[z19930612]

Hi Gents

I have been doing some research on the internet regarding the difference in suspension parts thought each GT-R model year.

I used this website: Nissan OEM Parts For Sale | Factory Nissan Parts Online and its online parts catalogue

here is a table of part numbers that I gathered for each model year (Not complete as I got really confused throughout the process):

What we can see from the list is that GT-R has different suspension P/N for almost every year.

My car is a MY2012 DBA, but according to this website, the front spring, front damper, and rear spring are all discontinued:

This is really bizarre, does that means older GT-R owners could only fit newer springs and dampers from 15+ GT-Rs to replace their original ones?

What if someone only broke one damper on one corner, does that means he has to swap the entire suspension?

But any car guy knows that springs and dampers play a vital role in a vehicle's dynamic performance. for each year's GT-R they have their own characteristic in terms of driving feel, if change the 12 springs and dampers to 15 spec, the car would feel different to drive, and it won't feel like a 15 either as there are many other parts that are different (suspension bushings, ARBs, chassis rigidity)

Also, GT-R's dampers are electronically controlled, the control unit contains their own specific SW tuning for specific damper HW, so that means if you plug a 15 damper onto a 12 car, the adaptive damping would work as a total mess.

As a 12 GT-R owner, I really like the sharp steering response(of course with OE Dunlop tires) and its neutral balance in the corner, but how do I rebuild the whole suspension back to its original state when my car gets all tired and loose? with BMW Ms and Porsche, it's very straightforward, there aren't many variants of suspension parts through its production run and you can easily find parts for models that are well over 30 years old.

And one more question in the end, how do you visually tell the difference between different MYs GT-R dampers? they all have blue struct and black springs, and I don't see a clear P/N label on them😕

But what I can tell from the spring is that:
On (photo 1) spring has fewer coils than in (photo 2), that means the spring rate is much lower, according to the eBay description , structs from (photo 1) is indeed removed from a MY2015 GT-R, the generation that is more GT than the R, more comfort, less handling, around 1sec per minute slower on the track vs MY12 13 14.

(Photo 1)

(Photo 2)

 

[crepr12]

Not sure about the mixed bag of part numbers..But some manufactures make changes yearly and change the numbers accordingly...Glad to hear your 2012 turns sharply with the OEM tires...my 2020 is razor sharp with Mich show tires...jmho later year dampers won't ruin your 2012 driving characteristic...Good luck

 

[dimitri]

2010 gtr are more stiff

 

[White_turbo]

2010 gtr are more stiff

True for the springs themselves, but you don't know what the wheels actually experience until you know the differences in the pickup points on the suspension which has changed.

 

[HILife GT-R]

I am confused too at what to use because I want to stay OEM and want the 2012/2013 ones but they discontinued. Also, when I check online, Bilstein replacement dampers are all over the internet, but when I called Bilstein, they make no such replacement product and don't rebuild the GT-Rs.

 

[aroonkl]

When my 13' front left strut leaked, I changed all 4. If change one strut, no match for sure. If do left+right, still too much uncertain if they match remaining rear.
I went with high quality coilovers. Feel good improvement over stock.

 

[L.L.]

I've also been looking at Bilstein replacements through distributors. They had been popping up as discontinued over the past year or so and only bits and pieces remain in their system. No complete sets have been available for quite some time now.

If there comes a time to replace the suspension I would probably go with the Litchfield suspension which still incorporate Bilsteins and retains the damptronic controls.