Does any one have the pro car parts strut bar? If so is it as good as the Stillen one. I know they Stillen is about 200.00 dollars ans the one from pro car is only 50.00. I don't want to spend 200.00 if I can get the same thing for only 50.00.

 

That is good to know because why spend some much money if you can get something that works just as good. Even if it doesn't look as good. Do they realy work on the maxima's

 

yep, they work. i believe that their's is made by vibrant- just like the courtesy and streetbeat.

 

So it will look good and work great. Will I beable to tell a difference?

 

i just put one in the other day on my 97 max....i got a courtesy nissan bar and i noticed a big difference....it makes the car feel more stable....you should get one....my courtesy one was $70 or so and looks nice and works great....
oh btw the torque specs...they don't have to be exact...i was going to use a torque wrench and the mechanic i was going to borrow it from said just tighten them until it feels tight...don't throw your wieght as hard as you can into it...he said 35 ft/lbs is very light and you shouldn't use an air gun either....he's the head mechanic at the shop so i did it and he was right i put it on real easy with just a socket wrench...now the rear feels kind of soft....debating about getting a rear sway bar

 

but I'd recommend you use a torque wrench anyway, particularly since you can borrow one for free from AutoZone. I torqued mine down to 40 ft-lbs, but 35 ft-lbs should be fine.

 

I've got a brand new procartparts FSTB if your interested. I won it off an auction but no longer want it. It never came out of the box. Just drop me an email.

 

I actually prefer the look of the Courtesy bar over the Stillen. It has that "factory-installed" appearance and certainly works well. But then again, I'm an old school kinda guy.

 

I installed the Stillen last night and noticed a difference right away. This is a cool mod and everyone should do it since the cost is so little. I got the Stillen b/c I like the way it looks better and it appears to be beefier. Just my impression though. The less expensive ones work well according the the people here.

 

I got the cattman one for $75 and it works great...


My $0.02

 

i have a matrix fstb and i paid $35 + shipping for it...works just fine..main difference is making turns is more stable and steering is slightly more responsive

 

My FSTB comes in from Street Beat tomorrow... I was scared after all the talk about them being slow and backordered, but they shipped it quickly.

 

pro car parts fstb off of ebay for $40, it is going to arrive thursday according to UPS tracking... I'll let you know how it is, and I'll post detailed pics if ya want.

 

performance wise, think a strut bar is a strut bar is a strut bar, the differences are purley cosmetic, but that's just my $.02

 

I got the one from pro car parts for xmas today. My father ordered it a few weeks ago and I didn't know. I works great and looks good also. The turns are alot better it is great.

 

You will feel a measurable difference in your lower right corner of the driver seat where you saved the extra money from buying the same results for less. Happy Motoring!

 

Which is the best one for around 50-75. I want performance first and looks second. How hard is the install??
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real estate Pattaya

 

The best deal is http://www.street-beat.com or http://www.procarparts.com. Both have the same (99% sure) bar for $35 plus shipping. It'll perform the same as a Stillen, just won't look as good.

 

I want to order the one from Street-Beat for 35 but i have a 95 and it says for 96-99. I just want to make sure that it will fit before i buy it.
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Nexium death

 

yup, it does say 96-99. what about the 95? ALSO, It says forty seven bucks, not thirty five. take care.

 

That site is weird about part numbers and years. For instance, if you look up the clear corners, its 10 bucks more for a 97-99, when theyre the same part number and are the same part. I can't think of any reason that the bar wouldn't fit, the 95 and 96 are practically identical.

 

http://www.street-beat.com/alalstruttow39.html

Street-beat is currently at $35. I have the Courtesy FSTB ($59 at the time) on my 94 GXE, no complaints. So is Street-Beat legit? Site safe enough to order online from?

 

All i know is that I tried ordering one from streetbeat and it was on backorder for 4 months before I decided to cancel my order. I eventually got one from procarparts.com
I've still got it for sale if anyone is interested. It's brand new. Reason I'm selling it is because I got a used Stillen one for a good price just a day before my procarparts one arrived.

 

Where are you from?

 

Florida. Why?

 

Just wanted to see if you were local to SoCal.

 

I ordered mine from street beat around the 16th, it's getting delivered here tomorrow. Guess you just caught them at a bad time...

 

3

Quite posssibly but i got my procarparts FSTB the next week. I couldn't even get a reply from streetbeat until a couple of weeks after my order.

 

I can answer this question since I had the courtesy FSTB and now have the Stillen (because of a great deal)
They both do the same thing and perform the same. Actually the courtesy fits nicer than the stillen because it has a slightly higher clearence across the engine bay, so it doesn't touch any of the lines or hoses. The stillen only looks nicer, but for $75 (used) I couldn't pass it up.

 

I am not convinced that the FSTB is a noticeable difference. The only time I can feel a difference is taking very sharp fast corners. Offramps and things like that. Normal driving doesn't feel different at all.

Here in MA, there are two spots I can feel it: The Rt 16 offramp off the Mass Pike, and the 95 South ramp off of 93/128. These are huge sweeping ramps that I can tear around at about 50 MPH thanks to the bar. Obviously there is no need to be going that fast, so the bar is irrelevant if you drive like a sane driver.

 

Sanity? What's that? I'd suggest that most of us are here because we have a slightly different view of sanity than the average American car owner.

I agree that the FSTB doesn't make as much of a difference as, say, a RSB. But you yourself admit that it DOES make a difference when you "tear around" the sweeping offramps off the Mass Pike. (Of course, we'd have to question your sanity when you do that. And I'll bet nobody else wants to do anything nearly as insane as that.)

Is a Stillen FSTB worth $200.00? Probably not. Is a generic FSTB worth $50.00 to $75.00? You bet!


[Edited by y2kse on 12-26-2000 at 10:25 AM]

 

at slow speeds just around my neighborhood. The car just felt tighter all of a sudden. You barely move the wheel and notice movement. I have the Stillen.

 

What if you had a RSB but no FSTB? Would that be an extremely noticeable difference? I think once the weather gets warmer I will pick up a RSB. I wish they were as available on ebay as the FSTBs are.

 

Why not just buy one of the addco RSB through the shox.com group deal. I'm not sure if it's still going on, but they were selling the RSB for $119 +shipping.

 

I ended up going with the Stillen for the looks, and because it appeared to be a bit beefier (but I bet they're all the same). It was a bit of a pain to put on. One of the screw holes didn't quite line up, so I had to use a drill press to make the screw hole bigger, and it lined up fine. I first put the stb on with the tightener neutral. So the bar would slide on. I drove around, and didn't really notice anything. I got back and decided to tighten the bar one turn, to preload the struts. THAT made the difference. The steering hardly feels tighter around town. By far, the biggest difference with a FSTB is high speed corners. Like 80mph. Low speed off-camber corners, like 25mph, don't seem any different.