things (like me) heh heh.. if you have any questions don't hesitate to ask shoot brah..

buddy club makes coilovers for the F50?!?!

mrkenjibuddy club makes coilovers for the F50?!?!  
 
Yes They do! I will be posting pics soon on the setup.
 
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[COLOR=cyan]please ignore my crappy jack!![/COLOR]
 
CrazyHawaiian
It took me over a year just to decide on my suspension, i finally got my Buddy club coilovers from Grant. Im more of a coilovers only type of guy though not going to do air. My ride is quality is great and I havent even had time to adjust the dampening yet! My car is low and can go alot lower..like I said above will try to post pics tonight.

i say don't sell yourself short, get what you really want. personally i'd just run coilovers but if you want the mp s**t save up and get the mp s**t.

hey let me know how the set up on the body club works might switch my jp springs out how much did they cost you ? pics would be nice on the hight . thanks !

elfather f50 - I will be posting my thread later tonight, dont want to hijack CrazyHawaiian's thread.
 
CrazyHawaiian - if you have any question please do not hesitate to ask.

[quote=Qshadow;244195]elfather f50 - I will be posting my thread later tonight, dont want to hijack CrazyHawaiian's thread.
 
CrazyHawaiian - if you have any question please do not hesitate to ask.[/quote]
:biggthumpup:

Hey thanks for the help everyone! This is alot of good info, no worries about hijacking this thread. If you got info about F50 suspension feel free to add, the more we know, the better choices we can make.

Looks like we're building up a pretty good list of who makes stuff for the F50

Drop Spring (sure add it in why not):
Junction Produce
Insurance Group

Coilovers:
Buddy Club
Insurance Group
JIC
RSR

Airsus:
Bold World
Universal Air Suspension (UAS)
Air Runner
Air Force

I didnt even know that much stuff was available! I would definately like to read more about your guys experiences with your setup, Blitz on the RSR Coilovers, QShadow on the Buddy Club's and Yuki on Air Runner. Thank you for the pictures QShadow! Feel free to post more pictures, and would also like to know how the installaton went. Yuki, what kind of strut does the Air Runner use? How is the ride quality?

For the bushings I kinda figured OEM would be good enough because these are luxury cars and not race cars. Thank you for confirming that guys. When ever I do suspension builds on my projects I like to take each suspension part off, replace all bushings/balljoints/etc and then also paint the suspension part before putting it back on. I will def check the wheel bearings too thanks for the tip Blitz. I had one front control arm bushing fail already so I'm just gonna replace them all one time for peace of mind (just that alone will be $$$ oem bushings are expensive! haha).

Are there other parts anyone knows about? Camber kits? SS LowDown thingy? (haha!) Mahalo again!

The hardest part of the F50 suspension to me was the front LCA ball joint.   Took me awhile to get that seperated while not trying to ding up the threads.   Basically used a tuning fork looking thing (ball joint seperator) and banged the shit out of it WHILE not trying to mess up the rubber boot.   Also to make things alot lighter take the brakes and rotor and whatever all off because the front suspension is damn heavy.

Rear is a cinch.

Your crappy jack is much better then mine.  I still use the OEM jack lol.  I get a full body workout lifting my car like I was actually lifting it by hand

Oh damn!  Those BC coilovers are nice.  I have the JP springs and the ride is nice.  Definitely not slammed though.

With the headaches people have had with F50 + UAS it might be better to just spend the money on Air Runner like a few on here have.

Crazy Hawaiian:  the air runner suspension use modified KYB shocks and on the new kit they actually added a adjustable damping feature which my kit doesn't have cause it's older.  Also the air runner kits come with better compressor, upgrading abilities for electric setup and the OG/on the ground series which allows the car to sit lower and you don't lose comfort in your ride.  I'm planning to upgrade mine soon.  Knock on wood I never really had a problem with the air runner system.  Installation is cake compared to some kits, and quality is damn good

[QUOTE=AME_VIP;244257]Oh damn!  Those BC coilovers are nice.  I have the JP springs and the ride is nice.  Definitely not slammed though.

With the headaches people have had with F50 + UAS it might be better to just spend the money on Air Runner like a few on here have.[/QUOTE]

F50 stock suspension + UAS yes...harder to install.   F50 aftermarket Coilovers + UAS should be alot easier.

people had problems with f50 and uas??
uas told me i was the only one with their bags on the chassis? :shrug:

oh and no problems, my air ride sucks cause of my easy street management not cuz the bags.

[quote=Blitz;244327]F50 stock suspension + UAS yes...harder to install.   F50 aftermarket Coilovers + UAS should be alot easier.[/quote]
id definitely go air over coils next time around. wasnt planning on stock struts being a grand even at a hookup price. 
airrunner is nice but id rather just get coils with bags its the same price if you get electric valves for the airrunners.

I had UAS on my car for 2 days. The sport struts couldn't handle the low driving hieghts and just snapped.[IMG]http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y170/aedprix/yadontwanttheseproblems/IMG_0299.jpg[/IMG]
 
 
 
 
 I went completly custom bag/strut setup to get it as low as possible. I would of went air runner but at the time, they didn't have the "on the ground" kit. Now, I think I might go coilovers front and bags rear just so I can fit a jack under with the hit or a switch.

hey im in the same boat... trying to plan and save for my sus but trying to do a bunch of stuff now.

[QUOTE=widebody_Q;244371]I had UAS on my car for 2 days. The sport struts couldn't handle the low driving hieghts and just snapped.[IMG]http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y170/aedprix/yadontwanttheseproblems/IMG_0299.jpg[/IMG]
 
 
 
 
 I went completly custom bag/strut setup to get it as low as possible. I would of went air runner but at the time, they didn't have the "on the ground" kit. Now, I think I might go coilovers front and bags rear just so I can fit a jack under with the hit or a switch.[/QUOTE]

glad i read this thread, I have the sport strunts and was planning the UAS route but scratch that- thanks for posting that Widebody!!  this thread is a must read for F50 owners looking for suspension options.

holy crap they snapped??? I thought you were having control arm problems WBQ?

What exactly did you do for struts?  I have a UAS kit off my G35 that I was planning on using for my future F50.