marquisdee

Will 4th gen strut bar fit on a 3rd gen? I saw this on ebay and the years didn't seem right.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Nissa...em230098553384

Cliff Clavin

iTrader: (11)

you need a 5th gen strut bar

marquisdee

So a 5th gen bar will work on a 3rd gen

Cliff Clavin

iTrader: (11)

yes, it will.

I have one on mine, as do about 80 percent of the 3rd gen owners here. Either the regular ebay fstb or the Otto one, which looks nicer, but performs the same task.

If you also want a rear strut tower brace, go to www.blehmco.com

marquisdee

Thanks for that link. Looks like I have a lot of shopping to do.

Cliff Clavin

iTrader: (11)

Matt is a member of this board (Matt93SE) and he sells very quality stuff. I have a rstb and it is made better than anything I have seen for strut bracing.

imported_Nismo_max

iTrader: (5)

o.k. let me get this right..so a struct bar for a 2000-2004 maxima will fit in a
3rd gen..NO MODIFICATIONS?

Greeny

iTrader: (43)

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=456101

imported_Nismo_max

iTrader: (5)

thnx for the link...btw whats "OTTO" stands for?

Greeny

iTrader: (43)

Brand name i think...

Deftone51

Hey guys, I've got a question related to the strut bars/shocks (I would make a new post, but I'm a new member, so I can't yet). I have a 1991 Maxima, and my shocks/struts seem really soft. Does anyone else have my car, and if so, how does your suspension feel? After putting the strut bars on, was there a big difference? Thanks!

Greeny

iTrader: (43)

The stock suspension is somewhat soft by design,but you're struts may be worn out...This will cause excessive travel of the suspension and a "bouncy" feeling on bumps/uneven road surfaces...

I personally didn't notice any difference at all in the cars handling after installing my strut bar...I'm not saying they don't help,just that i couldn't feel any difference...

bvtran

iTrader: (3)

man, you guys are making it too complicated. Any of those 3rd gen strut bars for $20 shipped will fit fine, get the cheapest thing you could fine. They're all the same. Then grab your 5lb hammer, wack that ac line gently until the bar fit on. Voila done! Installation time = 5 mins.

now for the rear, that is gonna be tricky. There are lot of rear bars out there but I don't know which one fit the length of our car. I wouldn't mind the drill the holes to make it fit. But the thing is which bar is long enough? I have seen a few from 90s Honda Prelude, Z, Eagle, and other I'm not sure if they're long enough. Matt makes them but he raised his price too much I don't think I could afford it anymore. I'm sure his is the finest quality though.

bvtran

iTrader: (3)

check this puppy out:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/95-99...QQcmdZViewItem

it looks like it can fit the rear

imported_Nismo_max

iTrader: (5)

so the only rear strut bar made for our 3rd gen is Matt's design...is there any1 out there that has a custom made rear struct bar..what did you use..and explain how you did it..j/w..

Cliff Clavin

iTrader: (11)

Although the original thread starter has a VG, you can't fit the ebay "3rd gen bar" on a VE. It's just too flat. Any 5th gen one will work, though. I didn't even have to do much to the AC line, really.

Matt is only person that makes a correct fitting rear strut tower brace. It fits perfectly, with no cutting. You just have to remove the rear seat and install it.

Otherwise, you would either have to cut the crap out of your back deck with a sawzall or not put your back seat in correctly. It has to be a very certain size to fit where it does. Possibly, there is some other type that will work, but good luck finding one. You would have to have a lot of friends with a lot of different cars.

See how it follows the contour of the back ridge, underneat the seat clips? That would be tough to duplicate.

mtcookson

iTrader: (2)

I don't recommend that style strut bar at all. They flex way too much, which doesn't seem like it would do its job if the bar itself can flex. The only bars I've seen so far that are stiff enough to get the job done are the round steel bars like what a lot of the manufacturers are using now. I've tried flexing the ones in the MR2 Spyder I used to have, a 350Z, and a Miata I test drove and none of those flexed like the aluminum one I have in my Maxima (just like the style above). I actually couldn't get the steel ones to flex any noticeable amount using my body weight and I'm damn near 300 lbs. (damn I need to go on a diet).

If you're going for a show look it probably wouldn't be bad otherwise I would stay far away from that style.

internetautomar

iTrader: (30)

But it's on Ebay! therefore it must be top quality

bvtran

iTrader: (3)

I disagreed with you. My $20 shipped front bar does its terrific job. Never had any problems once like some people here might experienced. While it's true that aluminum flexes, but the front end has more plays and it has held up fine for 4 years now. The rear doesn't have as much play as the front, so therefore aluminum will do fine. Steel is overkilled. I will probably end up buying Matts anyway if I had the money.

mtcookson

iTrader: (2)

I don't think there should be any issues with the bar... they just won't see the best possible performance out of an aluminum bar of that style. It simply flexes too much to keep the strut towers tied together like they are supposed to. The only time I could see a steel bar being overkill is if you never take corners hard enough to even need the bar or have a tube chassis/roll cage or something along those lines. Otherwise it just looks blingin' and offers minimal performance if any at all.

Alex_V

Thats not even the worst part, the worst feature is that it can pivot where the bar attaches to the bracket that mounts to the shock tower. If you take a cardboard box and unfold the top and bottom notice how you can move it site to side, to making it look like this: /_/ and the top is the FSTB.

But if its a solid mount or the bolt is 90deg from where most are it wouldn't be an issue. For most people a ebay $20 setup should be fine though.

~Alex

mtcookson

iTrader: (2)

Yeah, I totally forgot about that part as well. Luckily I pulled mine off... I'm going to use it for personal protection instead when I don't feel like pulling a gun.

bvtran

iTrader: (3)

minimal? My experience was like night and day with and without it. The best $20 I have ever spent on mods. I think all of ebay bars are made of aluminum so you don't have much choices really. Your complicating yourself if you think steel is worth the money. Like I'd said it before, if I had the money I'd be contacting Matt immediately.

SolSagan

Where can i contact matt? And how much is the rear strut bar?

Greeny

iTrader: (43)

http://www.mattblehm.com/

mtcookson

iTrader: (2)

If you noticed a difference with the aluminum bar then you'll likely notice a huge difference with the steel bar. There's nothing complicated about it... the steel bar will simply outperform the aluminum bar any day, every day. I don't know about you, but if I have two options for performance upgrades and one is better than the other... I'm going to go for the better. Why settle for less? Depending on the price difference perhaps, but if the difference isn't all that much then why?