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Buying coilovers for a G37 is the easy part. The thing that decides whether the car is better or worse afterwards is what you do about the geometry, and it is routinely left out of the conversation.
When you lower a multi-link rear suspension — which is what sits under the back of a G37 — the arms swing through an arc, and the wheel gains negative camber and loses toe alignment as it goes. Drop the car an inch and a half on stock arms and the rear wheels tuck in at the top and point in directions the factory never intended. The car will look right and it will eat the inside shoulders of a pair of rear tyres in a few thousand miles. This is not a subtle effect and it is not optional to address: adjustable rear camber arms and toe arms are part of the cost of coilovers on this chassis, not an upgrade to consider later. Budget for an alignment on a rack that can actually reach the adjusters, too.
The second thing worth understanding before you shop is damper construction, because it matters more than the name on the body. A monotube damper has a single tube with a gas-charged floating piston separating oil from gas; it dissipates heat better, resists fade, and gives more consistent damping. A twin-tube has an inner and outer chamber, is cheaper to make, usually rides more compliantly at low speeds, and fades sooner when worked. Neither is simply better — a twin-tube is often the nicer street car and a monotube is the right track choice. What you do not want is a very cheap monotube, which gets you the harsh ride without the quality internals that justify it.
Third, and this is where most people go wrong: the G37 already has a good chassis. Fitting track-rate springs to a car that lives on public roads makes it slower, not faster, because a suspension that cannot absorb a mid-corner bump skips across it instead of gripping. Buy for the road you actually drive.
Ten picks below — dampers, the geometry parts, and the alignment that ties it together.
| # | Product | Price | Where to buy |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Street-Oriented Monotube Coilover Kit | $900-$2,000 | Amazon |
| 2 | Twin-Tube Comfort-Biased Coilover Kit | $700-$1,400 | Amazon |
| 3 | Track-Rate Coilover Kit with Separate Rebound and Compression | $1,800-$3,500 | Amazon |
| 4 | Adjustable Rear Camber Arms | $180-$450 | Amazon |
| 5 | Adjustable Rear Toe Arms | $180-$400 | Amazon |
| 6 | Front Camber Plates | $200-$500 | Amazon |
| 7 | Professional Four-Wheel Alignment | $100-$250 | Amazon |
| 8 | Coilover Spanner Wrench and Spring Compressor | $40-$140 | Amazon · eBay |
| 9 | Anti-Roll Bar (Sway Bar) Upgrade | $250-$600 | Amazon |
| 10 | Performance Tyres Sized for the Car | $600-$1,400 a set | Amazon |
The picks, in detail
Street-Oriented Monotube Coilover Kit
The sensible default for a G37 that is driven on roads and occasionally enjoyed. A quality monotube with moderate spring rates and adjustable damping gives you the control and the ride-height adjustment you bought coilovers for, without the crashing ride that track rates produce. Look for a kit specifically listed for the V36 chassis rather than a universal fitment, and check whether it includes camber plates up front — several do, which saves buying them separately.
- Monotube damper construction
- Adjustable damping, typically 16-32 clicks
- Moderate street spring rates
- Height adjustment independent of spring preload on better kits
- Consistent damping that resists fade
- Adjustable for both ride height and damping
- Purpose-designed for the V36 chassis
- Firmer than stock even at the softest setting
- Good kits are a real investment
Twin-Tube Comfort-Biased Coilover Kit
The option people overlook because monotube sounds more serious. A well-made twin-tube is generally more compliant at low shaft speeds, which means it absorbs broken pavement and expansion joints better — and on a daily-driven car that is most of what the suspension does. It fades sooner under sustained hard use, which matters on a track day and does not matter on a commute. If your G37 is a car you drive rather than a car you lap, this is a genuinely defensible choice.
- Twin-tube damper construction
- Softer low-speed damping
- Adjustable ride height
- Damping adjustment on better kits
- More compliant over broken road surfaces
- Usually cheaper than an equivalent monotube
- Better daily-driving manners
- Fades under sustained hard use
- Less consistent than a monotube when hot
Track-Rate Coilover Kit with Separate Rebound and Compression
For a car that genuinely sees track days. Independent rebound and compression adjustment lets you tune the two halves of the damper’s job separately, which is what allows a stiff spring to still work over kerbs. Rates will be high and the ride on a public road will be uncompromising. Be honest with yourself about how often the car is actually on a circuit — this is a big step in cost and in daily liveability, and it makes a street car slower on a bumpy road.
