Sentra Spring Drop?

[billc]

I'm looking at part numbers 71716A and 70085 -- front and rear springs for a B13 Sentra. I see that the catalog prescribes 25-40 mm of drop when installing these springs, but can anyone give me a better idea of what the ride height will be for this specific application? There is a huge difference between 25 and 40 mm of drop when you are playing with the limted suspension travel in the B13 front suspension.

Also, some indication of spring rates would be real helpful if anyone has any information.

Thanks.

Bill

[Whiteline]

Hello Bill,

The ride heights that we quote for springs #71716A & #70085 when fitted to the Nissan Sentra, are as follows:
#71716A - 320mm, +/-5mm (measured from centre of the wheel to the guard). Progressive spring rate of 130 > 210 lbs/in.
#70085 - 325mm, +/-5mm (measured from centre of the wheel to the guard). Progressive spring rate of 95 > 170 lbs/in.

I hope this helps you.

Cheers,
Wayne C

[billc]

Wayne --

Thanks very much, this is exactly the information that I needed.

I am currently running some aftermarket springs (which will remain nameless) with Koni red inserts and White Line sway bars front and rear. I shortened the front strut by about 20mm to give a little more travel and I also shortened the bump stop by about 10mm to give over an inch total extra travel.

The front aftermarket springs have a rate of 148 lbs/in but they lowered the car too much so that I was bottoming out up front when I would hit a healthy bump when heeled over in a turn. So I raised the car half an inch by setting the springs on rubber spring spacers placed between the bottom of the spring and the spring perch on the strut. This eliminated the bottoming out but I'm getting a floaty feel to the suspension from the rubber spacer.

Enter the White Line springs as an alternative! As far as I know, nobody in the Nissan Sentra community in the US is using this spring. Only a few of us use your sway bars (which I really like a lot).

By my measurements, and your specs, the White Line springs will put my car at a ride height that is 4mm lower than current in the front (with aftermarket springs and coil spring spacer) and 10mm higher than current in the rear (again with aftermarket springs and coil spring spacer) .

So, with your slightly higher spring rates (my current aftermarket springs are 148 lbs/in in front and 70-160lbs/in in rear) I should be able to eliminate the bottoming out problem AND the floaty feel of the spring spacer (by removing the spacer).

Sounds like a winner to me. Defintely worth a try.

Would you recommend Koni reds be set at 25% hard for this application -- street driving on a daily basis?

Thanks much,

Bill

[billc]

Since my first post I have purchased and installed the Whiteline springs in my 1991 Sentra SE-R. After a short test drive, the distances that I measured from the center of the axle up to the bottom of the fender arch were 13" (330mm) in the front and 12.5" (318mm) in the rear. This is slightly higher in the front and slightly lower in the rear than expected from Wayne's post above, but certainly very close to his specs. My car has no sun roof and was measured with a full tank of gas and no passengers. Compared to my stock springs, the car was lowered 1.5" (38mm) in the front and 1.25" (32mm) in the rear.

My initial reaction on ride and handling is very positive. My Koni reds are set at 3/8 of the way from full soft to firm. Although the Whiteline springs are stiffer than the others that I was using, they actually ride much better in normal driving. The handling was sharp and neutral during the brief test drive that I took. I may stiffen the adjustable rear sway bar for better rotation based on further evaluation.

Overall I am very pleased and impressed with the springs. They provided an improvement in both handling and ride. With the shortened Koni's I do not think that bottoming out will be a problem. The car looks good lowered also.

Bill