Thread: OEM struts vs. Koni FSD kit

I am looking at a strut replacement for my '04 Sentra SE-R. It has about 65k miles but the struts have worn down pretty badly due to horrible city streets. I had the dealer try to get me to replace the struts over a year and 10k mi ago, but I had some cash flow problems and figured I'd just tough it out longer. Now it's getting pretty annoying so I am starting to gear up to do the replacement.

I have a couple friends with a lot more auto mechanic experience than me who have offered to help out, so I figured I'd go for it. While researching the replacement struts it occurred to me I could actually upgrade them, and that might be worth the money (especially with what I save over having the dealer or a retail mechanic do it for me).

I came across the Koni/Eibach FSD pro kit. That looks pretty optimal to me, as it handles potholes and bumps smoothly but does not sacrifice the sport suspension aspects.

However, I cannot determine if there is a version of these that would work for the '04 SE-R. I did call one place selling the Koni FSDs and they said they don't have it for the Sentra SE-R.

Does anyone know how to determine if there's an edition of this kit that would be compatible?

Alternatively, I would definitely look at another make of something similar.

Next down the line would just be "touring" shocks/struts (then at least I'd get the soft ride aspect, which is fine given that I don't hit the track or anything), and finally, OEMs or OEM replacement.

Any advice on this would be appreciated!

Not too sure. You confused me at first because while you do have an SE-R, you have a QR25DE engine and this is an SR20 forum. There are some people around here who have experience with these cars, but you might have better luck posting up in the Off-topic section.

Thanks. Yes I wasn't sure if this forum was totally relevant, but I did see some SE-R stuff and it seemed like the people here would have some relevant customization/performance knowledge. I will look around more.

Those FSD / Eibach kits appear to be for euro makes BMW, VW, etc. I don't think anything would cross over to a B15.

Koni does not make a FSD for the B15.

Thanks, Keo and MCarp22.

Do you know if there is anything similar in another make that might work with the B15? I don't care about the make at all... just having smoother shocks

Only 65k miles on the struts? That's pretty bad, even considering bad city streets. Looking on the Tire Rack, looks like you can get Koni Yellows, which are great struts, but the fronts are inserts and not direct bolt-ons. I also don't know if you would need to use stiffer springs to match them.

I know. I don't really know what to make of it.

Something that may be related... a year ago the dealer replaced my motor mounts. It's not like I went in to look at them myself, but they claimed some bad vibrations I was getting when the compressor kicked in were because of the motor mounts.

Well, the vibrations stopped, but only for a week. They came back and I talked to another (honest) mechanic and he said it was probably just the compressor and the motor mount change was briefly covering up the problem.

Could both the worn-out motor mounts and worn down struts be related? I dunno.



Thanks, I will check these out.

I also found this thread, which is very informative: B13, B14, B15 Suspension Information..... - SR20 Forum

I forgot Shawn's Suspension Bible covered B15's or else I would have more quickly pointed you there. There should be no connection between motor mounts/compressor and bad struts. If the motor mounts are bad and have too much play, then the compressor kicking on could move the engine a little bit, but I would expect that just happen in that first instant and then settle down. What kind of vibrations? Maybe the pulley for the a/c compressor is not balanced well? I can't imagine a way that motor mounts would degrade enough in a week to where they would no longer mask the issue. In general, stronger/solid motor mounts would transmit more vibrations to the cabin because they there is more of a connection between the motor and chassis.

What about the NISMO S-Tune kit? Apparently the springs are progressive... I don't know if that would have the same sort of bump-absorbing effect as the FSDs (which is a shocks improvement, not springs).

Or I could just put SE struts on there and give up the sporty suspension aspects altogether. Would that mess anything up horribly (possibly due to different weights)?