- Independent compression and rebound adjustment
- High spring rates
- Often with remote or piggyback reservoirs
- Pillowball top mounts
- Genuinely tunable for a circuit
- Consistent under sustained heat
- Pillowball mounts remove bushing deflection
- Harsh and noisy on public roads
- Expensive, and needs setup knowledge to be worth it
Adjustable Rear Camber Arms
Not optional. Lowering the rear of a G37 swings the suspension arms through an arc and pulls significant negative camber into the rear wheels. Left alone that destroys the inside shoulders of the rear tyres in a few thousand miles — a repeating cost that quickly exceeds what the arms would have cost. Adjustable camber arms let you bring the top of the wheel back to a sane figure. Buy them with the coilovers and fit them at the same time; doing it later means paying for a second alignment.
- Adjustable length rear camber arms
- Spherical or polyurethane bushings
- Direct fit for the V36 chassis
- Locking hardware supplied
- Prevents the rapid inner tyre wear lowering causes
- Pays for itself against one set of rear tyres
- No extra labour if fitted with the coilovers
- Spherical bearings transmit more noise into the cabin
- Requires an alignment afterwards
Adjustable Rear Toe Arms
The other half of the rear geometry problem, and the one people forget after buying camber arms. The same arc that adds camber also changes rear toe, and rear toe has an outsized effect on both tyre wear and how stable the car feels when you lift mid-corner. A G37 with badly set rear toe can feel nervous in a way owners blame on the coilovers. Adjustable toe arms give the alignment technician the range to actually reach the factory specification on a lowered car.
- Adjustable length rear toe arms
- Extended adjustment range for lowered cars
- Spherical or bushed ends
- Direct fit for the V36
- Restores a spec the stock arms cannot reach when lowered
- Directly affects stability under lift-off
- Prevents another mode of rapid tyre wear
- Another part and another alignment cost
- Spherical versions add cabin noise
Front Camber Plates
The front equivalent, and useful for two different reasons. Lowering changes front camber as well, and camber plates let you dial it back — or dial in a little extra negative if you want more front-end bite on a track. The second benefit is that plates let you adjust caster on some designs, which affects steering feel and straight-line stability. Note that many quality coilover kits include plates, so check before buying them separately.
- Adjustable front camber, some with caster adjustment
- Spherical bearing top mount
- Often included with quality coilover kits
- Direct fit for the V36 strut towers
- Corrects front camber after lowering
- Lets you tune front-end bite
- Often already included in a good kit
- Spherical bearings transmit noise and eventually wear
- Redundant if your coilovers already have them
Professional Four-Wheel Alignment
The step that makes everything above worth having, and the one people economise on. After fitting coilovers and adjustable arms the car needs a proper four-wheel alignment on a rack, ideally with corner weighting if the shop can do it. Importantly, ask whether the shop is comfortable with lowered cars and adjustable arms — plenty will set it to the factory specification without understanding that a lowered car wants a different target, or will simply report that adjustment is out of range.
- Four-wheel alignment on a proper rack
- Camber, caster and toe set at all four corners
- Corner weighting available at specialist shops
- Printed before-and-after readings
- Everything above is wasted without it
- Printed readings prove what was actually set
- A good shop will advise on targets for a lowered car
- Needs repeating after any ride height change
- Not every shop understands lowered geometry
Coilover Spanner Wrench and Spring Compressor
The tools for doing the job and for adjusting it afterwards. Most kits ship with thin stamped spanners that round off the collars within a couple of adjustments; a proper hooked or pin spanner does not. A spring compressor is required for disassembling struts safely, and this is a genuine safety matter — a compressed spring holds an enormous amount of energy and improvised methods have caused serious injuries. Hire one if you will only use it once.
