Well, just thought I'd help decrease the confusion. Hopefully more of the B15s will look here for suspension information.
Springs: As some of you know, and some of you may not, springs and suspension components are all pretty much the same for the 2000-2004 Sentra/SER/Spec V. Of course, differences in dampening and spring rates occur, but my point is, any springs made for the Spec V will also work on a GXE/XE/1.8/SE.
So, let's start off with the basics.
Say, you want springs that give a safe drop, just something to close the wheel gap but not super low, and want to increase performance. Here are my suggestions:
Eibach Prokit (spec v set)
Progress (I have them, they're pretty good)
Tein S-tech (heard good things about them)
*Tanabe (the spring rates look good, but I don't know any personal opinions of them)
Keep in mind, YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR....as with all car mods, so if they're cheap, no-name springs or coilovers, you're taking unnecessary risk
Now, those are good, inexpensive options. However, say you're an autocross fiend, and you want a good spring/strut combo without spending $1000+ on coilovers.
Right now, Koni Yellows are the only strut option for us. A full replacement for the rear, and inserts for the front. Keep in mind with the inserts, being used for lower springs, the stock housing must be grinded down.
From what I've heard, an awesome handling combo is: Eibach Prokits and the Koni yellows. Also, the Ground Control setup with Koni yellows is supposed to be very good.
So you're down with spending money, you know in order to have great handling, you're going to have to shell out the dough.
Here are the coilover options:
Tein SS ( full adjustability)
Tein Basic (less expensive, but limited adjustability)
JIC FLT-A1 (full adjustability, comparable price to the basics, but NOT available anymore)
JIC FLT-A2 (full adjustability, more so than the A1's)
Motivational Coilovers (custom built for your car)
*****For your own good, STAY AWAY from no-name ebay coilover deals!!!!!!*****
Now, on to suspenion components:
Sway bars. To put it simply, a rear sway bar cuts understeer, but you must be wary of the lift-throttle oversteer! I have the Nismo rear sway bar on my car, and I LOVE IT!
Front sway bar. From my understanding, this increases push. The general idea is, get the rear sway, and the front sway, and they make the handling more neutral.
Eibach makes a front and rear sway kit. Nismo also makes front and rear sways, beautiful pieces.
NISMO lower tie bar is basically just a underchassis brace. It stiffens the chassis in a similar manner as a front strut tower bar, the most noticable improvement from which is the decrease in the amount of understeer the car encounters in general.
Progress makes a rear sway, however, this is not fully bolt on, some drilling is required.
Front strut tower bar:
Basically, the stock unit is good. For those of us not graced with a stock strut bar, I used the Spec V strut bar on my car, using only 2 bolts on either side, for 2 years without any problems. This isn't fully advisable though, you never know when the strut bolt will snap. For the QG powered vehicles, I found the Megan Racing strut bar to fit very nicely, and bolt right in, to all three bolts. There is good clearance to the engine, and it looks good
It can be had cheaply on ebay.
For the Spec V's there seems to be a clearance issue with the MR strut bar. I found there to be little difference between the units with testing....but maybe a hardcore autocrosser or experienced track jockey would be able to discern.
Battery relocation:
Some dispute this as unnecessary. Well, I did the mod, it was easy, and opens up the engine bay. I'd say the handling is a little more neutral now. More in pursuit of the 50/50 distribution most people desire. The kit can be had from summitracing fairly inexpensively.
Feel free to add to this!!!
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