- Hooked or pin-type coilover spanners
- Sized to common collar diameters
- Spring compressor with safety catches
- Some kits include a height gauge
- Prevents rounding off the adjustment collars
- Makes ride-height changes quick and repeatable
- Spring compressors are a genuine safety requirement
- Collar sizes vary between brands
- Compressors are worth hiring if used once
Anti-Roll Bar (Sway Bar) Upgrade
The cheaper way to change how the car handles, and worth understanding as an alternative rather than an addition. Stiffer anti-roll bars reduce body roll in corners without stiffening the suspension in a straight line — so unlike stiffer springs, they do not degrade ride quality over bumps. Fitting a stiffer rear bar in particular reduces understeer. On a chassis as fundamentally sound as the G37’s, a bar upgrade plus good dampers often produces a better road car than very stiff springs do.
- Thicker hollow or solid bars
- Multiple mounting holes for adjustable stiffness
- Polyurethane bushings supplied
- Front, rear or matched pairs
- Reduces roll without harming straight-line ride
- Adjustable holes allow tuning the balance
- Much cheaper than coilovers
- Too stiff a rear bar makes the car snappy at the limit
- Polyurethane bushings need greasing or they squeak
Performance Tyres Sized for the Car
The unglamorous truth: tyres change how a car handles more than any suspension component, and a set of good tyres on stock suspension will outperform average tyres on expensive coilovers. Worth stating on a coilover list because the money is often better spent here first. Also relevant to lowering specifically — reducing ride height reduces wheel-arch clearance, so check that your chosen size will not rub on compression before you commit to a drop.
- Summer or all-season performance compounds
- Staggered sizing on many G37 setups
- Treadwear ratings indicating compound softness
- Load and speed ratings to match the car
- The largest single influence on how the car handles
- Immediate and obvious improvement
- Cheaper than a coilover kit
- Soft compounds wear quickly
- Lowering reduces arch clearance — check for rubbing
Buying tips
- Budget for adjustable rear camber and toe arms from the start. Lowering a multi-link rear swings the arms through an arc, pulling in negative camber and changing toe. Left alone, that destroys the inside shoulders of the rear tyres within a few thousand miles. The arms cost less than the tyres they save, and fitting them with the coilovers avoids paying for a second alignment.
- Understand monotube versus twin-tube before choosing. Monotube dissipates heat better and resists fade; twin-tube is usually more compliant at low speeds and fades sooner. Neither is universally better. A twin-tube often makes the nicer street car and a monotube the better track one — and a very cheap monotube gives you the harsh ride without the internals that justify it.
- Do not buy track spring rates for a street car. A suspension that cannot absorb a mid-corner bump skips across it instead of gripping, so on a real road a very stiff car is slower as well as less pleasant. The G37 chassis is good to begin with. Buy for the surfaces you actually drive on, not the ones in the marketing photographs.
- Get a four-wheel alignment afterwards, at a shop that understands lowered cars. Every part above is wasted without it. Ask before booking whether they are comfortable with adjustable arms and lowered geometry — plenty of shops will set factory numbers without understanding that a lowered car wants different targets, or will report the adjustment as out of range.
- Do not chase the lowest ride height. Every millimetre of drop takes suspension travel away, and a car with no travel left crashes into its bump stops over every imperfection — which is worse both for ride and for grip. A modest, sensible drop with the geometry corrected handles better than a slammed car on the same parts.
- Set ride height and damping separately if the kit allows it. On better coilovers, height is adjusted at the lower bracket and spring preload is separate, so you can lower the car without changing how the spring is loaded. Cheaper kits adjust height by winding down the spring perch, which reduces travel as you lower. Know which type you are buying.
- Consider anti-roll bars before, or instead of, stiffer springs. Bars reduce body roll in corners without stiffening the car in a straight line, so ride quality over bumps is unaffected. On a chassis as sound as this one, good dampers plus a bar upgrade frequently produces a better road car than very stiff springs — for considerably less money.
- Spend on tyres first if the budget is finite. Tyres influence how a car handles more than any suspension part, and good tyres on stock suspension beat average tyres on expensive coilovers every time. Also check arch clearance before lowering — reducing ride height reduces the space your chosen tyre size has to work in.
As an Amazon Associate and eBay Partner, toptenpick.com earns from qualifying purchases. Prices and availability are subject to change.